Aliases : Theodore 'Ted' Kord.
Base of Operations : Gotham City, NJ.
Tag : blue beetle
Important Plots : None.
Journal(s) : azure_avenger
Status : Played

Powers and Abilities : Ted Kord is physically quite ordinary, though his martial arts training and exercise makes him fitter than an average male of his age, excepting his heart condition. He is a fairly skilled martial artist and gymnast, though those skills have atrophied somewhat in the past year. He possesses a brilliant and inventive mind, and an array of gadgets of his own design. His specialty is electronics, but he is adept at many technical fields.

His Beetle-Bot is considerably more formidable. The frame is a lightweight, nonmagnetic alloy. The outer shell is made from ceramic composite materials that can withstand high-caliber weapons-fire. The unit can lift approximately ten tons. The legs of the unit contain short-duration jump jets, increasing the agility available to the unit, which is already capable of great leaps due to its strength. The back of the torso houses retractable wings, useful for gliding. The outer shell of the unit contains a high-intensity built-in taser, as well as a special coating that enables the unit to activate a 'stealth mode' - providing real-time camouflage. The primary armament is built into the 'gauntlet' of the right hand - a variety of weapons systems crammed into a compact space. These include, amongst others: a grappling line, a taser, flame-retardant foam, a sound generator, rubber bullets, and a flash gun. The sensor suite, built into the head, allows perception in the infrared and ultraviolet range.

On the left hand, the unit has a built in palmtop computer, capable of remote-controlling the Bug, his VTOL beetle-shaped aircraft. This is not wired directly into the robot's brain, so as to prevent the potential security risks that could arise, and has to be operated with the robot's hand. Similarly, he carries a JLA signal device on the unit, but it is not integrated. As a final touch, Ted installed the original Blue Beetle's scarab on the robot's chest, serving as a kind of hood ornament. Its active powers may be inaccessible, but the scarab may passively ward off some mystical assaults.

History : Ted Kord's mentor, Daniel Garrett, was the original Blue Beetle - empowered by a magical Egyptian scarab. On his deathbed, he passed the scarab to Ted. Unfortunately, Ted could never seem to activate the magical powers of the scarab. Nevertheless, Dan's inspiration and that of the fledgling Justice League of America inspired Ted to take up crimefighting as the second Blue Beetle. Beetle even managed to join the Justice League, when it was reformed subsequent to the 'Crisis on Infinite Earths'. He served honorably, if humorously, and befriended Michael Jon Carter, AKA Booster Gold. The two became partners in mischief, continually embroiled in one half-baked prank or another.

Ultimately, Ted's heroic activities dwindled - that incarnation of the League disbanded, and the other teams he served on subsequently never gelled. Soon after, he would discover he had a heart condition - he was risking a heart attack every time he went into action. That revelation all but killed his costumed career, though he continued serving with the Justice League as a reservist and technical consultant. He threw most of his energies into running his company, KORD Technologies.

His retirement was not permanent, however. Ted had an epiphany one day - if he could not subject his body to the physical exertion of crimefighting, he'd just have to build a better body. To that end, he created a robotic body - one with a very primitive electronic brain. He also created a control pod that allows him to operate the robot by the electronic equivalent of telepathy - using Einstein's theories of quantum entanglement to relay information from his brain to the robot and back. The unit has full telepresence, allowing Ted to feel as if he's right in the thick of things. With the development of the Beetle-Bot, Ted's been reinstated as an active member of the Justice League.

Other Sources :

• Blue Beetle at the DC Database Project
• Blue Beetle at Wikipedia

Divergences : Diverges with Identity Crisis #1. Our Ted was obviously never shot in the head by Maxwell Lord. His robotic crimefighting surrogate is a new wrinkle, unique to Watchtower. In our continuity, Ted's scarab is actually magical - the one used by Jaime Reyes (The Scarab) is a separate technological artifact.

Disclaimer - unless otherwise noted, all characters are property of DC Comics, used here only for roleplaying purposes.