Genre: Action/Superhero
Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green
Writer: Jimmy Ellis
Producer: Robert Rodriguez
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Avan Jogia, Demian Bichir, Eion Bailey, Ian Bohen, Christopher Lloyd, Annalise Basso, Matt Berry, Daniel Stern, Scoot McNairy (voice)
Plot: Jaime Reyes (Avan Jogia) stands at the grave of Ted Kord. He talks to the headstone telling Kord that he doesn’t know if he can do what he did, if he can be the great hero that he was. He just wishes that he could’ve seen him one last time before he died. Alberto Reyes (Demian Bichir) arrives at the gravesite asking Jaime if he is ready to go to Kord Industries. Jaime nods before walking to the car with his father.
Alberto takes Jaime to Kord Industries and into the office of Ted Kord, the offices look abandoned since Kord’s death. In the office the two of them are met by Kord’s lawyer, Paul Barrett (Matt Berry). Barrett has Jaime and Alberto take a seat. Barrett tells the two that Ted Kord left a will, something he had written up as a precaution. He also left a message after Jaime went missing during the OMAC battle. Paul hands him a scarab-like machine. Jaime presses the button and a hologram of Ted Kord (Scoot McNairy) appears. Jaime tries to speak to him but obviously its pre-recorded so he can’t. Ted tells him that when he disappeared, they searched for days, no-one could find him. He says that he knows the scarab would have protected him however, even though he doesn’t need the protection anymore. Ted tells him that he is proud of the hero he has become, more importantly the person. He tells Jaime to take care of his family and continue to be the best version of himself. Jaime has tears in his eyes, Alberto placing a hand on his sons shoulder. Paul then begins to tell Jaime that Kord left him something in his will, hoping that he would eventually return. Paul begins to read the will eventually reaching, “To Jaime Reyes, I leave Kord Industries, may he do with it what he wishes, as well as this I leave my base of operations.” Jaime is shocked that Ted would leave Kord Industries with him, practically a child. Alberto looks to Jaime shocked. Jaime stands and shakes Paul’s hand. As they leave Paul yells after them wishing them luck.
After their return home, Alberto wishes to talk about what this all means. Jaime tells him that they will talk soon. Suddenly the scarab takes over. Jaime uses the scarab to fly over El Paso. As he is flying by, he notices a gang wearing masks holding everybody hostage inside a bank, they are trying to open up the big safe while a bunch of police officers are waiting outside trying to come up with a resolution. Just then at full speed, Jaime crashes through the window and stands up. Jaime commands the gang to stop what they are doing. The gang begin to shoot at Jaime, but the scarab protects him from damage. Jaime’s gun cannon begins to activate, and Jaime begins to shoot out sound manipulation at the gang members. He easily defeats all the gang members. Jaime ties all the gang members out and the officers thank him.
Jaime flies back home, as he lands the scarab detracts, leading to him going back into regular form. As he enters the house, he notices Brenda sitting on the lounge. She sees him and begins to tear up, she walks toward Jaime and slaps him. She asks him why he hadn’t come to see her. He was gone for two years; he didn’t tell her a thing. He tells her he was trying to protect her. She continues to cry before hugging Jaime.
Jaime decides now is a good time to sit down with Alberto to talk about Kord Industries. Brenda stays as well, hearing the conversation. Brenda asks him what he will do. Jaime says he doesn’t know asking what they would do. Alberto tells him that he will do what he thinks is right.
The next day Jaime arrives at Kord Industries, he looks around and mumbles that it is going to be a massive clean-up. With the help of the scarab, he cleans up all of Kord Industries a lot quicker. He comes upon a pod that has another scarab that Kord was researching missing. Jaime doesn’t think anything of it.
Jaime welcomes General Harry Hadley (Daniel Stern) in for some talks, he is backed by Alberto. The two parties talk about selling Kord Industries over to the military and all of the research that comes with it. They try to persuade him. Jaime looks to his father, his father reassuring him. As Jaime is about to sign the papers, he realizes how dangerous this can be if his technology falls into the wrong hands and backs away at the last second causing the general to tell him that he just made the wrong decision. The next day Jaime is at the office and finds out that Kord Industries’ rival company, Drawer Enterprises has struck the same deal with the military and finds, through Kord’s research, that their technology is much more dangerous than his.
CEO of Drawer Enterprises, Joshua Drawer (Eion Bailey) celebrates his deal with the military. He stares at a glowing black scarab in a container, smiling. He tells it that they will take over from where Ted left off.
Jaime meets up with Brenda. They have a lot of catching up to do. She tells him that she is now living with her Tia (aunt) Ampara, she is finally out of her father’s life. He tells her that he is glad she is out of the abusive household. She asks him how he has been. He tells her that the scarab brought him back to Bludhaven, he is surprised that she hadn’t seen the news about him returning. He adds that he helped some new friends defeat more aliens. Brenda jokes that aliens seem like the world’s biggest enemy lately.
Later that night, a truck carrying a shipment of weapons and armor is driving on the highway. It is stopped by a man wearing all black armor similar to Blue Beetle’s. The Black Beetle kills all the guards of the shipment and thus ruins the company’s imports. The beetle simply stands and smiles at the destruction he has caused.
Jaime is woken by the scarab alerting him to some danger. He activates it and takes off into the sky. He flies over the city seeing some destruction down below. He sees a giant wolf like creature terrorizing the city. Blue Beetle flies down and gains the creature’s attention by shooting small energy beams. The Wolf creature is super-fast and quickly begins to dodge Blue Beetle’s attacks. During the fight, Jaime coins the name “Coyote” for the wolf monster. Coyote soon overpowers Jaime and brutally bites his neck, he begins dragging him around through the streets and cars. Jaime tries everything he can to break free but nothing works. For the first time in his superhero career, Jaime feels weak and scared and sees the group of citizens watching him in despair and fear for his life. Police officers arrive and begin shooting at Coyote. Causing Coyote to let go of the bleeding Blue Beetle. Coyote begins running towards the police officers. Jaime notices his wounds healing and stands up, he flies and jumps between the police officers and Coyote. Jaime with his full strength begins to overpower Coyote and manages to defeat him, soon a group of Argus soldiers arrives to apprehend Coyote and throw him into a Cell for his transportation.
Joshua sits in his office reacting to the fight between Blue Beetle and Coyote on the television, he realizes that the other Scarab is back on the planet and begins planning ways to find Blue Beetle.
Jaime is at a meeting with Kord Industries shareholders, he tells them all that he plans on taking over the business. A few of the older men moan at this, two of them even get up and leave. He tells them that he intends to keep the ship running smoothly. One of the shareholders, Randall Truman (Ian Bohen) speaks up saying that Kord Industries lost a lot of clients in the year long gap since Kord’s death. He continues asking how they can believe that Jaime will lead them into the future. Jaime says that they can’t, but Ted did, that should be enough for them. Randall stands and tells them all that if Ted placed the young man in charge he did it for a reason.
Upon leaving Jaime notices the two men that left the meeting talking with Joshua Drawer. Jaime walks towards him and introduces himself. Joshua shakes his hand, just saying that he really needs to get a grasp on his shareholders, or they may look to other options. Joshua winks, he then goes on to say that he looks forward to battling it out with the newest owner of Kord Industries. As the two part ways Joshua notices Jaime’s scarab flash blue. He smiles.
Joshua does some research into Jaime and his family, finding his address.
Jaime returns home turning on the message that Ted left him, he just leaves the hologram up, frozen. Telling Ted that he wants to do him proud, he will do his best with Kord Industries.
Black Beetle stands across the road from the Reyes’ household, now knowing where the Blue Beetle lives.
Joshua is speaking with his scarab, with it telling him it is time to strike the Blue Beetle. Joshua agrees and transforms into the Black Beetle. Black Beetle lands at Kord Industries and begins to trash the place, attempting to get Blue Beetle’s attention. Randall Truman, grabs a gun and begins to open fire.
Jaime is walking with Brenda when the scarab takes over, he apologises to Brenda saying he is needed. He arrives at Kord Industries to see the building almost completely destroyed. Through the flames he sees black beetle approaching Randall. Blue Beetle rushes first head-on but Black Beetle smoothly dodges all of Jaime’s attacks. Jaime yells at Randall to leave. Randall scurries away. Black Beetle, clearly the more experienced fighter, makes quick work on Blue Beetle and drags him through several streets and begins taunting him. He tells Blue Beetle that he knows who he is, where he lives, and who his family and friends are.
Blue beetle now filled with anger tries once again and does a little damage to Black Beetle. Black Beetle is able to once again get the better of Blue Beetle. Black Beetle stabs Blue Beetle through the chest and is about to kill him until his Scarab tells him not to at the last minute. Black Beetle whispers Jaime’s address to his ear to confirm that he does know everything about him before flying away. Jaime begins to bleed out until he sees The Bug, Ted Kord’s ship, floating on top of him, somebody exits the vehicle and grabs Jaime before anybody sees him and escapes the scene.
Joshua begins to argue with the scarab. The scarab raises Joshua and plants him against a wall, we can see it is taking a mental toll on Joshua. The scarab begins to show Joshua their end gameplan.
Jaime wakes up in his bedroom, he makes his way to the living room only to see Black Beetle brutally slaughter his father and Brenda and it’s all his fault, Black Beetle soon stabs Jaime in the chest.
In the real world, Jaime is in a safe place. An older man (Christopher Lloyd) sits by his bed. Jaime begins to wake and sees his wounds patched up. He is put off by the presence of the old man who tells him to rest. His wounds will heal soon. Jaime asks for the mans name. The man says that his name is Dan Garret. Jaime is shocked to hear the name, saying he thought he died. Dan shakes his head saying that Ted kept him hidden, gave him a place to live all these years. He says that Ted had a message sent to him by Ted himself, telling him of Jaime. He plays the message. In the message Ted Kord tells Dan to look over Jaime, assuming that he will return. He says that Jaime is too confident for his own good. He continues to ask Dan to take care of Jaime, Ted fears that his end is coming soon. Ted smiles. The smile gets through to Jaime as he smiles back. Dan tells Jaime that he thinks its time he gives up the hero pursuit. Dan tells him that he already lost one Blue Beetle he wasn’t going to let the same thing happen to him. Jaime tells Dan that he won’t stop being Blue Beetle until Black Beetle is defeated and after that he agrees to be done. Dan attempts to convince Jaime to be done with the superhero life now, as it will bring in more pain and sorrow in Jaime’s life but Jaime is willing to continue being Blue Beetle as long as he saves at least one life. Dan says that if he is going to fight this Black Beetle again he may need a little help. Dan presents to Jaime a prototype that Kord was working on, his version of Skeets, Buggles (Scoot McNairy). Jaime thanks Dan before leaving to go home.
Jaime arrives home, hugged by his worried father, Alberto apologises about what happened to Kord Industries. Jaime shrugs it off going to his room. Jaime begins to talk to Buggles as if it were Ted. Buggles reminds him that although he has Ted’s voice, he in fact is not him. Jaime tells him he knows, he just likes to hear Ted’s voice.
Later on, Blue Beetle is trying to sleep, he continues to see Black Beetle in his dream, he opens his eyes and for a split second, thinks he sees him out his window.
Joshua begins studying his Scarab and it opens up a simulation where the scarab explains to Joshua where he came from. The Reach. Their goal is to spread their high glory across the known universe, they have sent several scarabs throughout different planets. The host of the scarab will then be congratulated by the Reach and be rewarded with much power. This interests Joshua, he is fully onboard, whatever it takes. The scarab tells Joshua that Blue Beetle is also a part of their alien race and they have to recruit him, they’ve tried once before but he got away. Joshua blindly agrees.
Black Beetle flies above the city, people on the ground mistakenly view him as Blue Beetle. He begins kidnapping several people, and takes them to a warehouse, hoping to catch the attention of Blue Beetle. Jaime notices Black Beetle when he is talking with Buggles. He asks Buggles if he is ready for a fight. Buggles tells him he’s ready to kick some ass. Blue Beetle flies into the sky scanning for the missing hostages, his scarab picks up the other scarab’s energy charts and makes Jaime fly to it.
Blue Beetle finds the abandoned building, he sees the hostages, he has Buggles alert the police and ambulance to the location. Blue Beetle then frees the hostages, Buggles showing them the way out. Jaime begins to leave with the last hostage, but Black Beetle kills the hostage. Jaime completely freezes out of fear as Black Beetle approaches him and tells him how much trouble he went through to get his attention. Jaime’s defense system activates and punches Black Beetle away. Blue Beetle grabs Black Beetle and pushes him through several walls until they are out of the building and in the city.
Black Beetle tells Blue Beetle that he only wants to talk but Jaime acting out of fear and rage continues punching Black Beetle, Joshua soon notices they are about to hit a Drawer Enterprises building, they manage to dodge it entirely and he pushes Blue Beetle off of him, giving them a chance to cool down. Black Beetle insists that he has an offer for him to teach him how to control his Scarab which grabs Jaime’s attention. Black Beetle explains the origins of the scarab to Jaime. Black Beetle tells Jaime that they must find the other scarabs on earth to give information to the reach. Black Beetle mentions that the reach are so powerful that not even the new Justice League can stop it. Blue Beetle immediately refuses this offer and won’t let Black Beetle find the other scarabs and let the Reach come to earth as he won’t let an alien race come to earth and take it over. Joshua sighs as he knew Jaime wouldn’t cooperate but his scarab insisted on him joining them. Black Beetle punches Blue Beetle with his full strength knocking Jaime through a building. As Blue Beetle flies into the building he saves as many citizens as he can. Black Beetle flies in and destroys the building with almost all the civilians inside while Jaime protects himself through a shield. Blue Beetle strikes back at Black Beetle at full rage and strength trying to avenge the lives that were lost in the building. Black Beetle grabs Blue Beetle and takes him up in the sky, almost making two planes crash with one another. Blue Beetle with Buggles help manages to keep the planes distanced. Black Beetle breaks one of Jaime’s arms and attempts to rip the scarab off of Jaime but it doesn’t budge.
Joshua taunts Jaime that he will brutally kill his family and friends first and the last thing he will see is the Reach taking over his planet. Blue Beetle grabs Black Beetle and pushes him towards the ground and tells Joshua that as long as there’s one person against the reach then they will never win. Black Beetle laughs at Jaime’s bravery. Blue Beetle’s energy blast hits Black Beetle’s energy blast which causes a massive explosion in the center of the city. Jaime wakes up, ears ringing and sees the several ambulances, police officers and firemen running around saving as many citizens as they can. Jaime notices Black Beetle gone and begins saving many citizens that were near the explosion. Black Beetle then appears once more out of nowhere and drives Blue Beetle into the ground. Blue Beetle fights back turning his hands turn into maces. He uses both and hits Black Beetle in the head, he continues to strike him in the head before using his sonic blasters to knock Black Beetle to the ground. The Black Beetle scarab begins to peel away from Joshua. The scarab scurries off into the distance leaving Joshua laying on the ground. Jaime goes back to street level and begins to look around at the destruction he has caused.
Jaime returns back home where he cries in his father’s arms. Alberto asks what happened. Jaime tells him that he killed so many. Both Buggles and Alberto tell him it wasn’t his fault, Alberto brings him in for a hug.
Jaime arrives at the home of Randall Truman. He tells Randall the truth, he is the Blue Beetle. He entrusts Randall with that information because he wants him to be the new CEO of Kord Industries. Randall smiles, shaking Jaime’s hand. He asks Jaime what he’s going to do. Jaime tells him he needs to find himself.
Jaime returns home saddened, he receives a call from Brenda that he doesn’t answer. Jaime packs his bags before calling a number on his phone, Gar. He tells Gar that he needs to get out of El Paso, he asks if he can crash at his place for a while.
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