Educate Yourself: Blue Beetle

The Blue Beetle:

For those of you who missed the first part of this two-part series, (Educate Yourself: Booster Gold), let me bring you up to speed. Booster Gold is a superhero from the future and great friends with the Blue Beetle. DC announced a teamup movie in the works with the creators of The Flash and Arrow on board. It will play as a buddy-cop comedy and is extremely exciting for these cult classic superheroes.

 The Blue Beetle is a title passed on through three people. This post will give a brief rundown of the three bearers of the name.  Keep in mind, we do not know which Blue Beetle we will see in the upcoming movie, but it is 99% going to be the second one. In comic book history Blue Beetle was acquired by DC comics in the Charlton comics buyout and has remained a big part of the DC universe ever since, no matter how small the role.

Dan Garrett:
In ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh Kha-Ef-Ra was said to have possessed a legendary artifact, a figurine in the shape of a Blue Scarab. With it, Kha-Ef-Ra protected his people from all evils and danger until he died and it was buried in his tomb. Many were killed trying to find it but never could, until Dan Garrett entered the tomb with his companion Professor Luri Hoshid just before the start of World War 2. The tomb started to collapsed as they entered the room with the Pharaoh's sarcophagi. Dan leapt to save Luri and the Blue Beetle resting atop the coffin lit up transforming Dan into the Blue Beetle and transferring it's powers, allowing him to stop the cave-in and save Luri. With his newfound abilities he became one of the mystery men of WWII and moved on to help with the Vietnam War. Little is known of Dan's career after that, but he was married and had a child. He settled down to teach archeology at a university where he met Ted Kord.

Ted Kord:

Theodore Kord, 5th smartest man in the DC universe, was 16 when he graduated from High School. At age 19 he developed a new way to create drones the size of an insect of which Lex Luthor said was "revolutionary". In college, Ted's uncle planned to take over the world, with the help of his archaeology professor Dan Garrett he planned to thwart his attempts. During the battle Dan was killed and passed the Blue Scarab to Ted. Unfortunately the idol did not work for Ted, but Dan's acts inspired him to train himself to his physical peak, create a vehicle adequately named "The Bug" and created a costume resembling Dan's. He revitalized his fathers company and created Kord Industries, rivaling S.T.A.R. Labs. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths he met Booster Gold where created a lifelong friendship surpassing their sarcastic whit and tomfoolery. 

Sadly after all his adventuring, Ted was killed by his old friend Maxwell Lord shortly after losing the Blue Scarab at the Rock of Eternity, (The Wizard Shazam's home). Maxwell shot him in the head with Ted's dying words being, "Rot in hell, Max." With the deed done, Barbara Gordon who was a long time friend of Ted, created a memorial for the hero. But the mantle of the Blue Beetle was yet to continue.

Jaime Reyes:

Jaime Reyes was a normal high school student in El Paso, Texas, until he found the Blue Scarab half buried in a disused lot. (When the Rock of Eternity was destoryed in a battle between Shazam and the Spectre all it's contents were blown across the world, the Blue Scarab landing in El Paso). With the discovery the Blue Scarab latched itself into Jaime's spine sending off signals that he was now a magical metahuman and giving him all it's powers and magic armor when in danger. Booster Gold sought out Jaime, for Booster had been to the future where Batman would look for The Brother Eye, and fail, getting killed. (The Brother Eye being a interdimensional phantom satellite capable of monitoring anything no matter where). The Blue Scarab was the only thing capable of finding the Brother Eye. Booster took Jaime to Batman and with Jaime's help, the Brother Eye was destroyed. Jaime is the current Blue Beetle.

Regarding the Movie:

As I said earlier, the Blue Beetle that will appear in the movie is 95% going to be Ted Kord. The movie will be set in the Arrow-verse, and there have already been easter eggs regarding Kord Industries. It only seems natural to pull both Booster Gold and The Blue Beetle in. Since Booster Gold is from Gotham City it may lead to even more references to Gotham within the Arrow-verse. Exciting things are in the works for the the Arrow/Flash Universe and for the DC Cinematic universe as well.