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Official Name: Real name unknown
Nicknames: Scarab of Kha-Ef-Re
Model: Model number or type unknown
Version: Version number unknown
Origin
The enigmatic Blue Beetle Scarab is the namesake artifact of the superheroes who have taken the name Blue Beetle - Dan Garrett, Ted Kord, and Jaime Reyes. For many years, the Scarab was presumed to be a magical artifact; its true origin and nature appear to be more disturbing still.
Lead Designer: Lead designer unknown
Additional Designers: Additional designers unknown
Place of Creation: Place of creation unknown
First Appearance: Blue Beetle (Volume 1, Charlton) #1 (first appearance); Crisis on Infinite Earths #3 (first DC appearance)
History
Previous Owners: Dan Garrett, Ted Kord, Shazam
Current Owner: Jaime Reyes
History:
Some time before the modern age of superheroes, archaeologist Dan Garrett discovered the Blue Beetle Scarab while unearthing the tomb of the Pharaoh Kha-Ef-Re in Bialya. It granted him a vision, giving him the powers and costume of the Blue Beetle.
Using the Scarab's powers, Dan fought an array of villains and monsters. His career came to an end, however, when a student of his, Ted Kord, asked him to help stop Ted's uncle from taking over the world. In the ensuing battle, Dan was killed, the Scarab seemingly lost with his body. Ted took up Dan's legacy, fighting crime as the second Blue Beetle.
The Scarab resurfaced later in Ted's superhero career. It had apparently resurrected Dan Garrett, who had gone on a half-crazed rampage looking for Ted. When Ted finally confronted Dan, the Scarab communicated with Ted, saying it had been looking for a new host - and had chosen Ted. The Scarab attempted to persuade Ted by offering him the use of its powers, but Ted refused. He convinced Dan to break the Scarab's hold over him, shattering the Scarab's physical form and letting Dan die a final death.
The Scarab next resurfaced near the end of Ted's life. It had been recovered from a temple in Egypt, seemingly untouched, and Hawkman had passed it on to Ted. This time, however, the Scarab was inert; regardless of what Ted tried, it did not respond to him.
When Ted's house was blasted by a bolt of energy from Brother Eye, the Scarab reactivated. Ted used the Scarab to try and find Captain Marvel, who Ted hoped might be able to tell him where the energy bolt had come from. The Scarab led him to the entrance of the Rock of Eternity, home to the wizard Shazam, who gave Captain Marvel his powers.
Ted asked Shazam about what was happening, and Shazam conjured visions from the Scarab to illustrate his explanations. Shocked by one of the visions, Ted dropped the Scarab - and Shazam returned him to Earth before he could pick it up.
The search for answers eventually led Ted to Checkmate headquarters in the Swiss Alps, where he met his death. The Scarab, however, remained on the Rock of Eternity with Shazam.
During the Day of Vengeance, the Rock was destroyed in magical battle between Shazam and the Spectre, its fragments blasted across the globe. The Scarab came down in El Paso, Texas, trailing portents and fire behind it.
High school student Jaime Reyes discovered the Scarab, half-buried in a disused lot. Fascinated, he took it home with him. That night, as Jaime slept, the Scarab came to life, and grafted itself to Jaime's spine, making him its next guardian - the third Blue Beetle.
Booster Gold, one of Ted's old friends, sought Jaime out. In an ironic twist of fate, the Blue Beetle Scarab was the one thing that could find Brother Eye, being able to see outside normal time and space. Jaime went up with Booster, Batman, and a team of others Booster had identified, a team which included Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart.
The Scarab negated Brother Eye's 'vibrational frequencies', pulling it back into this Universe. Together with Black Canary and Green Arrow, Jaime destroyed Brother Eye's dimensional stabiliser, preventing it from escaping outside reality.
Once Brother Eye was knocked out of orbit, the Scarab, identifying the Green Lanterns as the 'enemy', shifted Jaime's vibrational frequencies, moving Jaime and the Scarab outside the universe. However, the chaos of the dimensional stabiliser's destruction dilated time for Jaime and the Scarab; a couple of minutes for them was one year back on Earth.
During Jaime's missing year, the Peacemaker stumbled upon the pyramid where Dan Garrett had originally discovered the Scarab. Hidden beneath it was what appeared to be an 'alien tomb'. When the Peacemaker touched the tomb, it imprinted him with impressions and dreams of the Scarab, and set him on course to track both it and Jaime down.
Finally, Jaime came back down to Earth, landing in the desert outside El Paso. As he attempted to put his life back together after his year-long absence, he encountered the Peacemaker, who revealed the Scarab's true origin as an extra-terrestrial artifact.
Characteristics
Dimensions: Dimensions unknown
Weight: xxx lbs (xxx kg)
Powers
The Scarab has manifested a number of different abilities over the years for its users. Why its abilities have varied from user to user, and why they've taken differing forms, has yet to be revealed.
Independent:
On its own, the Blue Beetle Scarab was seen to manifest the following abilites:
- Energy Absorption: The Scarab could absorb a blast of energy that would land a human in hospital.
- Vibrational Frequency Manipulation: The Scarab was able to open the doorway to the Rock of Eternity, which lies outside time and space, for Ted Kord.
- Independent Animation: The Scarab was able to move by itself for a little distance. It used this ability to attach itself to Jaime Reyes.
Dan Garrett:
The Scarab granted Dan Garrett the following abilities whenever he spoke the phrase 'Khaji Da!':
- Superhuman Strength
- Unassisted Flight: Dan was able to fly without the use of wings.
- Energy Blasts: These manifested as lightning bolts which Dan typically shot from his fingers.
- Costume Creation: The Scarab was able to create a costume for Dan. It was also able to restore his clothes when he depowered. Unlike Jaime's costume, this costume was not armored - a fact which resulted in Dan's first death.
Jaime Reyes:
The Scarab has displayed the following abilities since its bond to Jaime Reyes. The Scarab can, and will, use many of its powers of its own accord; Jaime, however, can override the Scarab if need be. Should Jaime fall prey to a mind-altering power, the Scarab will take control, manifesting the armor.
Some of the Scarab's powers can function regardless of whether the armor is active or not; others, however, only work when the armor is in use. Those powers that depend on the armor are listed under its heading.
- Scarab Sight: The Scarab can track anyone Jaime met since it bonded with him. It can scan the people Jaime encounters, informing him of any major physical conditions (such as pregnancy). It can identify people related to those it's already encountered by genetic analysis. It can also see extra-dimensional objects. It can perceive magic, see how a magical effect can be dispelled, and see through magical concealment. It is continually aware of the electricity in the surrounding environment. Its scans can cover at least a five mile square. All of this information is communicated to Jaime in a manner he can comprehend.
- Metahuman Analysis: The Scarab is also capable of analysing metahumans, overlaying the scan onto Jaime's vision, providing its analysis in a written language that Jaime, as yet, does not understand.
- Symbiotic Telepathic Communication: The Scarab has some form of sentience, albeit a distinctly alien form. It can communicate with Jaime as a voice in his mind (which sounds like Jaime's mother), primarily using this to inform Jaime of what it sees, what's going on, what it can do, and what it would do in a given situation. No-one else can hear it.
- Network Connection: The Scarab can establish a connection to commlinks, enabling Jaime to speak to the person on the other end.
- Blue Beetle Armor: The Scarab can create a distinctive suit of armor in response to Jaime's thoughts, or when it deems use of the armor necessary. Once the Scarab dispels the armor, it retracts back into Jaime's body, causing him intense pain.
- Superhuman Strength & Agility: The armor gives Jaime enough strength to move a small truck.
- Resilience: The armor can survive the heat and impact of atmospheric re-entry without seeming damage, even when the earth around it has been turned to glass. It can survive high temperatures without seeming ill-effect.
- Tools and Weapons: The armor can create a wide array of tools and weapons from itself, including energy cannons, blasters, shields, grappling hooks, claws, and more besides. The armor's energy blasts can penetrate a Green Lantern ring's shield.
- Wing Shields: The armor can create a pair of wings, enabling Jaime to fly and hover. They can also double as shields, should the need arise.
- Partial Armor Manifestation: Jaime can manifest parts of the armor - like the energy blaster - without needing to manifest the whole suit.
- Energy Pattern Disruption: The armor can negate various magical effects, a power the Scarab calls 'energy pattern disruption'.
- Vibrational Frequency Manipulation: The armor can create an alternate reality pocket, shifting Jaime out of phase with this universe. It can also negate the 'vibrational frequencies' of extra-dimensional objects, pulling them into this reality. The area of effect of this latter is unknown; it has been seen to affect objects at least the size of Brother Eye.
- Clothing Manifestation: The Scarab can create clothes for Jaime, apparently from recycled waste and skin, which melt when he takes them off.
- Concealment: The Scarab is capable of concealing itself from 21st century technology (though Skeets, from the 25th century, was able to find it). It has blocked a magical attempt to probe it, lashing out at the person who tried.
The Scarab's 'pincers' have been seen to spark on occasion when the armor is in use.
Limitations/Weaknesses:
- Truce With Nature: The Scarab will not hurt nature, or the magical creatures thereof (beings who draw their power from the Green, for example), of its own volition.
- Alien Sentience: The Scarab's sentience is distinctly alien; while it won't hurt /nature/, it has shown no such reluctance when it comes to humans, being willing to injure or kill them. Fortunately, Jaime has so far prevented it from killing people.
- Green Lantern Corps: The Scarab sees the Green Lantern Corps as the 'enemy'. In Jaime's first few days as the Beetle, the Scarab, believing he couldn't handle a fight against a Green Lantern, did everything in its power to get him away from the Lanterns - up to and including shifting him outside the Universe. The Green Lantern rings, for their part, seem to fear the Scarab, responding in different ways depending on their wielders (e.g. John Stewart's sparks, as if afraid, while Guy Gardner's induces what can only be described as a 'super-migraine', along with an intense desire to kill the Scarab's bearer).
- Dispelling The Armor: As mentioned above, dispelling the armor causes Jaime intense pain.
Miscellaneous
- The Scarab was created by an as-yet unidentified alien race. Whoever they were, they saw the Green Lantern Corps as an enemy, and had the technology to utilize vibrational frequencies.
- The Scarab identifies Danielle Garrett, Dan Garrett's granddaughter, as a potential threat. Why this should be is unknown.
- Bottom Feeder receives an insight when he first meets Jaime, putting a name to an 'army' that haunts his dreams - the Reach. Who and what the Reach are, and what their connection to the Scarab is, remains to be seen.
- Whether the 'alien tomb' the Peacemaker discovered still exists, and what would happen should the Scarab ever rediscover it, remain to be seen.
Notes
- An early origin for the Scarab claimed it was the creation of Nabu, the Lord of Order who empowered Doctor Fate, utilizing time traveller technology (Time Masters #6). This origin no longer applies to the Scarab.
Trivia
Recommended Readings
- Blue Beetle (Volume 2, DC)
- Infinite Crisis
- Blue Beetle (Volume 1, DC) #18
Related Articles
External Links
References