History
Black Beetle (originally posing as a Blue Beetle from the future) appears to Booster Gold in a time sphere, and offers him a chance to go back in time and save his best friend, Ted Kord from his death at the hands of Maxwell Lord, despite Rip Hunter‘s claims that Ted’s death is a point of solidified time, and thus cannot be altered. Booster agrees to go along with Black Beetle, who has also recruited Dan Garrett, the first Blue Beetle, and Jaime Reyes, the current Blue Beetle, for the mission. The group are successful in rescuing Ted, and he and Booster return to the present. Upon their return, however, they learn that the timeline has been altered, and that Max and his OMACs are policing the whole world .
When Booster and Beetle, gathering some of their old Justice League International teammates, attempt to fix the timeline, they are attacked by Black Beetle, who reveals his true colors, and his affiliation with the Time Stealers, a group consisting of Despero, Per Degaton, the Ultra-Humanite, and Supernova who attack the group. As the battle rages, Ted realizes that the only way to fix things is to return to the past and allow himself to be murdered. Black Beetle attempts to stop him, revealing that he is “Jaime Reyes’ greatest enemy”, and that Jaime took away someone very close to him. He also reveals that he followed the Time Stealers’ plan to prevent Ted’s death so that Jaime would never have become the Blue Beetle. Both he and Ted enter the Time Stealers’ time sphere, which then activates. It is later reveled that Ted had restored the timeline.
After Nadia is killed by the Kahji Dha Revolutionary Army, her brother Hector blames Jaime and leaves country. He acquires Reach technology, and takes the name Joshua after the former host Djo Zha. He later tells Jaime that he is Hector, but than claims to have killed Hector and stole his technology. He then later claims to be Jaime from the future, driven mad after being attacked by a brain-damaged Milagro.
Recent Activity
Black Beetle recently attacked Booster Gold and Dick Grayson at the Batcave. He escaped to the past and changed the future to where Dick Grayson died as Robin. he used many other distractions, such as killing the Teen Titans. to steal a more powerful Red Scarab from Trigon’s throneroom. Rip Hunter tracked down Black Beetle and overload the armor with energy, seemingly killing Black Beetle. He reappeared in the present, attacking Jaime Reyes. When Milagro was injured by Black Beetle, Jaime decided to let the villain escape to get his sister medical attention.
Powers
Strength Level:
In the “Young Justice” series, we see Black Beetle easily defeating both Superboy and Wonder Girl (in addition to the other members of the YJ team), both of whom possess above Class 100 level superhuman strength. In a later episode, we see him grappling with Mongul, who is easily Superman’s equal in physical strength. We can surmise that Black Beetle Scarab can imbue its wearer with a tremendous level of superhuman strength, (lifting or carrying hundreds of tons), once they have mastered the use of the device (when Blue Beetle destroyed the black scarab, Black Beetle is revealed to be an ordinary ‘soldier drone’ of the reach.)
Other Powers:
Black Beetle wears what appears to be a black version of Jaime Reyes’ scarab. It has been shown achieving flight and firing energy, and traveling through time and protecting the wearer from time portal effects. Black Beetle also has a variety of energy-based attack weapons, and melee weapons at his disposal, thanks to the shape-shifting nature of the armor that the black scarab provides.
Other Media
Animation
Young Justice: Invasion
Black Beetle appears as a recurring antagonist in the second season of the show, though initially he is only ever shown in shadow and referred to as “the Partner” of the Light. He first appears in “Salvage”, where kills an Appellaxian creature that had been rescued by Blue Beetle and Superboy. In the episode “Alienated”, he destroys Malina Island and kills a number of Kroloteans in order to allow Kaldur’ahm to escape.
In the episode “Before the Dawn”, he is finally confirmed to be a member of the Reach. He battles the members of the Team and duels Jaime Reyes, before the teens manage to escape with a number of captive youths the Reach had planned to experiment on. In the show, he does not call himself Black Beetle, but the name is instead given to him by Wonder Girl. He was voiced by writer and actor Kevin Grevioux.
In the episode “True Colors” Black Beetle makes another appearance. He goes toe to toe with Tim Drake, Roy Harper, Blue Beetle, and Bart Allen. In this battle, it is shown that he has the same green skin as the Reach do, and that his suit can regenerate. He is stalemated by Green Beetle (The Beetle of Mars) and Blue Beetle. In the episode “Summit,” the alliance between the Reach and the Light dissolves, and Black Beetle kills Ra’s al Ghul by stabbing him through the chest. After escaping, Black Beetle states that the invasion of Earth has been a failure, and that the only course of action left is to exterminate the planet and flee.