DC Comics latest theatrical release hits theaters on August 18, 2023 in the form of Blue Beetle. But who is Blue Beetle?
Over the years there has been three different versions of the Blue Beetle, first was created by Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski and Fox Comics and later owned by Charlton Comics named Dan Garret. The second, created by Charlton Comics and later taken over by DC Comics, was the successor to Dan Garrett known as Ted Kord. The latest Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes, was created by Keith Giffen, John Rogers, and Cully Hamner, the character made his first appearance in Infinite Crisis #3 (February 2006).
In the comics, DC’s introduction of Jaime Reyes in 2006 retconned and expanded upon the Blue Beetle mythos. Revealed to be alien in origin, the scarab bonds with Reyes and provides him with a suit of extraterrestrial armor shortly after Kord’s death. Though only a teenager, Reyes quickly forms a working relationship with Kord’s former teammate and best friend Booster Gold and is inducted into the Teen Titans and the Justice League.
Blue Beetle makes his DC Extended Universe debut portrayed by Xolo Maridueña. After Jaime Reyes graduates from college and returns to his hometown Palmera City, he is chosen to become a symbiotic host to the Scarab, an ancient alien biotechnological relic that grants him a powerful exoskeleton armor, turning him into a superhero.
The Blue Beetle scarab is grafted onto Jaime Reyes’s spine and can manifest a number of powers of its own volition, an act usually accompanied by blue energy emitted by the scarab’s “antennae.” Over the course of the first year of his ongoing series, Jaime had little, if any, control over those powers, but slowly asserts himself. When Jaime is in danger, the scarab activates, crawling out on to Jaime’s back and generating a high-tech suit of powered armor around his body. The armor is resilient enough that it can protect him against re-entry from Earth’s orbit. When the danger passes, the scarab deactivates, dissolving the costume and retracting back onto Jaime’s spine, causing intense pain.
The scarab grants powers to Reyes including flight, superhuman strength and durability, melee weapon production, translation of alien languages, energy pulse shield projection, ability to create and unleash powerful hand blasts/beams, sound manipulation, and technomorphy pyrokinesis & mechanokinesis.
Blue Beetle hits theaters on August 18, 2023.
