"Blue Beetle"
On the planet Reach-2, a council of aliens sit around a table discussing the take over of multiple worlds. The council's active general and administer of "the infiltrators" is named Djozha, and does not impress the council with his infiltration of "easy planets". The council claims they need a powerful planet, and so Djozha announces his next target will be a planet untouched for a millennia, a planet where one of their own has laid dormant for centuries. Djozha shocks the council by revealing the next target under The Reach's control will be planet Earth.
From there, we are shown a scene of two teenage boys getting kicked out of a party and walking home. Jaime Reyes and his friend Paco cross a river where they see a fisherman getting beat up by some thugs. The fisherman tosses a box he pulled up from the river towards the boys and they run off with the box as the thugs chase them. Backed up towards a tall cliff, Jaime opens the box to reveal a small blue scarab. As the thugs get closer, Jaime grabs the scarab and it crawls onto his back, sprouting blue armor around him. He uses the scarabs powers to scare off the thugs and flies himself and Paco back home.
Paco and Jaime learn that the scarab won't come off his back, but by reflex he can activate the suit. Jaime considers telling is family, but Paco says if he tells them they could call The Department of Metahuman Affairs on him and he'd be in a cell for the rest of his life. Paco's social network feed is blowing up with news of armed men holding a family hostage until "the kid with the scarab" shows up. Taking responsibility, Jaime activates the suit and flies to the home of the hostages. The men-who were the same ones at the river-want the scarab, but Jaime tells them it won't come off. When one of the men goes to shoot a child hostage, he is speared in the shoulder by Jaime who is just as surprised at what he did. The man falls to the ground and the two other men back up and frantically claim they'll kill the family. Jaime starts to hear a voice in his head, it indicates that a similar action would be optimal. Jaime figures out that the voice belongs to the scarab and that his suit wants to kill these men. Jaime tries to talk the two men down, but the teenage girl of the family grabs the gun off the dead man and shoots one of the other criminals in the stomach. The last man runs out of the house, only for Jaime to create pincers from his suit and grab the man. Unintentionally, he crushes the man to death. The police and news crews look on in fear at Jaime. Jaime flies off.
The next day at school, Paco talks to Jaime and learns that the suit is forcing Jaime to kill. If he can't protect people without killing someone, what's the point? Paco believes the opposite, that killing is hard, but the most effective way. Jaime-pissed off by Paco's ignorance-runs into Brenda, the girl at the hostage situation who shot one of the criminals. Jaime and Brenda seem to strike up a friendship as Jaime is the only person at school who shares her shame for the loss of life and how tough it is to deal with killing someone. After school, two men watch Jaime leave school with Paco. These two men are Kyle Rayner-Earth's newest Green Lantern who'd appear in HBO's "Takion"-and Mike Carter-Booster Gold who's taking a break from superheroism. Kyle explains to Mike that the scarab on Jaime could be connected to one of the Green Lantern Corps' oldest enemies and that they should take the kid in before anyone else gets hurt, but Mike says the kid deserves a chance to prove he's not a monster and that they owe it to Ted Kord to guide him. Kyle allows Mike to tutor Jaime, but if things go south he's stepping in.
That night, Jaime has a nightmare of himself enslaving the world, with heroes dead and his own family and friends under his boot as aliens land on the scorched Earth. He wakes up sweating and asking the scarab where it came from, but the scarab has no memory. The next day, Jaime receives a note telling him to meet at certain coordinates in the desert, it also reveals whoever sent it knows he has the scarab. When Jaime and Paco get to the location, Mike is waiting there. Stopping the scarab from perceiving him as a threat, Jaime learns that Mike used to be Booster Gold and offers to help Jaime become a superhero. While Paco sees this as a great opportunity, Jaime is afraid of his suit. Ultimately, he accepts the offer. That day, Mike trains Jaime in the use of all the weapons his suit can create. Jaime also discovers his suit has two modes that make him stronger and faster, respectively. Mike insists Jaime tell the people of El Paso he's a hero, but Jaime doesn't think he deserves to make that claim. Mike tells Jaime about the time his friend Ted Kord-The Blue Beetle-thought he wasn't cut out to be a hero. Mike had told Ted that being a hero isn't about having powers or being strong, it was about having the heart to stand up for people, no matter who they may be. Everyone deserves to be saved, just as everyone deserves the chance to be a hero. Jaime shows up at an El Paso news station and speaks to the citizens of El Paso over air. He introduces himself as "The New Blue Beetle" and that he only wishes to protect his city.
On Reach-2, the council demands answers as to why the Infiltrator scarab that Djozha reactivated has not conquered Earth yet. Djozha tells them it is simply waiting for a moment when Earth's heroes are weaker. Away from the council, Djozha tells his top "Enforcer Scarab" and "Negotiator Scarab" that he lied to the council and that these two must go to Earth and either recruit Jaime or kill him. Yet again, Jaime has a nightmare about destroying the Earth and he flies off to the motel Mike is staying at. When he gets there he walks in on Mike talking to Kyle. Seeing Kyle's Green Lantern Ring causes Jaime to lose control and attack him. After a fight between Kyle and Jaime, Kyle tells Jaime the truth Mike has been hiding. The scarab came to Earth a millennia ago and was discovered by Egyptians, but as the scarab tried to take a host two pharaohs (previous incarnations of Hawkman and Hawkgirl) smashed the scarab and ended up frying its memory banks. It was discovered a few years ago by archeologist Dan Garrett and the scarab lent some of its power to Dan in return for using Dan's adrenaline to recharge itself. When Dan died using the scarab and it fell into the hands of Ted Kord, the scarab had begun using the energy is syphoned off Dan to reboot and recover, making it useless to Ted. The scarab was activated by Djozha just in time to attach to Jaime, but too early resulting in its memory still being gone.
With the blanks filled in, Jaime learns from Kyle that the scarabs are sent by The Reach to take over planets from the inside and that if they don't get him the GLC base on New Oa, he could end up the same. Jaime leaves, Mike wants to chase him, but Kyle insists he needs time. Jaime-as himself-meets with Brenda and they talk in her backyard. Jaime reveals why he sympathizes with her about murder by revealing that he is the Blue Beetle. Afraid, Brenda refuses to talk to Jaime.
The next morning, Jaime is invited back to Brenda's. When he gets there, she is alone in the house and seems a lot more flirtatious. Brenda convinces Jaime to show her his "big blue suit" and upon turning into Blue Beetle, Brenda stabs a red spike into Jaime's back. The red spike starts covering him in red webbing and Brenda reveals herself to be a Reach Negotiator, a specific type of Reach soldier designed to trick enemies. Jaime blasts this "Red Beetle" away and uses his suit's tech to find Brenda and her family tied up in the basement. According to the scarab, it could not tell Brenda was a Negotiator because Jaime's "disgusting male hormones" disrupted it's sensors. Though Brenda and her family get out of the house, the Red Beetle continues to beat Jaime while the red web makes it harder to move. Desperate, Jaime activates the suit's "attack mode" and becomes bulkier. In this mode he defeats the Red Beetle, but a Reach Enforcer-a "Black Beetle"-breaks the house down as he attacks Jaime.
Mike and Kyle get a call from Paco and get to Brenda's home. Jaime and the Beetles are gone and Brenda's family is traumatized. Kyle claims he'll get a GLC squad together while Mike gets his suit, Brenda also makes Kyle promise to save Jaime.
On Reach-2, Jaime is escorted to a room by the Red Beetle and Black Beetle. Red gives Jaime a history lesson, proclaiming The Reach's first home was destroyed by The Guardians of The Universe-who ran the GLC sometime ago-as a means of keeping a lid on The Reach's goals of universal peace via enslavement. Jaime also learns that the GLC and The Reach have a peace treaty that prevents the Reach from "directly" invading planets. Jaime is brought before Djozha and the council, Djozha swears to the council that he will work day and night to fix Jaime's scarab and assure Earth's capture. Before he can humiliate Jaime further, Djozha, the Beetles and the council are shocked to see Jaime is gone. We see Jaime has activated the suit's "speed mode" and became lighter and more aerodynamic to run through The Reach base. Using the scarab's scan of the base's layout, he finds the ship dock and is about to leave. Jaime's suit locks up as the scarab refuses to resist The Reach. Jaime tries to convince the scarab otherwise, claiming it only got to think for itself when it wasn't working for the Reach. It seems the scarab sides with Jaime, but more Black Beetles show up and Jaime is outnumbered. Mike-in a new armored Booster Gold suit with built-in Skeets-and Kyle-with a battalion of GLC members burst in and help Jaime fight the Beetles. GLC members go throughout the base using special tech to disarm Reach members. All the while, one rogue Beetle is stabbing each GLC member and vanishing.
Jaime reaches Djozha and prepares to fight him, but Djozha makes a voice command that orders the scarab to kill Jaime. Jaime's suit turns into a type of iron maiden and begins crushing Jaime. Djozha attaches his own black scarab and claims he could have made Jaime a God. Instead, Jaime chose to misuse the weapon he was given. Jaime shouts "he's not a weapon". Upon this defense of the scarab's place, the scarab stops crushing Jaime and deletes all connections to The Reach. Jaime battles Djozha and defeats him, though Djozha uses his scarab to kill himself after the council activates the base's self-destruct. Kyle tries to get Jaime to leave with him, but Jaime says he has one last job. With the help of the GLC, Jaime gets every alien off the planet as it explodes, saving the slaves of the evil organization.
Jaime's narration tells us that the aliens who lived among/were controlled by The Reach were given new homes on planets freed from The Reach's control. Kyle was recognized as an "Elite Lantern" for his compassionate stance on the mission. Mike went back to wandering the country, proud of his superhero student. Jaime, Paco and Brenda are all still friends and Paco and Brenda even help Jaime stay updated on any crime in El Paso, including more of the men who were after the scarab. Men who turn out to be part of a group called "Intergang", Jaime and his friends plan on keeping an eye on them. Jaime and Brenda also have a romantic relationship that becomes awkward when the scarab has gone from murderous to over-protective. Jaime gets mail from "The Teen Titans" as we see Jaime fly into the night sky and claim, "The New Blue Beetle is here to stay". From there, we see Mike visiting the grave of Ted Kord. He sets down flowers and sits next to the grave, "Ted, old buddy" he says, "You won't believe what this new kid can do".
After the credits, the rogue beetle returns to a shadowy figure with veils of blood from all the GLC members during the Reach battle. The alien scientist takes the blood veils and claims the beetle's mission is over. As the scientist walks away, the rogue beetle kills himself and the scientist loads the blood into a data bank full of blood from all over the galaxy. A monitor goes off detecting the blood of Thanagarians entering the sector and the scientist orders his computer to call Mongul.
Thanks for reading.
The night of owls begins, "The Court of Owls" is next.
Facebook: The Panel Biter
Twitter: @ThePanelBiter
Podbean: Panelbiter.podbean.com
No comments:
Post a Comment