History ComicBook / BlueBeetle

*** His original DC origin story saw the Scarab lost in rubble whenDan Garret died.

Then he died. Cue his friend, Ted Kord, millionaire and technical genius, who took the Scarab and the Blue Beetle mantle. Kord was introduced in the backpages of a title devoted to ComicBook/CaptainAtom in #83 (November, 1966), appearing there until #86 (June, 1967). Then he got his own magazine, lasting from June, 1967 to November, 1968. After that the character mostly appeared in anthology titles. Ted didn't have any powers - the Scarab didn't seem to work for him, so he made up for it by using his neat gadgets to fight crime anyway. If he resembled [[ComicBook/SpiderMan another wisecracking acrobatic bug-themed superhero]] a bit, that wasn't too surprising as he was created by Creator/SteveDitko after he left Marvel.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: A number of fans had trouble misreading the new BB's name as "Jamie" rather than "Jaime". As [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] put it, "It's 'Hye-Mae', not 'Jamie.' Don't make me pull out the [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle "More You Know"]] logo."

[[folder:Dan Garrett Examples]]

* SuddenNameChange: In his Pre-Crisis appearances and early Post-Crisis stories, his full given name was Theodore. During Chuck Dixon's run on Birds of Prey, his name was revealed to be Edward (with "Ted" as a nickname, similar to the case of Ted Kennedy). Later writers would try to reconcile the differences by listing his name as "Theodore Edward Kord", but his most recent posthumous appearances had the name as "Theodore Stephen Kord".

* CutLexLuthorACheck: Referenced when Jaime and Brenda talk to the son of [[SpellMyNameWithAnS THINKO!]]'s creator.
--> '''Brenda''': "But...instead of robbing banks, why didn't he just market and sell his INCREDIBLY SOPHISTICATED ROBOT?"\\
'''Dr. Alan Von Neumann, Jr.''': "Who can say? It was a different time and he's long dead, so you can't ask him."

* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Jaime during a fight with Doctor Polaris. Turns out that the ''Scarab'' killed him and resuscitates Jaime once Polaris leaves, since if Jaime had taken Polaris's seemingly fatal attack head on, he would've been vaporized.]]

'''Traci 13:''' (teleporting into the room) Are you the Blue Beetle?\\
'''Paco:''' (jaw gaping) Say "I wish for a Porsche" before it wears off! ''Say "I wish for a Porsche" before it wears off!''

* YoungerAndHipper: His New 52 self looks more like a college student than a man in his mid to late twenties/early thirties.

* DoingInTheScientist: It now appears that the scarab ''was'' a magical artifact after all, and the alien technology story was just what it wanted Jaime to believe.

* RoguesGallery: So far, there's Rack'n'Ruin, La Dama, and according to Giffen a Doctor Doom-level villain to come.

* DistressedDamsel: Joan Mason wound up in this role a lot in Blue Beetle stories. She was more competent in her own feature, where Blue Beetle played a supporting role.

The series was relaunched in 2016 as part of ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', featuring Jaime and Ted joining forces.

* ThreeAmigos: Jaime, Paco, and Brenda. No pun intended, by the way.

* AbortedArc: The second volume of ''Booster Gold'' had a running arc heavily hinting that Ted had ''somehow'' survived when he went back in time to his own death. It never concluded before the universe got rebooted.

* HandicappedBadAss: Becomes one after he’s diagnosed with heart arrhythmia.

* Manchild: It's utterly repulsive the way he ignores Jamie's concerns and desires to try to live out his Fanboy fantasies, while practically forcing Jamie to be a superhero!
** PsychopathicManchild: Despite having (some) good intentions, he was most of the time smiling (quite repulsively), while openly and mockingly ignoring Jamie's concerns about the scarab stuck to his back, insisting that a teenager risk his life (still with a disgusting smile and mocking voice) fighting dangerous supervillains, forcing Jamie to be a superhero in exchange for his help in removing the scarab, despite Jamie explicitly saying he doesn't want to be a superhero (and he really isn't actually ''trying'' to remove the scarab) and it's absurdly clear he's doing it to live out his superhero power fantasies.

Never quite as popular as some superheroes, the three Blue Beetles have managed to keep a legacy with very little similarity in powers or even personalities, but all three have been rather likable, and all three have been fun rather than [[DarkerAndEdgier dark and edgy]]. Both Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes versions of the Blue Beetle have had appearances in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' (and a dead Garret gets a cameo). Jaime Reyes appeared as a central character in the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Booster", which also featured Ted Kord as a wealthy industrialist rather than a superhero. Dan Garrett got a shout-out. DC has announced interest in making a LiveActionAdaptation starring Jaime Reyes.

* TransformationNameAnnouncement: When Jaime transforms into Blue Beetle for the first time, he involuntarily shouts "Khadji-Da!", the Scarab's real name.

The original Blue Beetle was a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] superhero, originally published by the Fox Feature Syndicate, first appearing in ''Mystery Men Comics'' (August, 1939). Dan Garrett started out as a rookie cop whose father was [[DeathByOriginStory killed by gangsters]]. He got super strength from [[SuperSerum Vitamin 2-X]], although he could be knocked out by a blow on the head. The Golden Age Blue Beetle soon got his own magazine. He had a reasonably long run of lurid, violent adventures where he fought gangsters, gorillas, reanimated mummies, etc. He even had his own short-lived RadioDrama. But sales began dropping in the late 1940s. There were gaps of several months between some issues, and finally, in August of 1950, the series was cancelled.

* ''Film/{{Blue Beetle|2023}}'' - Jaime is set to headline his own solo movie in the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse. He will be played by Xolo Mariduena.

* ''Blue Beetle'' - Jaime is set to headline his own solo movie in the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse. He will be played by Xolo Mariduena.

Jaime later became a major character in season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', with Ted frequently namedropped and memorialized as a deceased member of the Justice League. Both Ted and Dan eventually appeared in flashbacks in "Intervention," detailing the Blue Beetle legacy. The team and Jaime initially assumed that the Scarab Jaime found while taking a shortcut through a Kord Industries parking lot was an invention of Ted's, but it was actually the Scarab Dan Garret found on a dig in Bialya. While Dan believed it was just an ancient artifact that gave him powers and bequeathed it to Ted upon his death, Ted realized that it was alien technology and locked it up, refusing to allow it to merge with him. He was, however, inspired by Dan's example and joined the Justice League, fighting crime with his gadgets. When the alien race that created the Scarab came to Earth and allied with the Light, Sportsmaster and Deathstroke confronted Ted, demanding he give the Scarab over. While Ted died in the skirmish, he kept the Scarab away from the Reach, and Jaime found it.

Then he died. Cue his friend, Ted Kord, millionaire and technical genius, who took the Scarab and the Blue Beetle mantle. Kord was introduced in the backpages of a title devoted to ComicBook/CaptainAtom in #83 (November, 1966), appearing there until #86 (June, 1967). Then he got his own magazine, lasting from June, 1967 to November, 1968. After that the character mostly appeared in anthology titles. Ted didn't have any powers - the Scarab didn't seem to work for him, so he made up for it by using his neat gadgets to fight crime anyway. If he resembled [[Comicbook/SpiderMan another wisecracking acrobatic bug-themed superhero]] a bit, that wasn't too surprising as he was created by Creator/SteveDitko after he left Marvel.

Although Jaime's solo series was canceled, he returned as a back-up feature in ''ComicBook/BoosterGold'' - unfortunately, the back-up also got canceled. Poor kid can't catch a break. That said, he did get to be a member of the Comicbook/TeenTitans (poor kid ''really'' can't catch a break), and joined the reformed JLI in ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueGenerationLost''.

Jaime later became a major character in season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', with Ted frequently namedropped and memorialized as a deceased member of the Justice League. Both Ted and Dan eventually appeared in flashbacks in "Intervention," detailing the Blue Beetle legacy. The team and Jaime initially assumed that the Scarab Jaime found while taking a shortcut through a Kord Industries parking lot was an invention of Ted's, but it was actually the Scarab Dan Garret found on a dig in Bialya. While Dan believed it was just an ancient artifact that gave him powers and bequeathed it to Ted upon his death, Ted realized that it was alien technology and locked it up, refusing to allow it to merge with him. He was, however, inspired by Dan's example and joined the Justice League, fighting crime with his gadgets. When the alien race that created the Scarab came to Earth and allied with the Light, Sportsmaster and Deathstroke confronted Ted, demanding he give the Scarab over. While Ted died in the skirmish, he kept the Scarab away from the Reach, and Jaime found it.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' - Jaime debuts in season two, and returns in season three. Dan and Ted also exist, but are deceased.

* GadgeteerGenius: Invented a wrist-mounted communicator, his trademark beetle-insignia-projecting belt and (later) his [[TheMeMobile gadget-ridden beetle-themed car]].

* CaptainErsatz: The Scarlet Scarab (and a bit of ComicBook/SpiderMan, but less than other incarnations) in Creator/{{Marvel Comics}}, plus Nite-Owl I in ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}''.

* CaptainErsatz: Nite-Owl II in ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'', and ComicBook/SpiderMan, as mentioned above.

** Ditto ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', where Ted dies in a confrontation with Sportsmaster ''and'' Deathstroke, playing keep away with the Scarab.

* ArchEnemy: The Reach. The Negotiator/Ambassador and his enforcer Dawur (the primary inspiration for Black Beetle in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'') being the main ones behind the plan, but the Reach as a whole are Jaime's greatest enemy. Almost all the bad guys he fights after that are either on the Reach's pay roll or part of their plans. These villains include Typhoon, Lobo and The Ultra Humanite. [[spoiler: Even with them defeated, they still leave remnant surprises from that time, like the Khaji-Da Liberation Army.]]

* CrashIntoHello: How Jaime meets the Comicbook/TeenTitans, specifically Comicbook/{{Robin}}, though not a true instance of the trope

** Repeatedly used in the Brave and the Bold episode, "Night of the Huntress!" The subplot of the episode revolves almost entirely around Jaime's schoolboy crush on Huntress of the Comicbook/BirdsOfPrey.

* SecretKeeper: So many that it's almost not a SecretIdentity. By the end of his series, the group that knows the Blue Beetle's secret identity include his parents, little sister, grandmother, two best friends, two more teens recruited to help with the superhero stuff like Oracle, his girlfriend who's a superhero herself, a BadassNormal mentor, a local AntiVillain crime lord, a local gang of meta-humans, the BigBad, Batman, ComicBook/BoosterGold, [[AndZoidberg and Guy Gardner]]. Some more superheroes might know as well, and to his classmates at school his disguise is little better than [[PaperThinDisguise Paper Thin]]. (He uses a hologram to make it look like he's in two places at once, but that can't have been enough to hide the fact that there's ''some'' kind of connection between Jaime and the Blue Beetle.) But the AntiVillain has a personal connection to him, so that neatly neutralizes the threat from the BigBad.

* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld

* WorldOfNoGrandparents: [[AvertedTrope Averted]], with the big family reunion in ''Blue Beetle'' #26.

** [[spoiler: Ted seemed to have become a villain himself in ''Comicbook/SuicideSquad''... but it turns out it was Black Mask impersonating him.]]

* GadgeteerGenius

* GreenLanternRing: The Scarab, which was created to be one of the most versatile - and deadly - weapons in the universe, and in Franchise/TheDCU that's saying something. It has enough firepower to threaten ''cities'', and one of its higher-level weapons has potential theological implications... also, ''real'' Green Lanterns don't like being around it, with responses varying from "headache" to "homicidal urges." The GL Corps and the Reach have some history...

** PsychopathicManchild: Despite having (some) good intentions, he was most of the time smiling (quite repulsively), while openly and mockingly ignoring Jamie's concerns about the scarab stuck to his back, insisting that a teenager risk his life (still with a disgusting smile and mocking voice) fighting dangerous supervillains, forcing Jamie to be a superhero in exchange for his help in removing the scarab, despite Jamie explicitly saying he doesn't want to be a superhero (and he really isn't). actually trying to remove the scarab) and it's absurdly clear he's doing it to live out his superhero power fantasies.

* Manchild :
** PsychopathicManchild :

* Manchild/PsychopathicManchild:

In the [[TheEighties 1980s]], Charlton licensed most of its superheroes to AC Comics, only to sell them to DC a few months later. Ted made his DC debut as a reader point of view character in ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' and was integrated into Franchise/TheDCU shortly thereafter, holding his own title from June, 1986 to May, 1988. He got to be a member of the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational, get lots of HoYay with ComicBook/BoosterGold, and be an all-around Fan Favorite. Then Max Lord DroppedABridgeOnHim. BoomHeadShot! The character was killed in the one-shot ''Countdown to Infinite Crisis'' (May, 2005).

%%* AdaptiveArmor: Jaime's suit.

* AlmightyMom: Bianca "Is that a giant green fist?" Reyes

* QuirkyMinibossSquad: La Dama's trio of supervillain underlings: Brutale the [[KnifeNut knife-throwing]] [[ImprobableAimingSkills marksman]], Rompe-Huesos the hard hitting acrobat, and Coyote the [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent wolf man]].

** His DC series featured adventures with the Question and the Teen Titans[[note]]at that point Nightwing, Cyborg, Donna Troy, Beast Boy, Jericho and Starfire.[[/note]]. It also tied in to {{Crisis Crossover}}s ''ComicBook/LegendsDC'' and ''ComicBook/Millennium1988''.

[[folder: (Rebirth) [[spoiler:Dan Garrett Examples]]]]

[[/folder]]