Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes)

Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes)

Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes) is a fictional character who appears in several comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appears in Infinite Crisis #3 (Feb. 2006). He was created by writers Keith Giffen and John Rogers, along with artist Cully Hamner.

Jaime Reyes is the third character to assume the mantle of superhero Blue Beetle, but he is substantially different from his two predecessors. Introduced in 1939, the original Blue Beetle (Dan Garrett) was a Fox Comics mystery man who drew seemingly mystical abilities from an ancient scarab found in Egypt. Published by Charlton Comics and later DC, 1966 creation Ted Kord was Garrett's student who continued Garrett's legacy of costumed crime-fighting though he was unable to access the magical powers of the scarab,. DC's introduction of Jaime Reyes in 2006 dramatically retconned and expanded upon the Blue Beetle mythos. Revealed to be alien in origin, the scarab fully bonds with Reyes and provides him with a suit of extraterrestrial battle armor shortly after Ted Kord's death. Though only a teenager, Reyes quickly learns the ropes, forms a working relationship with Kord's former teammate and best friend Booster Gold, and is inducted into the superhero team Teen Titans.

Though he is the most recent incarnation of Blue Beetle, the Jaime Reyes incarnation is also the most well represented Blue Beetle in adaptations of DC Comics properties, appearing in both animated and live action forms in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Young Justice and Smallville. Additionally, a Blue Beetle live-action drama focusing on Jaime Reyes is in production.