Blue Beetle II
Created by Gary Friedrich & Steve Ditko
+ History
Thanks to John WellsTed Kord is the second hero to adopt the Blue Beetle moniker. The first, an archaeologist named Dan Garrett, received his powers from a mystic scarab that he found in the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Kha-ef-Re, a long-dead high priest of the Egyptian gods. After a distinguished crime fighting career, Garrett seemingly expired on the shores of the mysterious Pago Island while helping young Ted Kord, one of Garrett's erstwhile students, prevent Kord's evil uncle Jarvis from taking over the world. Just before he died, Garrett extracted a promise from young Ted to carry on the crime-busting tradition of the Blue Beetle. Unfortunately, Garrett and his mystic scarab were buried under several tons of rubble during his final battle on Pago Island. After Ted's departure, an alien homed in on the Scarab and kept Garrett alive with its power. (Secret Origins v.2 #2, Blue Beetle v.2 #18)
Ted continued an exhausting regimen of college studies and began working in his father's company's (KORD, Inc.) Research and Development department. (S.O. #2) The scruffy young man cemented his reputation as an electronics prodigy when he provided the newly-organized Justice League of America with its first security system. (JLA: Year One #3)
Kord was intent on keeping his word to Garrett and augmented his education with KORD's technical resources to become the new Blue Beetle! Without the benefit of the scarab, Ted relied on his wits, ingenuity and clever gadgets. He devised a whole arsenal of equipment, including the "BB Gun" and the awesome flying vessel known as "the Bug." After a few early successes during an intense burst of crime fighting that followed the development of his equipment, Kord relaxed for a while and temporarily hung up his Beetle goggles in order to concentrate on building up his business interests. (Blue Beetle v.1 #1-5) Ted assumed full responsibility for running his father's company. Thomas M. Kord had founded KORD, but he was consumed by grief over the death of his wife. (B.B. v.2 #24) As Thomas lost interest in his company, young Ted's interest in KORD grew.
KORD Inc. was very successful and eventually grew to rival S.T.A.R. Labs itself. Ted Kord grew bored of this success and he chose to come out of retirement. (Blue Beetle v.2 #1) During this second wave of activity, Beetle met some of his greatest nemeses, including the Madmen, (#3) the deadly Overthrow, (#15) and the mighty Carapax. (#14) It was also during this time that Beetle became caught up in Darkseid's plan to rob the Earth of its "legends." At the end of this campaign, Beetle was among the heroes who decided to gather together and form a new Justice League to replace the longstanding institution that had been recently disbanded by the Martian Manhunter. (Legends #6) There was one final chapter to Ted's origin, however. He eventually returned to Pago Island to retrieve the Scarab of Kha-ef-Re and discovered that Dan Garrett had been kept in statis by an evil alien inside the scarab! The alien forced the Beetles drove Garrett mad and to fight Kord. In the end, Garrett shook off the alien's influence and the scarab was sattered to pieces. Garrett died from the strain. (#17-18)
Shortly after Carapax destroyed KORD's corporate headquarters, Thomas Kord, reasserted control over his company and ousted Ted. Ted then became a resident of the JLI embassy in New York. (Blue Beetle #24) Ted and fellow Justice Leaguer/millionaire-gone-bust Booster Gold formed their first super-powered venture known as "The Blue and the Gold" in order to conquer their joint financial woes. (Justice League International Annual #2) When the League was given the island of Kooey Kooey Kooey as their landed holding, Beetle and Booster built a huge resort on the island called Club JLI. This particular money making scheme went bad when the island (a sentient entity) decided to move to a new location, destroying Club JLI in the process. (Justice League America #34-35)
The Beetle was critially injured and put into a coma in the JLI's fight with Doomsday. (#69) He temporarily hung up his costume, but recovered in time to fight Guy Gardner's evil clone (#83) and to help save Booster's life. (#90) After Ice's death during the "Judgment Day" saga, Beetle appeared on a tabloid show to talked about her. This furthered the already widening gap between he and the team. He then joined Captain Atom's short-lived JLI off-shoot, Extreme Justice.
He retired when that League disbanded and threw himself back into his civilian career. Despite his public failure, including an embarrassing exposé about his “bankruptcy and humiliation” (Batman Secret Files #1), Ted has persevered, initially helping pal Booster Gold develop Blue and Gold Software. (DCU Heroes Secret Files #1). Presumably using the capital from that venture, Ted seems to have regained control of his father’s company (L.A.W. #1), putting much of his emphasis on its consumer electronics division Kordtronics, Inc. (Birds of Prey #15, 35) Though Ted hasn’t initially been able to stem KordCo’s mediocre profits (L.A.W. #1; BoP #35), the company remains attractive to outsiders and was the subject of at least one hostile takeover attempt. (BoP #40-41)
Most recently, Kord’s friendship with Oracle brought him back into action as the Beetle. (BoP #15, 22, 25) The two of them met online under the possbility of romance, but quickly discovered they were better off as friends. He has become very insecure about his ability as the Blue Beetle and now has a good reason to avoid adventuring: he was diagnosed with a serious heart ailment. (BoP #39-40) Despite this fact, he has reluctantly accepted Maxwell Lord's offer to join a regrouping of his original Justice League comrades in the Superbuddies. His teammates had a hard time accepting either his newfound serious side or his medical condition. Regardless, Ted maintained a level of activity safe for his condition. (Formerly...)
Despite his "respectful" work with Oracle, much of the public (including other heroes) still regarded the Blue Beetle as a goof. He got plenty serious when his company and assets came under attack. The Beetle called in every favor to help him uncover the saboteur, but few would take him seriously. Of course, his best friend, Booster was there for him. Ted always suspected that Booster — who was from the 25th century — knew more about 21st century events than he let on. This intensified when Booster took the brunt of an explosion that destroyed Ted's house. And in the hospital, Booster tried to stop Ted from pursuing the case further. Perhaps he knew what was in store for his friend.
Beetle successfully traced the chaos to a hidden base in the Swiss Alps. He surpassed the Checkmate guards and discovered that the organization held detailed information on all metahumans. The mastermind? Maxwell Lord, who confronted him and explained that he wanted to rid the world of the threat posed by metahumans. Max offered Ted the chance to join him. The Beetle refused and was immediately shot in the head by Max.
At some point, Hawkman discovered Dan Garrett's magic scarab and returned it to Ted. Just before his death, the Scarab eventually led Beetle him to the wizard, Shazam. Shazam kept the talisman and sent Ted on his way. (DC Countdown #1)
It is uncertain how many (if any) of Ted
Kord's Charlton Comics adventures are considered canonical. DC continuity
asserts that Ted was active as the Blue Beetle for a time before retiring.
His DC debut takes place after that brief retirement. Also, the events
of Blue Beetle #18 are questionable because that story maintained
that the Scarab of Kha-ef-Re was sentient and forced Garrett to fight
Ted Kord. Recent revelations, however, suggest that Nabu (Dr.
Fate) created the scarab in ancient Egypt (Time Masters #6).
In current DC continuity, the original Beetle debuted in the Golden Age, per Booster Gold v.2 #2. He appeared in August 14, 1939.
+ Powers
The Blue Beetle possesses no metahuman abilities and relies more on his wits as an inventor. Most frrequently, he employs a strobe light (the BB gun), a hovering, amphibious aircraft (the Bug), and various other gadgets as needed. As the Beetle, Kord has historically been a poor hand-to-hand combatant. His fitness level has fluctuated as well. At times he has demonstrated great acrobatic skill, but his heart condition now limits his level of exertion.
Appearances + References
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Fox Features:
Charlton Comics:
DC Comics:
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