Who are Blue Beetle’s worst enemies?

Blue Beetle has a handful of notable villains, but not as many as you would think. They make up for the low numbers by being some of DC’s most notable and nefarious rogues. 

Every superhero is defined by their villains. After all, could you imagine Batman without the Joker? The longer a superhero is around, the most prominent and fleshed out their rogues gallery becomes. 

That may not necessarily be the case for Blue Beetle. While both the Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes versions are beloved by fans, the character has a real start-and-stop momentum with villains. 

A lot of it has to do with where Blue Beetle falls in the grand scheme of DC Comics. The character resurfaces most often when a universe is going to be reset or spends much of their time with a team like Justice League International. Blue Beetle doesn’t have as many notable rogues as you would, but those that he does have are pretty mean. 

Blue Beet’s worst villains explained

Before you watch the film in theaters or if you’re wondering who could show up in a potential sequel, here are Blue Beetle’s worst enemies.  

Carapax

Despite being a central villain of the upcoming DCU film, Carpax is not a Jaime Reyes nemesis. In fact, he’s not even really a Ted Kord one. Carapax is a rival of the original Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett. 

Carpax found the hidden laboratory where Garrett had died and there built an indestructible robot with the intent of Surpassing Garrett’s legacy. Instead, he found Ted Kord and the two had a tussle that ended with Carapax sinking into the ocean. 

Carapax has been a minor villain over the years, with his only other appearances including a short-lived brawl with Superman and his body being the basis for a robot army thwarted by the Suicide Squad. To date, Carapax has not appeared post-Flashpoint, though his position as a marquee villain of the Blue Beetle film may change that. 

The Reach

2006’s Blue Beetle changed a lot for the character, but the biggest change came with the reveal that the scarab was actually alien technology. The scarab had been designed to create assets that could infiltrate advanced worlds, then summon the Reach to conquer the planet. 

These steps were taken because The Reach had lost a war with the Green Lanterns and intended to conquer worlds but still be able to deny their involvement.

Jaime’s bond with his scarab, Khaji Da, was a wrinkle in these plans, though. Through Jaime, the scarab learned compassion and would ally with him against the Reach.

In the recent mini-series Blue Beetle: Graduation Day, a ship of Reach refugees calling themselves The Horizon arrive on Earth, and Jaime agrees to help find new homes. 

Maxwell Lord

In one of his last adventures as Blue Beetle, Ted Kord discovered someone was spying on superheroes. Blue Beetle traced the path back to Maxwell Lord, who was leading the villain group Checkmate. 

That Lord would be a villain was a shock to Ted and to readers. He had funded a version of the Justice League decades earlier. While he was smug, the revelation that he could turn evil came as a total shock. 

Lord killed Blue Beetle to preserve his secret, but he would later die when Wonder Woman snapped his neck to free a telepathically controlled Superman. Though he would eventually be revived following Flashpoint, he’s yet to have any real interaction with either Blue Beetle. 

Dynastes

Before The Horizon arrived on Earth, they created two new scarabs to power heroes to herald their arrival on Earth. In Blue Beetle: Graduation Day, Jaime finds himself at odds with both and is soundly beaten by the wielder of a yellow scarab, Dynastes. 

Much like Jaime, Dynastes is in over her head. She’s a teacher named Xiomara, and she is incredibly adept with her scarab. She has incredible strength, which is why she took the name Dynastes after the Hercules Beetle. 

Eventually, Dynastes and Jaime find a mutual understanding, though it takes fighting the entire Justice League to pull it off. Dynastes and her green scarab counterpart, Nitida, join Jaime to help the Horizon settle in by the end of the story. 

Arion

In the original post-Crisis on Infinite Earths’ timeline, Arion is a terrifying mage and a law of order on par with Doctor Fate. He spends much of his time as a foe of Superman or the Justice Society. After the universe reset in Flashpoint, he finds himself at odds with Blue Beetle. 

The feud is over the scarab, which had at one time been safeguarded in a pyramid in ancient Egypt. Arion and Doctor Fate fought over the scarab, with Arion attempting to take it for himself. 

Arion failed to take possession of the scarab, but in the modern day, he still longed for it. He fought Jaime and Doctor Fate but lost when Jaime managed to knock him unconscious with his energy cannon.