Abner Jenkins
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Art by Shawn McManus
The Beetle is the name of two comic book characters owned by Marvel Comics who exist within the fictional Marvel Universe. It is also the name of the three versions of high tech armor used by five separate characters.
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Publication history
The first version of the Beetle armor debuted in Strange Tales #123 (August 1964) as the creation of Abner Jenkins. This version would only be used for a few years before the character switched to the second version, which is the armor most associated with the name. This version would be in use until Thunderbolts #1 (April 1997) when Abe Jenkins alter ego was changed to MACH-1.
A new version of the Beetle armor debuted in Thunderbolts #35 (February 2000). This version resembled a walking tank and would be used by Jenkins and Leila Davis, the second person to use the Beetle identity. This version was crushed by Graviton, killing Davis, who was still inside at the time.
After Leila Davis' death the Beetle armor would go unused until Thunderbolts #103 (August 2006) when all three versions were stolen and used by three college students. How, why and exactly when the third version of the armor was rebuilt was not made clear. The individual names of these characters were not revealed.
character biography
Abner Jenkins
Template:Main An ex-master mechanic, Abe Jenkins left his career to pursue life as an adventurer seeking wealth and fame under the name, the Beetle. A defeat at the hands of the Fantastic Four sent him into the direction of a life of crime. Years later he joined a group named the Thunderbolts, a choice that eventually took him on a more heroic pathway in life.
Leila Davis
Template:Main The widow of the minor supervillain the Ringer, Leila began her criminal career as a henchwoman for her husband. After the Ringer's death Leila would go on to have her own costumed career, first as Hardshell, and finally as the Beetle. She was killed when Graviton crushed the Beetle armor with her still inside.
The three Beetle suits
Three college students stole the previous incarnations of the Beetle armor during Marvel's Civil War eventThunderbolts vol. 1 #103 (August 2006). The individual piloting the first version was called Joaquim and the person in the second version was revealed to be female. No other information was revealed about them in their subsequent appearances in Thunderbolts.Thunderbolts #104, 107 and 108 No individual code names were given to them either. In those issues which made up a storyline named the 'Guardian Protocols', they defend the city of Dallas against a plot by the Grandmaster as members of an enlarged Thunderbolts team recuited by Baron Zemo and consisting of numerous supervillains. When the Overmind lets the full power of the Wellspring (the source of power the Grandmaster is using) loose when he attempts to revive Baron Zemo, the defenders of Sydney and Dallas are overrun, with the three Beetles presumably among them.
In 2007, the three Beetles were identified among the 142 registered superheroes who appear on the cover of the comic book Avengers: The Initiative #1. Avengers: The Initiative #1 Character Map
Other comic book uses
The name Beetle was used by an armored S.T.R.I.K.E. superhuman restraint squad in the Jaspers' Warp story arc published by the Marvel UK imprint.
In other media
The Beetle has made numerous appearances outside of comic books. Most of these happened when Abe Jenkins was the only character using the name and it is assumed that he is the character in the armor.
Television
The Beetle appeared in the 1980s Saturday morning animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends voiced by Christopher Collins. The Beetle stole a crime-detection computer and the Power Booster invented by Tony Stark to increase his power. He was the first villain that the Spider-Friends faced together in that origin episode.
The Beetle made a brief appearance in the Iron Man animated series of the mid-1990s, during the "Armor Wars" two-parter, in which he was attacked by Iron Man and had his armor - based on stolen Stark designs - deactivated. He is voiced by John Reilly with a Liverpudlian accent that evokes the similarly-named band.
Beetle will soon appear in The Spectacular Spider-Man, he will be voiced by Dave Wittenberg.
Video games
- Beetle appears in both the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis games based off the animated series.
- The Beetle was the first boss in the 1995 Super Nintendo game Spider-Man: Lethal Foes, a game only released in Japan.
- The Beetle played a minor role in the sequel to the Spider-Man game for the PlayStation, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro. He only appeared in cut-scenes and did not appear as a boss character.
- In the Ultimate Spider-Man video game (released September 23, 2005), the Beetle makes his Ultimate continuity debut, acting as an agent for the Latverians, collecting genetic information from superhumans to allow them to genetically engineer super-soldiers. The notable actions he took in the game were stealing a vial of sand from which it is implied the Ultimate Sandman has a connection, freeing Norman Osborn (also known as the Green Goblin) and taking a sample of Venom who later defeats him. He also battled Spider-Man shortly after freeing the Green Goblin, but escaped by ducking into the nearby Latverian Embassy. It is unknown whether or not there are plans to include him in the ongoing Ultimate Spider-Man comics series. He was voiced by Tucker Smallwood.
