Origin
Abner Jenkins was a master mechanic at an aircraft parts factory who became dissatisfied with his boring, low paying job. Using his considerable mechanical knowledge, Jenkins built an armor-plated, strength-augmenting suit, a pair of gravity-defying wings, suction-fingered gloves, and a cybernetic control helmet. Calling himself the Beetle, Jenkins decided to use his battle-suit for fame, wealth, and adventure. Believing a victory over half the Fantastic Four would make him an overnight sensation, the Beetle chose to lure the Human Torch and the Thing into battle. However, the Thing and the Torch defeated him, and he was sent to prison.
Paroled a short time later, he sought revenge on the Torch, but found himself in battle with Spider-Man instead. He kidnapped the girlfriend of the Torch, and the Torch briefly battled Spider-Man, thinking he was in league with the Beetle. Once again, with help from the Torch, he was defeated after a cage of high-temperature flame was created around him. He was jailed once more. Upon his release, he decided to forego petty revenge and concentrated on the acquisition of wealth. At one point the Beetle was mentally dominated and recruited by the Collector to serve as his unwilling agent. Under the Collector’s domination, the Beetle faced the Avengers. He battled Daredevil and then, allied with Gladiator, fought him again. The Beetle also battled Spider-Man again.
Creation
The Beetle was created by Stan Lee and Carl Burgos and first appeared in Strange Tales #123. Although, Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley deserve credit as 30 years later they chose the character and reinvented him for Thunderbolts. He first appeared as Mach I, a member of the Thunderbolts, in Incredible Hulk Vol.2 issue 449 (1997).
Character Evolution
Abe has undergone a lot of changes since his creation. Initially a Human Torch villain, the character soon also became a recurring foe for Daredevil, Iron Man and most notably Spider-Man. As a villain, his overall contribution to the Marvel Universe was minimal, his most prominent action was probably forming the Sinister Syndicate to eliminate Spider-Man. Beetle also joined an incarnation of the Masters of Evil and a rather forgettable foray with the Sinister Seven in the 90s. Not long afterwards, the character became a founding member of the Thunderbolts and went on to fully reform and shed his villainous past. Abe also nobly served a prison sentence for his past crimes, proving he truly has moved on from his past. He has also been romantically involved on-again-off-again with his similarly reformed team-mate Songbird.
Major Story Arcs
As the Beetle
After their first battle, the Beetle wanted to gain revenge on the Human Torch so he searched for him, he followed the Human Torch, studied him, and then knew what he must do. He attempted to kidnap The Human Torch’s girlfriend Doris. When the Beetle arrived at Doris’s house, he encountered Spider-Man. The two fought, but the Beetle was able to eventually make a getaway. When the Human Torch arrived, he saw webbing thought Spider-Man was responsible for the kidnapping of his girlfriend. He then chased Spider-Man, who led him to the Beetle. They eventually caught the Beetle and he was sent back to jail.
The Beetle’s original battlesuit was trashed after an encounter with Iron Man. Shortly afterward he designed a more sophisticated suit. He hired the Ringer so that he could analyze Spider-Man’s fighting style and strategies and program them into his battle computer. Unfortunately for him, he put a vital system right on his helmet and Spider-Man snapped it off causing the suit to shut down.
Beetle would spend several years being beaten by Spider-Man, Iron Man and Daredevil. He would form the Sinister Syndicate with fellow criminal Speed Demon, Rhino, Hydro-Man, and Boomerang. The Beetle’s armor was upgraded by Justin Hammer (one of his regular employers) and thus brought him to the attention of Iron Man during Demon in a Bottle and later during his Armor Wars. None of his Mark II armors would last long after the original was negated.
Beetle would later fall into Kingpin‘s debt, and after getting out of prison, reformed the Sinister Syndicate to pay him off. However the group quickly falls apart when Boomerang is captured, and they devolve into paranoia and revenge, manipulated by Leila Davis, the widow of the Ringer, who was seeking revenge against Abe for the downfall and death of her husband. On the Kingpin’s orders, Beetle killed the criminal Dr. Goulding, enraging the Rhino, who had hired Goulding to remove his armor. As the group clashed, Leila tried to kill Beetle using her husband’s ring weapons, and almost succeeded, but he was saved by Spider-Man at the last minute, and returned to prison.
Justice, like Lightning (from villain to hero)
Abner came to the attention of Baron Zemo who was organizing a new Masters of Evil. When the majority of the worlds heroes sacrificed themselves to stop Onslaught, the Masters of Evil came up with the idea to impersonate a new team of Heroes. They became the Thunderbolts. Abner took up the identity of MACH-I. Their plan was to gain the trust of the people and gain access to sensitive equipment that would help them take over the world. During their time as Heroes many of the Masters of Evil started to like the admiration and respect they were earning in their new roles.
Abner also became interested in Melissa Gold, the villainess formerly known as Screaming Mimi, now going by Songbird. The two became a couple much to the displeasure of Baron Zemo. The Black Widow, suspecting who the Thunderbolts really were, cornered the duo when they were alone and related to them a story of redemption and how several of the Avengers themselves were once villains to saw the light. Before Songbird and MACH-I could decide what to do the heroes returned from Counter-Earth and Zemo outed them to the world. The Thunderbolts initially went along with Zemo (as the heroes were after them) and when Zemo set his plan into motion most of the team turned on him. After stopping his plan the Thunderbolts went on the run and tried to prove that they had really turned over a new leaf and wanted to be the heroes they had tried to be before.
Punishment for his Crimes
Hawkeye inserted himself into the group and seeing the potential in this team tried to broker a deal to get them pardoned. Unfortunately the government didn’t go for it but Hawkeye didn’t tell them this. Part of the deal included Abner turning himself in for a murder he committed while he was the Beetle. Reluctantly, even after Songbird offered to flee with him, he agreed to turn himself in. Abner knew doing so would be extremely risky as many of the inmates knew that he had turned against them and even put them in prison. His time as a hero, however, had changed him for the better, and he believed that Songbird and the other Thunderbolts had a chance at a better life is he cooperated with Hawkeye.
The Beetle Once More
In prison, Abe found himself in constant danger criminals he had betrayed during his time as Beetle, as well as those he’d jailed as MACH-1. Abner’s former employer Justin Hammer, impressed by his resourcefulness, contacted him through the telepath Mentallo, and offered to cut him in on a breakout of Seagate Prison. When Hammer triggered a blackout, allowing the prisoners to escape, Abe chose instead to fight against his old criminal acquaintances. He managed to subdue Boomerang, Blizzard, and even Rhino on his own, before breaking into the prison communications tower. Using the engineering he’d learned from Songbird’s sonic harness, he used the communications tower to play a high-pitched frequency to knock everyone at Seagate unconscious, himself included. He was returned to prison, but felt satisfied knowing he’d been a true hero.
Abe’s actions did not no unnoticed by the Commission on Superhuman Activities, who recruited him for a sting operation on Justin Hammer. He once again donned the identity of the Beetle, with a new suit of government-funded armor. Following C.S.A. orders, he stole a top secret Roxon project containing weaponized hard air and delivered it to Hammer. He was then confronted by his old teammates the Thunderbolts, who believed he had returned to crime. A brawl erupted between Beetle, the Thunderbolts, and Hammer’s hired muscle: Hydro-Man, Whiplash, & Speed Demon. Not wanting to hurt his friends, Abner ran as soon as he could, but Hawkeye took down the armor – which was revealed to be empty, piloted by Abe from a remote location, much to the surprise of both the Thunderbolts and the C.S.A.
On the run once again, Abe made contact with Hawkeye, and the group devised a plan. Hawkeye cut a deal with the C.S.A’s Henry Gyrich; Abe officially remains in captivity, while he really gets to rejoin the Thunderbolts under a new identity. In return, Abe handed the C.S.A Hammer, and all the incriminating evidence they could ask for. Gyrich begrudgingly accepted, and Abe was finally able to properly reunite with his friends.
MACH-2
Upon his “release” Abe’s looks were changed by the Fixer to go with his new identity of Matthew Davis. Abe’s new face at first caused some friction with his girlfriend Songbird (as Fixer had transformed him from a Caucasian to African-American) but she grew used to it. His features eventually returned to normal and he is still working with the Fixer. After the Thunderbolts stop Special Agent Gyrich from killing all metahumans with nanobots the Thunderbolts were all issued pardons in exchange for never donning their costumes again. Abe and Melissa tried to make new lives for themselves as ordinary civilians. Abe got a job at an electronics store, but lost the job just as quickly when he turned his employer over to the police for selling parts on the black market. His relationship with Melissa was also troubled as she had a hard time finding work, and had an even harder time accepting Abe’s new face. Ultimately, they pulled through, finding new work and reconnecting as a couple.
MACH-3
This domestic peace was short-lived as Graviton returned and killed all of the Redeemers, thus the V-Battalion issued the Thunderbolts new version of their uniforms and armors. Abe’s MACH-III armor was designed by the V-Battalion (as opposed to the two developed by himself and the Fixer). In death Graviton flung Abe, along with Moonstone, Fixer, Atlas, and Jolt to Counter-Earth, while Songbird, who remained on Earth, believed them all to be dead.
On Counter-Earth, Abe initially only wanted to return home, but his heroic instincts won out, and he took the lead on stopping the Counter-Earth versions of the Thunderbolts from controlling the world’s communications, declaring that they were “The good guys.” He soon found himself with the opportunity to do more good for Counter-Earth, as the newly-reborn Helmut Zemo launched a plan to save Counter-Earth from itself.
Abe and the rest of the Thunderbolts did much good for Counter-Earth, but ultimately had to return to their own world to break the link between the two worlds and save them both from destruction. Abe reunited with Melissa, but soon afterward decided he didn’t want to live under false pretenses, and decided to serve his original prison sentence, regardless of Hawkeye and Gyrich’s deal. Harrier, who had become a Thunderbolts alongside songbird and Hawkeye in Abe’s absence decided to join him, to earn his own redemption and watch Abe’s back. Around this time, Fixer, also seeking personal redemption of a sort, reversed the surgical alterations the android Techno had made to Abe’s face and skin, returning him to his original appearance.
Once in prison, Abe kept in contact with Melissa, who fed him information about Zemo’s activities, which he in turn relayed to Carol Danvers and the Avengers. These actions helped him to finally reduce his original prison sentence, and he was released soon after.
New Thunderbolts and Civil War
Upon his official release he re-created the Thunderbolts (which had temporarily disbanded) to help give other villains seeking redemption a chance (or in some cases a chance to be in the spotlight for the other side). He redesigned his armor and once again renamed himself, this time as MACH-IV. He had good intentions, but in order to achieve his dream of the Thunderbolts being an independent team he borrowed money Baron von Strucker of HYDRA in order to fund the project. He had every intent of betraying Strucker, but when his team found out they were disillusioned with Abe’s leadership. Songbird took over the team and Abe took a leave of absence.
Zemo later recruited Abe, along with Fixer, to kill Genis-Vell and avert a terrible future. Abe regretted going after Genis, but Zemo’s vision of the future made him believe it was truly needed. After Genis’s death, Zemo and songbird united their respective Thunderbolts. In the event of the Civil War, Abe has joined the Hero Hunters and is overseeing three college students using the previous Beetle armors (the first beetle theme design, the second streamlined update, and the third tank-like armor). Later, Abe assisted Zemo in his battle against Grandmaster, but when Zemo decided to use his powers to take over the world, he sided with songbird and helped to bring him down. Not long afterwards, he and Fixer left the Thunderbolts to act as agents of the C.S.A. and the team was handled to corrupt business tycoon Norman Osborn and was staffed with unrepentant serial killers such as Bullseye and Venom.
Dark Reign
After Osborn’s rise to power following the Skrull Invasion, one of his big targets was the ex-Thunderbolt and constant thorn-in-his-side; Songbird. After Songbird went into hiding, Abe and the Fixer were interrogated by H.A.M.M.E.R. agents who were looking for her. Osborn’s Thunderbolts, who were now exclusively a wet-works team of murderers and mercenaries were soon sent after Melissa and also the Black Widow. With help from Nick Fury and his Secret Warriors, Songbird and Black Widow formed a temporary “Thunderbolts Resistance” with Abe and Fixer.
Eventually, Songbird was tracked down and things were looking bleak for her. As luck would have it friction amongst Osborn’s black-ops team, particularly between the more honorable members such as Paladin against the murderous Mister X and Scourge, allowed Abe to intervene in a new MACH-IV armor and save the injured Melissa.
Heroic Age
After Osborn was removed from power, Abe rejoined the Thunderbolts, now led by the Avenger Luke Cage, as an employee of the government agency F.A.C.T. Abe, along with Fixer, Cage, and Songbird, acted as one of the program supervisors, keeping tabs on the criminal members of the team. Abe also upgraded to new MACH-V armor and designed new security measures for The Raft. As a member of the team he fought threats like Hyperion, Kaiju, and The Serpent. He, as well as Songbird, joined with a big team of Avengers called upon in Fear Itself: The Fearless.
After most of the Thunderbolts were lost in time, Abe and Melissa discovered a plot by F.A.C.T to take over foreign nations using the Dark Avengers as covert agents. Abe and Melissa managed to destroy F.A.C.T’s secret headquarters while Luke Cage and the returning Thunderbolts defeated the Dark Avengers. Shortly afterward, the Thunderbolts disbanded.
Government Parole Officer and return to Thunderbolts
Abe, having upgraded his armor to MACH-VII, became the parole officer of his former Sinister Syndicate and Thunderbolts team-mate Boomerang. Although Abe wanted to trust his former friend, he often felt that Boomerang was lying and not taking his parole serious enough.
Eventually, Abe, now known as MACH-VIII, took on a job as a security enforcer for the super-prison facility known as Pleasant Hill. This was a location in which villains where robbed of their own identities and given new ones as all-American stand-up citizens. During an outbreak of the facility, when the supervillains regained their own identity, Abe found out that some of his former teammates where also put there, despite their former efforts of becoming good. This got Abe to join his former teammates, reassembling the Thunderbolts in hopes of putting a stop of the illegal activities of SHIELD.
Standoff and Return of the Thunderbolts
More recently, it was revealed that many (former) supervillains had been arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. and was brought into Pleasantville, a seemingly nice and small community. This however turned out to be a ‘prison’ created with fragments of a Cosmic Cube, which had instantly given every (former) villain a new identity as a respectful country-loving citizen. When Abe heard about this, he soon tracked down his old teammates and helped them out to stay out of the hands of the law, risking his own status as a true hero. He and the other Thunderbolts soon rejoined under the leadership of Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier.
Thunderbolts and Secret Empire
Abe, once again a Thunderbolt, now using newly-made MACH-X armor, initially had mixed feelings about being an outlaw again, but believed in Bucky and their cause. Abe had some happy moments with the Thunderbolts and his old teammates, feeling right having his old teammates around and going back to doing heroic things. It eventually became even better when Abe’s lover Songbird also rejoined the Thunderbolts. However, these good times where not meant to last, as Baron Zemo eventually struck against the Thunderbolts and informed the team that Hydra, the altered (Nazi) Captain America and he himself where staging a coup to take power in America. While Songbird and Match-VIII refused Zemo’s offer to join his new team of evildoers, the other Thunderbolts eventually sided with Zemo, defeating both Songbird and Match-VIII. Both heroes where left defeated in the cold snow, with their fates still unsure up to this moment (2023).
Powers and Equipment
Abner has no superhuman powers, but has extensive knowledge of mechanics and engineering.
As the Beetle, Abner designed and wore a suit of full body powered armour that granted him superhuman strength and durability and artificial winged flight. The suit’s gloves contained pneumatic suction-grippers, enabling him to cling to walls or lift things with his fingertips. The suit could also create an electrostatic energy discharge referred to as the “electro-bite”. On the back of the suit are a set of ultra-tough mylar wings powered by super efficient micro-motors which enable him to fly. Antennae built into the suit’s helmet allowed reception and ultra-efficient conversion of microwaves, providing the suit with a constantly-replenishing power supply. A mini-computer built into the chest-plate feeds data to heads-up displays in the helmet, providing him with constantly-updated tactical analysis of his opponent’s movements.
As MACH-I, Abner and the Fixer designed a new suit of power armor which granted superhuman strength, durability, and flight as the Beetle suit did. This new suit, designed as a “man-sized fighter jet,” contains a wide variety of weapon systems, instead of the insect-themed powers of the previous armor. These included energy beams, automatic firearms with rubber bullets, guided missiles & gas grenades. The helmet contained communications technology and could also jam some mind-control technology, such as the Enclave‘s Bio-Modem. It also contained a compact flight computer. Each successive iteration of Abner’s MACH armor has increased the speed, durability, and weapons options at his disposal.
Alternate Beetle
Beetle (Hobgoblin Franchisee)
An unnamed individual who purchased the rights to use an older model of Abner’s Beetle Armor and the villain name from the Hobgoblin.
Alternate Earths
Earth-1610
There is a Beetle in the Ultimate universe who is an operative of the Latverian government who opposes Spider-Man. His identity is unknown, however the existence of an ultimate version of Abe Jenkins was also confirmed among a list of names in a database.
Earth-2149
In the Marvel Zombies reality Abe appears alongside the Thunderbolts and is wearing the MACH-I armor. The group is fighting a zombie Thor and then Nova. He was later killed by Human Torch’s flame blast.
Earth-807128
In the Old Man Logan reality, Abe Jenkins was a member of the Thunderbolts as Mach-X. When it came time for the united supervillain takeover of the planet, he and his teammates betrayed the Avengers and helped Baron Zemo kill many of them. Nearly 45 years later, an elderly Abe works at a Doombot factory due to the Thunderbolts not being trusted by the villains who now run the planet. When a vengeful Hawkeye shows up, Abe dons his old Beetle armor one last time to fight his former leader, admitting that he only betrayed the Avengers to save Songbird’s life. He is ultimately killed by Hawkeye, who finds a letter Abe had written to Melissa, telling her that she remained in his heart until the day he died.
In Other Media
Television
Spider-Man
The Beetle appears in an episode of the 1981 Spider-Man series (the show which would later become Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends). He was voiced by Christopher Collins.
Iron Man: The Animated Series
The Beetle briefly appears in the “Armor Wars” story arc from Iron Man: The Animated Series, where Iron Man defeated him and destroyed his armor. He was voiced by John Reilly, who played the character with an English accent as a nod to the band The Beatles.
Ultimate Spider-Man
The Beetle appears as a recurring antagonist in Ultimate Spider-Man, voiced by Steven Blum. This version of the character is a deadly mercenary with a high-tech suit of armor, who clashed with Agent Coulson in the past. He returns to kill Coulson, but is thwarted. He appears in several other episodes, such as when he battles Hawkeye, and later joins the Sinister Six.
Avengers Assemble
Beetle appears in the third season of the series, which takes place in the same continuity as Ultimate Spider-Man. After having quit the Sinister Six, Beetle is seen as part of the Masters of Evil, and is defeated along with the rest of his teammates. The group is later recruited by Baron Zemo, who has them pose as a team of heroes named the Thunderbolts, with Beetle changing his identity to MACH-IV. Like the rest of his teammates, MACH-IV eventually reforms and becomes a legitimate heroe. He is voiced by Mark Hanson.
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Beetle appears in the episode “Dead Man’s Party,” where he uses a suit containing stolen Oscorp technology. He is defeated by Spider-Man while attempting an armored car hijacking, and is sent to prison. He returns in “The Living Brain,” where he and Electro fight against Spider-Man and Yuri Watanabe before being defeated again and sent back to their cells.
He was voiced by Fred Tatasciore.
Video Games
Spider-Man: The Animated Series
The Beetle appeared in Super Nintendo and Sega Gensis games based off Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
Spider-Man: Lethal Foes
The Beetle appeared as a boss character in this Japanese video game.
Ultimate Spider-Man
The Beetle appears as a boss character in this game, predating his actual appearance in the Ultimate comics. This version of the character is an agent hired by Doctor Doom to commit various mysterious acts, including stealing a vial containing the Sandman, freeing the Green Goblin from captivity, and later capturing Venom. He was voiced by Tucker Smallwood.
Merchandise
- A Beetle action figure was released for the Spider-Man: The Animated Series line from ToyBiz, even though the character never appeared in that show.
- Beetle was featured in ToyBiz’s Spider-Man Classics line.
- Eaglemoss produced a lead Beetle figurine.
- A Beetle Lego figure was released as one of the Ultimate Spider-Man Lego kits.
- A Beetle action figure was released as part of the Marvel Legends Ultimate Green Goblin Build-a-Figure wave from Hasbro. The wave was released in conjunction with Amazing Spider-Man 2, though once again the character was not present in the actual film. The design was taken from the character’s Ultimate look.
- A classic Beetle figure was later featured in the Marvel Legends Vulture Build-a-Vehicle wave from Hasbro.
- Abe is featured in the HeroClix figure game in his Beetle, MACH-IV and MACH-X personas.
- Mach-I was featured in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line as part of the Abomination Build-a-Figure wave.