Blue Beetle
Vital statistics
Real name	Jaime Reyes[1]
Species	Human
Designation	B22[2]
Other info Physical description Gender Male Hair color Black Eye color Brown Relationships Affiliation The Team Powers and abilities Equipment Scarab
Production details
First appearance	"Happy New Year"
Voiced by	Eric Lopez
Image gallery (43)

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Blue Beetle (real name Jaime Reyes) is a member of the Team.

Personality

Blue Beetle seems to have a relaxed, mellow attitude when it comes to easy missions. His teammates find him odd because he appears to talk and argue with himself on many occasions, when it is actually the Blue Beetle Scarab talking to him.^[2] He dislikes the Scarab's artificial intelligence, and is constantly at odds with it, and reacted favorably when Superboy called it an "inner demon". He disagrees with the artificial intelligence's suggestions on most occasions, as it finds lethal courses of action preferable to capture and restraint.^[3]

Physical appearance

Jaime Reyes is a teenage Hispanic male with short black hair and brown eyes. He usually wears casual clothing: sweatshirts, t-shirts and jeans.^[2][1]

As Blue Beetle, just like his name, he resembles a beetle insect in a blue full-body suit. He can extend two large wings behind his back and can change his limbs into weapons.^[2]

History

Early life

Jaime Reyes lives in El Paso, and attends Rio Grande High School. His best friend is Tye Longshadow.^[1]

At some point, a Scarab bonded to his spine. He believes that it was created by Ted Kord,^[3] but it is actually alien.^[4] He never met the man who had the name "Blue Beetle" before him, as he was murdered by the Light, but everyone told him that Ted was a good man.^[3]

2016

Blue Beetle arrived in Gotham's sewers after the Delta Squad took care of Clayface. He complained about Beast Boy's odor.^[2]

In the Cave, Blue Beetle removed his suit and advised Beast Boy to take a shower before leaving.^[2]

Blue Beetle, Lagoon Boy and Robin were assigned as Gamma Squad to capture the remaining Kroloteans in New Orleans.^[2]

Gamma squad arrived in New Orleans and did not find anything suspicious above ground. They went underwater and reached the base of the Kroloteans. They hid from them, while Robin contacted Mal and informed him that they found the base. They were discovered by the Kroloteans and were attacked. Blue Beetle fought against the aliens until he overheard the leader commanding the other Kroloteans to vacate, as he was initiating the self-destruct function. Blue Beetle took a Krolotean hostage to find the kidnapees. The Gamma Squad found them and escaped the base before it exploded. The Justice League and the Team arrived to help.^[2]

Disguised in civilian clothes, Jaime and Karen arrived at Bibbo's Diner, to apprehend a Krolotean masquerading as Bibbo Bibbowski. The creature recognized them, and after a lengthy chase, escaped.^[5]

Jaime was watching the completion of the Zeta-Shield with Mal Duncan when an agitated Superboy walked by. Without explanation, he whisked Jaime away to help him with personal business.^[3]

At the Scarab's insistence, Blue Beetle inquired about the mission. Superboy told him about the alien bomb at Malina Island, and how known alien tech smuggler Bruno Mannheim was his first suspect. After Superboy noticed him talking to himself, Blue Beetle explained the origin of his Scarab. Like everyone else, Superboy had known Ted Kord as a good man.

They encountered Mannheim and Whisper A'Daire at the Hall of Justice. Mannheim activated an Apokoliptan device, which revived the residual energy in the Appellaxian husks inside the Hall's trophy room. As a side effect, it caused Blue Beetle's armor to overload. He could recover after Sphere jammed the signal, and joined the fight against the merged golem. He unwisely attacked with a sonic blast, which was bounced back and knocked Beetle, Superboy and Wolf out. Intergang and the golem escaped.

Giving chase, Superboy berated Blue Beetle for not doing his homework on the Appellaxians, the League's first case.^[3]

They caught up with the villains, and Sphere destroyed the control device. With Mannheim no longer in control, the golem made his way to the Arlington Nuclear Power Plant. Blue Beetle pinned Mannheim and A'Daire to a tree, and dismissed a remark by the Scarab that he should have pinned them through their bones.

The golem repelled all Superboy's and Wolf's attacks. Jaime wished they could just talk to it but the Scarab said it would show weakness, leading Jaime to realize it was possible and established a communication link with a sonic blast. They learned the golem sought to end its life to stop the pains it was in. Superboy offered help, but at that moment, a sonic blast from the forest destroyed the golem. Blue Beetle, still overcome by the communication, was in shock over its sudden death, and wondered who did it.^[3]

After having fallen asleep over his biology homework, Jaime was waken by a phone call from his best friend Tye Longshadow. Tye informed Jaime that he was running away because he had had enough of Maurice pushing him around. He was taking the last bus to Houston. Jaime, now wide awake, told Tye to wait for him by the statue of Cochise. Tye hung up, after saying he could make no promises.

Jaime headed to the bus depot, but Tye wasn't there. A clerk told him the bus had already left, and nobody had purchased a ticket to Houston.^[1]

Jaime decided to investigate, and during his free period the next morning, he visited Tye's mother Shelly. She explained Tye and Maurice had another disagreement the night before, and was sure he would return.

Maurice came back home early to pick up his lunch, and did not like seeing Jaime. He threatened to report him for ditching, but Jaime explained he had a free period. As Jaime questioned Maurice about Tye, the Scarab noticed Maurice's anger, and felt that an attack was imminent. The Scarab started to manifest part of the armor, but Jaime stuffed his hand in his jacket pocket to hide it. Shelly ushered him out and informed him that Tye might be with his grandfather, Holling.^[1]

At Happy Trails trailer park, Holling Longshadow told Jaime he hadn't seen Tye in weeks, and thought he was on a spiritual journey to connect with his roots. The Scarab thought he was wasting time, but when Holling told Jaime answers would come to him to get piece with "the one inside", the Scarab considered him a threat. Jaime resisted the Scarab again and made a hasty departure.

That night, Jaime went to his school, and wanted to investigate a shed Maurice maintained. Maurice discovered the trespasser, and wanted to teach him a lesson. Jaime accused him of harming Tye, but Maurice denied it. He was not jealous of Tye's heritage and destiny as chief, he only cared about making money. Jaime got past him and opened the shed, where he found a large quantity of pirated DVDs.

Maurice told him to forget what he saw, but Jaime decided to turn him in anyway. Unfortunately, he was no closer to finding Tye.^[1]

Jaime was one of the Team members, past and present, who had come to mourn after they had been told of the death of Artemis.^[6]

Powers and abilities

Jaime Reyes possesses no known superhuman powers. He relies entirely on the Blue Beetle armor he wears.^[2]

• Bilingualism: Jaime Reyes can speak English and Spanish, and mixes elements from both in his speech.^[2]

Equipment

Blue Beetle wears an alien^[4] Scarab, passed on by the previous Blue Beetle Ted Kord, that grants him a number of powers.^[3] He often converses with its artificial intelligence.

• Durability: The suit protected him from the deleterious effects of being stomped on—twice—by the Appellaxian Golem.^[3]
• Energy blasts: The suit can transform at least one hand into a sonic cannon.^[2]
• Flight: The suit can sprout translucent wings, enabling him to fly, but they do not flap like real wings; instead they stay in one place.^[2]
• Transformation: The suit can change into different forms. Examples of his transformations are a sonic cannon, battering ram,^[2] staple gun,^[3] plasma cannon and lockpick.^[1]
• Translation: The suit has demonstrated the ability to translate Krolotean speech for Blue Beetle, and vice versa.^[2]

Appearances

• 201. "Happy New Year"
• 203. "Alienated"
• 204. "Salvage"
• 205. "Beneath"
• 207. "Depths" ^{(no lines)}

Background in other media

• In the comics, Jaime Reyes is the third Blue Beetle, after Dan Garrett and Ted Kord. Where his predecessors were baffled by the Scarab that gave them their name, Jaime managed to unlock its powers and secrets. He also discovered it was alien, not magical as previously suspected.
• This is his second animated appearance; he was a recurring character on Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

References