Blue Beetle is a fictional Latin American character who has been a part of the superhero community in the DC Universe since 1939 when he first appeared in the ‘Mystery Men Comics’. He is at times portrayed as a solo adventurer while at others, as a part of superhero teams like the Justice League and the Teen Titans.
With the upcoming release of the live-action film based on this DC superhero, let’s take a look at such an iconic superhero of the DC Universe.
The Historical Background Of Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle is not one but rather, three distinct characters with the same superhero abilities. This fictional character made his first appearance in comic books published in 1939. It was originally created by Fox Comics.
The first Blue Beetle was called Dan Garrett, who initially gained his superpowers from a special vitamin and later from a mythological object called the ‘sacred scarab’.
The second Blue Beetle character was a successor of Dan Garrett known as Ted Kord. He starred in his 24 comic issues. Kord’s version of Blue Beetle had no superpowers but he used science to create various devices to help him fight crime. He was killed during the prelude to ‘Infinite Crisis’ crossover.
The third Blue Beetle is created by DC Comics. His name is Jaime Reyes, a regular teenager who discovers the original Blue Beetle scarab morphs and converts it into a battle suit which assists him to fight crime and travel in space. Over the years, Jaime Reyes has become the primary Blue Beetle character, and the other two versions have been long-forgotten.
The live-action version of this comic book character called – ‘Blue Beetle’ is all set to be released on August 18, 2023.
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Blue Beetle’s Source Of Power
The 1930s first Blue Beetle – Dan Garrett was professionally a police officer who derived superpower abilities from swallowing Vitamin 2X tablets.
The storyline was switched in 1964 and Dan Garrett was now introduced in comic books as an archaeologist. During an excavation, he discovered an ancient sacred Scarab in an old Egyptian tomb. This scarab became the source of Blue Beetle’s superpowers like super strength and vision, speed, and the ability to generate energy blasts.
This mysterious sacred scarab was used to imprison an evil mummified Pharaoh, before it was discovered by Dan. The scarab was full of mystical powers and energies. Khaji Da is the serial number of the scarab and also its name. It forms a symbiotic relationship with its user. To transform into the Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett had to say the name of the scarab out loud.
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