(Dreiberg)
136-490: Nite Owl is the name of two superheroes in the graphic novel limited series Watchmen , published by DC Comics . Created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons , the original Nite Owl, Hollis T. Mason , was a member of the crimefighting team the Minutemen, while the second, Daniel " Dan " Dreiberg , became a member of the vigilante team Crimebusters, also known as the titular Watchmen. The duo are modified analogues of
272-550: A New York City policeman in 1938, he was inspired by Action Comics ' Superman and the real life exploits of Hooded Justice to take up the life of a vigilante. He was nicknamed "Nite Owl" for spending his evenings working out in the Police Gymnasiums as much as possible and going to bed at 9:00pm to rise for a 5:00am workout before donning his badge and uniform. His costume was designed to free his arms and legs while protecting his chest , abdomen and head with
408-595: A successful franchise which pioneered the Kyodai Hero subgenre where the superheroes would be as big as giant monsters ( kaiju ) that they fought. The kaiju monster Godzilla , originally a villain, began being portrayed as a radioactive superhero in the Godzilla films , starting with Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). By the 1970s, Godzilla came to be viewed as a superhero, with
544-505: A backup feature in Nature Boy #3 (Mar. 1956). In 1964, Charlton Comics began publishing a new series of Blue Beetle which substantially revamped the hero, reinventing him as a university professor and altering the spelling of his name to Dan Garrett. The first issue (Jun. 1964) was a new origin story that depicted Dan Garrett coming into possession of a mystical Egyptian scarab that granted him superpowers and beginning his career as
680-705: A book entitled Business Zero to Superhero . In 2014, he received a cease and desist from DC and Marvel who claimed that his use of the term superhero would cause confusion and dilute their brands. He was offered a few thousand dollars in settlement to change the name of his book, but he did not concede. A few days prior to the scheduled hearing at the Intellectual Property Office in London, the companies backed down. A similar scenario occurred when comic book creator Ray Felix attempted to register his comic book series A World Without Superheroes with
816-501: A child at the end of the story. Both Nite Owl incarnations appear in Watchmen . Patrick Wilson portrays the second Nite Owl, Dan Dreiberg, and Stephen McHattie portrays the original Nite Owl, Hollis Mason. Mason's murder at the hands of the gang is not featured in the theatrical version, although the director’s cut shows his death. Clint Carleton portrayed the younger Hollis Mason in flashbacks. Both Nite Owl incarnations appear in
952-500: A daughter together. They also adopt Clark, the son of two costumed villains, Mime and Marionette. After jailing the pair following an aborted bank robbery, Dr. Manhattan noted that Marionette was pregnant. He sensed that the child had a bright future ahead of him. To preserve that future, he took the boy as an infant following his birth in a prison hospital. Dr. Manhattan named him Clark, raised him nearly to his teen years and after bequeathing Clark his powers and infusing his life force into
1088-693: A decorated officer in the United States Air Force who would become a costumed superheroine herself years later. In 1975 Shotaro Ishinomori 's Himitsu Sentai Gorenger debuted on what is now TV Asahi, it brought the concepts of multi-colored teams and supporting vehicles that debuted in Gatchaman into live-action, and began the Super Sentai franchise (later adapted into the American Power Rangers series in
1224-475: A garage and his mother is a nurse. Jaime has offered to help his father out at the garage, but his father has turned him down. He feels Jaime should enjoy his childhood for as long as he can, and should attempt to further his education. He finds the scarab in a vacant lot and it fuses with him while he sleeps. After Booster Gold revealed Jaime's new powers to him, Jaime was swept up in the climactic battle with Brother Eye during Infinite Crisis . He later becomes
1360-537: A larger one. Another important event was the debut of Mazinger Z by Go Nagai, creating the Super Robot genre. Go Nagai also wrote the manga Cutey Honey in 1973; although the Magical Girl genre already existed, Nagai's manga introduced Transformation sequences that would become a staple of Magical Girl media. The 1970s would see more anti-heroes introduced into Superhero fiction such examples included
1496-449: A letter column of the pulp magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories , the word superhero was used to define the title character of the comic strip Zarnak , by Max Plaisted. In the 1930s, the trends converged in some of the earliest superpowered costumed heroes, such as Japan's Ōgon Bat (1931) and Prince of Gamma (early 1930s), who first appeared in kamishibai (a kind of hybrid media combining pictures with live storytelling), Mandrake
SECTION 10
#17327871243661632-609: A member of the Justice League of America and was later killed during the prelude to DC Comics' Infinite Crisis cross over. The third Blue Beetle, created by DC Comics , is Jaime Reyes , a teenager who discovers that the original Blue Beetle scarab morphs into a battle suit allowing him to fight crime and travel in space. Over the years, Reyes became a member of the Teen Titans and starred in two Blue Beetle comic series. In DC Comics' 2011 "New 52" reboot, Jaime Reyes
1768-403: A member of the Teen Titans , and is good friends with Rose Wilson ( Ravager ), Robin , Static , and others. In Teen Titans (vol. 3) #83, he takes a break from the team to be with his mother. Jaime has a girlfriend, the young sorceress Traci 13 , who gets along well with Jaime's family. His large and loving family is a major source of strength and guidance for Jaime. Christopher Smith aka
1904-547: A more comedic tone than in the Blue Beetle solo comic, Ted Kord became best friends with team-mate Booster Gold . Blue Beetle remained as a main character on the series as it was re-titled Justice League International and then Justice League America . Following the event miniseries Zero Hour , both Blue Beetle and Booster Gold left the series and began starring in the new team title Extreme Justice , which ran for issues #0-18 (Jan. 1995-Jul. 1996). Ted Kord later became
2040-523: A multimedia franchise that used footage from Super Sentai . Internationally, the Japanese comic book character , Sailor Moon , is recognized as one of the most important and popular female superheroes ever created. The first use of the word "super hero" dates back to 1917. At the time, the word was merely used to describe a "public figure of great accomplishments." However, in 1967, Ben Cooper, Inc., an American Halloween costume manufacturer, became
2176-602: A mystical scarab he found during a dig in Egypt , where it had been used to imprison an evil mummified Pharaoh. He would transform into the Blue Beetle by saying the words "Kaji Dha!" This version, by writer Joe Gill and artist Tony Tallarico , was played at least initially for camp , with stories like "The Giant Mummy Who was Not Dead". The Charlton Dan Garrett version of the Blue Beetle ran only until 1966 before his replacement debuted. The Charlton version of Dan Garrett
2312-431: A new artist, Rafael Albuquerque . Rogers left the title with issue #25 to concentrate on his television series Leverage . After three fill-in issues, Lilah Sturges became the main writer in issue #29, but the series was cancelled with issue #36. Editor Dan DiDio put the cancellation down to poor sales and said that Blue Beetle was "a book that we started with very high expectations, but it lost its audience along
2448-418: A new origin and without any apparent history of Kord or Garrett as prior Blue Beetles. The new book was written by Tony Bedard and drawn by Ig Guara. Blue Beetle was cancelled after issue #16 (Mar. 2013); Jaime Reyes's story was then continued in the new title Threshold , written by Keith Giffen, which ultimately ran for eight issues (Mar.-Oct. 2013). The 2016 publishing initiative DC Rebirth restored
2584-423: A profound effect on Japanese television . 1958 saw the debut of superhero Moonlight Mask on Japanese television. It was the first of numerous televised superhero dramas that would make up the tokusatsu superhero genre. Created by Kōhan Kawauchi , he followed up its success with the tokusatsu superhero shows Seven Color Mask (1959) and Messenger of Allah (1960), both starring a young Sonny Chiba . It
2720-505: A promiscuous manner. Through the overdeveloped bodies of the heroes or the seductive mannerisms of the villains, women in comic books are used as subordinates to their male counterparts, regardless of their strength or power. Wonder Woman has been subject to a long history of suppression as a result of her strength and power, including American culture's undoing of the Lynda Carter television series. In 2017's Wonder Woman , she had
2856-577: A publishing agreement with DC Comics that allowed them to introduce a line of comics that included characters of many ethnic minorities. Milestone's initial run lasted four years, during which it introduced Static , a character adapted into the WB Network animated series Static Shock . In addition to the creation of new minority heroes, publishers have filled the identities and roles of once-Caucasian heroes with new characters from minority backgrounds. The African-American John Stewart appeared in
SECTION 20
#17327871243662992-789: A recurring character in Birds of Prey , and starred in the 2003-04 miniseries Formerly Known as the Justice League . The character of Ted Kord was killed off in the one-shot comic Countdown to Infinite Crisis (May 2005). In 2006, DC introduced a new Blue Beetle, teenager Jaime Reyes , whose powers are derived from the scarab, now revealed as a piece of advanced alien technology. A new ongoing Blue Beetle series began publication in March 2006, initially written by Keith Giffen and John Rogers , with artist Cully Hamner . Giffen left in issue #10 and Rogers took over full writing duties, joined by
3128-757: A secondary character of the Green Hornet media franchise series since its inception in the 1930s. ). Kitty Pryde , a member of the X-Men, was an openly Jewish superhero in mainstream American comic books as early as 1978. Comic-book companies were in the early stages of cultural expansion and many of these characters played to specific stereotypes ; Cage and many of his contemporaries often employed lingo similar to that of blaxploitation films, Native Americans were often associated with shamanism and wild animals , and Asian Americans were often portrayed as kung fu martial artists . Subsequent minority heroes, such as
3264-406: A single source." DC and Marvel have continued to expand their commercialization of the "superhero" mark to categories beyond comic books. Now, the two publishers jointly own numerous trademarks for figurines (see Spider-Man, Batman), movies, TV shows, magazines, merchandise, cardboard stand-up figures, playing cards , erasers , pencils , notebooks , cartoons , and many more. For instance,
3400-513: A skull-faced creature with superpowers to fight evil; she debuted in Fiction House 's Jungle Comic #2 (Feb. 1940), credited to the pseudonymous "Barclay Flagg". The Invisible Scarlet O'Neil , a non-costumed character who fought crime and wartime saboteurs using the superpower of invisibility created by Russell Stamm, would debut in the eponymous syndicated newspaper comic strip a few months later on June 3, 1940. In 1940, Maximo
3536-406: A suit not unlike the swimsuits in the T.V. show Baywatch . The sexualization of women in comic books can be explained mainly by the fact that the majority of writers are male. Not only are the writers mostly male, but the audience is mostly male as well. Therefore, writers are designing characters to appeal to a mostly male audience. The super hero characters illustrate a sociological idea called
3672-408: A surfboard on the cover of a DVD of the fictional film Watchmen Babies in V for Vacation (a parody of Alan Moore's graphic novels Watchmen and V for Vendetta ). Superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses superpowers or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of
3808-552: A swarm of sentient insects that form a man-shaped body (calling themselves "The Scarab"), Ted of Earth-33, an anthropomorphic beetle, the pet of Mr. and Mrs. Kord, and Earth-39 Blue Beetle, a younger version of Dan Garrett, who has bonded with his scarab in the same way as Jaime Reyes. A new version of the Blue Beetle known as "Blue Scarab" was shown as a member of the Justice League in the apocalyptic future depicted in Justice League: Generation Lost . He
3944-696: A team, but also best friends. He supported the idea of costumed vigilantes forming a group to fight crime strategically, but Rorschach and the Comedian rejected the idea. Having already come to understand that his expensive activities were too limited in scope to make any real difference, Dreiberg retired after the passing of the Keene Act on August 3, 1977. In 1985 (when the story takes place) he seemed to regret his decision to give up crime fighting, having no sense of personal fulfillment without it. Rorschach said regarding his retirement, " No staying power ". Following
4080-816: A tough leather tunic . With the tunic hiding his hair, a domino mask concealed his identity. He became a member of the Minutemen (a " masked adventurer " league) in mid-1939. Mason was an "old school" crimefighter, a real " Boy Scout " in the eyes of Captain Metropolis . He stopped colorful criminals like the Screaming Skull and went on to fight supposed Axis operatives including Captain Axis during World War II. He retired in May, 1962 to open an auto business and write his memoir of his crime-fighting exploits, Under
4216-476: A wide array of different backgrounds and origins. Some superheroes (such as Spider-Man and Superman ) possess non-human or superhuman biology or use and practice magic to achieve their abilities (such as Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel ) while others (for example, Iron Man and Batman ) derive their status from advanced technology they create and use. The Dictionary.com definition of "superhero"
Nite Owl - Misplaced Pages Continue
4352-545: Is Nick Fury , who is reinterpreted as African-American both in the Ultimate Marvel as well as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continuities. Blue Beetle Blue Beetle is the name of three superheroes appearing in a number of American comic books published by a variety of companies since 1939. The most recent of the companies to own rights to Blue Beetle is DC Comics , which bought
4488-512: Is "a figure, especially in a comic strip or cartoon , endowed with superhuman powers and usually portrayed as fighting evil or crime", and the Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the definition as "a fictional hero having extraordinary or superhuman powers; also: an exceptionally skillful or successful person." Terms such as masked crime fighters, costumed adventurers or masked vigilantes are sometimes used to refer to characters such as
4624-426: Is Ted Kord, a former student of Dan Garrett, a genius-level inventor and a gifted athlete. Kord and Garrett were investigating Kord's Uncle Jarvis when they learned Jarvis was working to create an army of androids to take over Earth. Garrett changed into Blue Beetle, but was killed in battle. As he died, he passed on to Kord the responsibility of being Blue Beetle, but was unable to pass on the mystical scarab. Ted had
4760-421: Is a motorcycle-riding hero in an insect-like costume, who shouts Henshin (Metamorphosis) to don his costume and gain superhuman powers. The ideas of second-wave feminism , which spread through the 1960s into the 1970s, greatly influenced the way comic book companies would depict as well as market their female characters: Wonder Woman was for a time revamped as a mod-dressing martial artist directly inspired by
4896-544: Is a website satirizing the sexualized portrayal of women in comics by recreating the same poses using male superheroes, especially Marvel's Hawkeye . In 1966, Marvel introduced the Black Panther , an African monarch who became the first non- caricatured black superhero. The first African-American superhero, the Falcon , followed in 1969, and three years later, Luke Cage , a self-styled "hero-for-hire" , became
5032-532: Is arguable that the Marvel Comics teams of the early 1960s brought the biggest assortment of superheroes ever at one time into permanent publication, the likes of Spider-Man (1962), The Hulk , Iron Man , Daredevil , Nick Fury , The Mighty Thor , The Avengers (featuring a rebooted Captain America , Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man , Quicksilver ), and many others were given their own monthly titles. Typically
5168-687: Is briefly glimpsed in DC's 1993 limited series The Golden Age . In issue #0 of the Project Superpowers miniseries, the Fox Feature Syndicate version of the Blue Beetle appeared in flashbacks (as by now the character/spelling "Dan Garret" was in the public domain). To avoid trademark conflicts with DC Comics , he is referred to in this series by the nickname "Big Blue". The replacement Blue Beetle created by Charlton Comics , and later published by Americomics and DC Comics ,
5304-645: Is later retconned as a tool of war of the Reach , an ancient race of cosmic marauders. After being defeated by the Guardians of the Universe thousands of years ago and forced into a truce, the Reach poses as benevolent aliens lending their advanced technology to budding civilizations. The scarab is a gift for that world's champion, giving him amazing powers and the knowledge of the Reach to protect their peers. Secretly,
5440-686: Is said to reside on Earth-22. Spin-offs from the series Countdown to Final Crisis would introduce more alternate Blue Beetles in 2007. Earth-19 (the Gotham by Gaslight universe), set in a Victorian-like era, has its own version of Dan Garrett who in his secret identity is the leading Egyptologist at the Gotham Museum of Natural History and wears a monocle, appearing in The Search for Ray Palmer: Gotham by Gaslight . The limited series Countdown: Arena depicted three more: Earth-26 Blue Beetle,
5576-506: Is uncommon, the USPTO will grant joint ownership in a mark. For example, in the case Arrow Trading Co., Inc. v. Victorinox A.G. and Wegner S.A. , Opposition No. 103315 (TTAB June 27, 2003), the TTAB held that when "two entities have a long-standing relationship and rely on each other for quality control, it may be found, in appropriate circumstances, that the parties, as joint owners, do represent
Nite Owl - Misplaced Pages Continue
5712-668: The Black Canary , introduced in Flash Comics #86 (Aug. 1947) as a supporting character. The most iconic comic book superheroine, who debuted during the Golden Age, is Wonder Woman . Modeled from the myth of the Amazons of Greek mythology , she was created by psychologist William Moulton Marston , with help and inspiration from his wife Elizabeth and their mutual lover Olive Byrne. Wonder Woman's first appearance
5848-535: The Emma Peel character from the British television series The Avengers (no relation to the superhero team of the same name), but later reverted to Marston's original concept after the editors of Ms. magazine publicly disapproved of the character being depowered and without her traditional costume; Supergirl was moved from being a secondary feature on Action Comics to headline Adventure Comics in 1969;
5984-527: The Lady Liberators appeared in an issue of The Avengers as a group of mind-controlled superheroines led by Valkyrie (actually a disguised supervillainess ) and were meant to be a caricatured parody of feminist activists; and Jean Grey became the embodiment of a cosmic being known as the Phoenix Force with seemingly unlimited power in the late 1970s, a stark contrast from her depiction as
6120-706: The New York Times and The Colbert Report , and embraced by anti- Islamophobia campaigners in San Francisco who plastered over anti-Muslim bus adverts with Kamala stickers. Other such successor-heroes of color include James "Rhodey" Rhodes as Iron Man and to a lesser extent Riri "Ironheart" Williams , Ryan Choi as the Atom , Jaime Reyes as Blue Beetle and Amadeus Cho as Hulk . Certain established characters have had their ethnicity changed when adapted to another continuity or media. A notable example
6256-475: The Silver Age of comics, Charlton revised the character for a new Blue Beetle series. Charlton's new Blue Beetle retained the original's name (adding a second "t"), but none of his powers or origin, making him a different character. This Beetle was archaeologist Dan Garrett, who obtained a number of superhuman powers (including super strength and vision, flight, and the ability to generate energy blasts) from
6392-612: The X-Men 's Storm and the Teen Titans ' Cyborg avoided such conventions; they were both part of ensemble teams, which became increasingly diverse in subsequent years. The X-Men, in particular, were revived in 1975 with a line-up of characters drawn from several nations, including the Kenyan Storm, German Nightcrawler , Soviet / Russian Colossus , Irish Banshee , and Japanese Sunfire . In 1993, Milestone Comics , an African-American-owned media/publishing company entered into
6528-669: The hero ; typically using their powers to help the world become a better place , or dedicating themselves to protecting the public and fighting crime . Superhero fiction is the genre of fiction that is centered on such characters, especially, since the 1930s, in American comic books (and later in Hollywood films , film serials, television and video games ), as well as in Japanese media (including kamishibai , tokusatsu , manga , anime and video games). Superheroes come from
6664-399: The " male gaze " which is media created from the viewpoint of a normative heterosexual male. The female characters in comic books are used to satisfy male desire for the "ideal" woman (small waist, large breasts, toned, athletic body). These characters have god-like power, but the most easily identifiable feature is their hyper sexualized bodies: they are designed to be sexually pleasing to
6800-445: The "Owlship" or "Archie" (short for Archimedes , after Merlin 's pet owl in T.H. White's novel The Once and Future King ), equipped with a variety of offensive and defensive devices, such as flamethrowers and "screechers"—devices capable of producing a sharp screech-like sound. Dreiberg (as Nite Owl) met fellow costumed adventurer Rorschach , who suggested they partner to take on organized crime. The two became, not only
6936-568: The 1970s as an alternate for Earth's Green Lantern Hal Jordan , and would become a regular member of the Green Lantern Corps from the 1980s onward. The creators of the 2000s-era Justice League animated series selected Stewart as the show's Green Lantern. In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Miles Morales , a youth of Puerto Rican and African-American ancestry who was also bitten by a genetically-altered spider, debuted as
SECTION 50
#17327871243667072-458: The 1980s, superhero fiction centered on cultural, ethnic, national, racial and language minority groups (from the perspective of US demographics ) began to be produced. This began with depiction of black superheroes in the 1960s, followed in the 1970s with a number of other ethnic-minority superheroes. In keeping with the political mood of the time, cultural diversity and inclusivism would be an important part of superhero groups starting from
7208-409: The 1980s. In the 1990s, this was further augmented by the first depictions of superheroes as homosexual. In 2017, Sign Gene emerged, the first group of deaf superheroes with superpowers through the use of sign language . Female super heroes—and villains—have been around since the early years of comic books dating back to the 1940s. The representation of women in comic books has been questioned in
7344-561: The 1990s). In 1978, Toei adapted Spider-Man into a live-action Japanese television series . In this continuity, Spider-Man had a vehicle called Marveller that could transform into a giant and powerful robot called Leopardon, this idea would be carried over to Toei's Battle Fever J (also co-produced with Marvel) and now multi-colored teams not only had support vehicles but giant robots to fight giant monsters with. In subsequent decades, popular characters like Dazzler , She-Hulk , Elektra , Catwoman , Witchblade , Spider-Girl , Batgirl and
7480-486: The 2009 film Watchmen , with Dreiberg played by Patrick Wilson and Mason played by Stephen McHattie as an old man and Clint Carleton as a young man. Wilson also voices the character in the video game Watchmen: The End Is Nigh . Hollis T. Mason was the first Nite Owl. At the age of 12, his father left the family farm in Montana and moved to New York City , working at Moe Vernon's Auto Repairs. Starting out as
7616-409: The 2021-22 limited series Blue & Gold by Dan Jurgens, once again operating as a superhero under the name Blue Beetle. Jaime Reyes remains the primary Blue Beetle for DC Comics. The 2022-23 limited series Blue Beetle: Graduation Day , written by Josh Trujillo and illustrated by Adrián Gutiérrez, featured Jaime Reyes as the main character. This was followed by a new ongoing Blue Beetle series by
7752-604: The Amazing Superman debut in Big Little Book series , by Russell R. Winterbotham (text), Henry E. Vallely and Erwin L. Hess (art). Captain America also appeared for the first time in print in December 1940, a year prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese government, when America was still in isolationism . Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby , the superhero was the physical embodiment of
7888-856: The American spirit during World War II. One superpowered character was portrayed as an antiheroine , a rarity for its time: the Black Widow , a costumed emissary of Satan who killed evildoers in order to send them to Hell —debuted in Mystic Comics #4 (Aug. 1940), from Timely Comics , the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics . Most of the other female costumed crime fighters during this era lacked superpowers. Notable characters include The Woman in Red , introduced in Standard Comics ' Thrilling Comics #2 (March 1940); Lady Luck , debuting in
8024-478: The Avengers) with her brother, Quicksilver. In 1963, Astro Boy was adapted into a highly influential anime television series. Phantom Agents in 1964 focused on ninjas working for the Japanese government and would be the foundation for Sentai -type series. 1966 saw the debut of the sci-fi/horror series Ultra Q created by Eiji Tsuburaya this would eventually lead to the sequel Ultraman , spawning
8160-639: The Birds of Prey became stars of long-running eponymous titles. Female characters began assuming leadership roles in many ensemble superhero teams; the Uncanny X-Men series and its related spin-off titles in particular have included many female characters in pivotal roles since the 1970s. Volume 4 of the X-Men comic book series featured an all-female team as part of the Marvel NOW! branding initiative in 2013. Superpowered female characters like Buffy
8296-591: The Blue Beetle name back over to Dan. Americomics was canceled after issue #6, and so far this story has never been referenced by any other publisher. With the rest of the Charlton Comics superhero line-up, Blue Beetle was sold to DC Comics in 1983. A new Blue Beetle series starring Ted Kord began publication in 1986, integrating the hero into the DC Comics shared universe. The series ran for 24 issues (Jun. 1986-May 1988), all written by Len Wein . While
SECTION 60
#17327871243668432-465: The Blue Beetle. After five issues were published, the next issue was numbered as #50 (Jul. 1965), taking over numbering from the anthology comic Unusual Tales . The series ended with issue #54 (Feb.-Mar. 1966), its numbering taken over afterwards by the anthology comic Ghostly Tales . Issues #1-5 and #50-53 were written by Joe Gill and issue #54 by Roy Thomas ; art for all ten issues was by Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico . Later in 1966, Blue Beetle
8568-538: The Field of Special Events, following preliminaries in New York City parks. The race was broadcast over radio station WMCA . Charlton Comics reprinted some stories in its anthology titles and in a four-issue Blue Beetle reprint series numbered 18–21, although there is no evidence that they obtained the rights to the character - just that they purchased the printing plates to earlier stories. In 1964, during
8704-530: The Hood . By reading Under the Hood , Silk Spectre II later learned of the Comedian 's attempted rape of her mother Silk Spectre I. Soon after Hollis retired, Daniel Dreiberg sought him out and asked if he could use the name and persona of Nite Owl to fight crime. Mason acceded and Dreiberg became the second Nite Owl. After Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II broke Rorschach out of prison on Halloween night,
8840-540: The Indestructible Man ( Blue Beetle vol. 6 #1), Hybrid ( New Teen Titans vol. 2 #24), Maxwell Lord ( Justice League #1), and Overthrow ( Blue Beetle vol. 6 #15). As Jamie Reyes, the Blue Beetle takes on La Dama as an archenemy, beginning in Blue Beetle vol. 7 #3. They also oppose Typhoon ( Blue Beetle vol. 7 #17), Black Beetle ( Booster Gold vol. 2 #5), and Doctor Polaris ( Justice League of America vol. 2 #17). Blue Beetle (Ted Kord)
8976-463: The Keene Act, Dreiberg contributed scholarly articles to ornithological journals. Dreiberg became romantically entangled with the second Silk Spectre , Laurie Juspeczyk, after she left Doctor Manhattan. He returned to vigilantism along with her following the murder of the Comedian. Their first foray was the successful rescue of the occupants of a burning building. The excitement of aiding the residents awakened Dreiberg's sexual feelings for Laurie and
9112-475: The Knot-Tops street gang became angered by what they perceived to be vigilantism. Under the influence of the drug KT-28, the Knot-Tops believed Mason to be the same Nite Owl who participated in the prison break and decided to attack him. Mason mistook their pounding on his door for trick or treaters and opened the door to their attack. Mason put up a good fight, but the gang leader killed Mason by hitting him with
9248-542: The League, put the Blue Beetle into a coma. Upon recovery, he continued his tenure with the JLA as well as its offshoot, Extreme Justice . Blue Beetle discovered a renewed Checkmate organization led by Maxwell Lord , with a database containing information on every metahuman on Earth. He was captured and executed with a single gunshot to the head. Before dying, he had used the scarab in an attempt to contact Captain Marvel , but
9384-529: The Magician (1934), Olga Mesmer (1937) and then Superman (1938) and Captain Marvel (1939) at the beginning of the Golden Age of Comic Books , whose span, though disputed, is generally agreed to have started with Superman's launch. Superman has remained one of the most recognizable superheroes, and his success spawned a new archetype of characters with secret identities and superhuman powers. At
9520-502: The New 52, the Reach forgoes the secrecy, and each wearer immediately becomes possessed by the scarab. It then uses its host's knowledge to decimate the world and prepare it for a full invasion by Reach forces. In DC Universe: Rebirth , Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes believe the scarab is an alien device that bonded to Jaime's spine. Kord is fascinated by this scarab and wants to investigate the potential of it while Jaime fears it. When Jaime leaves Kord's lab to get to school, Dr. Fate appears in
9656-454: The Peacemaker also became a mentor for the young Blue Beetle. Jaime co-starred along with the rest of the former Justice League International in Justice League: Generation Lost . Following DC's " Flashpoint " storyline Blue Beetle was one of 52 monthly titles launched in September 2011, again starring Jaime Reyes. The series was cancelled after 17 issues in January 2013. The Blue Beetle scarab, previously shown as an artifact of magic,
9792-514: The Spirit , who may not be explicitly referred to as superheroes but nevertheless share similar traits. Some superheroes use their powers to help fight daily crime while also combating threats against humanity from supervillains , who are their criminal counterparts. Often at least one of these supervillains will be the superhero's archenemy or nemesis . Some popular supervillains become recurring characters in their own right. Antecedents of
9928-827: The Sunday- newspaper comic-book insert The Spirit Section June 2, 1940; the comedic character Red Tornado , debuting in All-American Comics #20 (Nov 1940); Miss Fury , debuting in the eponymous comic strip by female cartoonist Tarpé Mills on April 6, 1941; the Phantom Lady , introduced in Quality Comics Police Comics #1 (Aug. 1941); the Black Cat , introduced in Harvey Comics ' Pocket Comics #1 (also Aug. 1941); and
10064-408: The USPTO. Felix is one of many who argue that the term "superhero" has become generic (see discussion below). Felix's mark is currently abandoned, but he has stated that he intends to fight against DC and Marvel for use of the term. In 2024, Superbabies Limited managed to obtain a default judgement and cancel the "super heroes" trademarks as genericized, except for the animation pictures mark. This
10200-540: The Vampire Slayer and Darna have a tremendous influence on popular culture in their respective countries of origin. With more and more anime , manga and tokusatsu being translated or adapted, Western audiences were beginning to experience the Japanese styles of superhero fiction more than they were able to before. Saban 's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers , an adaptation of Zyuranger , created
10336-471: The West as Astro Boy , was published. The series focused upon a robot boy built by a scientist to replace his deceased son. Being built from an incomplete robot originally intended for military purposes, Astro Boy possessed amazing powers such as flight through thrusters in his feet and the incredible mechanical strength of his limbs. The 1950s saw the Silver Age of Comics . During this era DC introduced
10472-526: The animated film, Watchmen Chapter I . Matthew Rhys voices the second Nite Owl, Dan Dreiberg and Geoff Pierson voices the original Nite Owl, Hollis Mason. Nite Owl II appears as a playable character in Watchmen: The End Is Nigh , with Patrick Wilson reprising his role from the film. In The Simpsons episode " Husbands and Knives ", infant versions of Nite Owl II along with Ozymandias, Dr. Manhattan, and Rorschach are shown riding
10608-461: The archetype include mythological characters such as Gilgamesh , Hanuman , Perseus , Odysseus , David , and demigods like Heracles , all of whom were blessed with extraordinary abilities, which later inspired the superpowers that became a fundamental aspect of modern-day superheroes. The distinct clothing and costumes of individuals from English folklore , like Robin Hood and Spring-Heeled Jack , also became inspirations. The dark costume of
10744-482: The archetypical hero stock character in 1930s American comics, superheroes are predominantly depicted as White American middle- or upper-class young adult males and females who are typically tall, athletic, educated, physically attractive and in perfect health. Beginning in the 1960s with the civil rights movement in the United States, and increasingly with the rising concern over political correctness in
10880-441: The city. Nite Owl expressed the desire to stop him and was told that it already happened. Millions were dead, and the world's nations agreed to work together to combat this new "extraterrestrial threat". Reluctantly, Dan and the recently arrived Dr. Manhattan and Laurie Juspeczyk agreed to keep this secret for the sake of world peace. The morally absolute Rorschach left, attempting to take Dan's vehicle back to civilization to tell
11016-413: The comic-strip characters Patoruzú (1928) and Popeye (1929) and novelist Philip Wylie 's character Hugo Danner (1930). Another early example was Sarutobi Sasuke , a Japanese superhero ninja from children's novels in the 1910s; by 1914, he had a number of superhuman powers and abilities. The French character L'Oiselle , created in 1909, can be classed as a superheroine. In August 1937, in
11152-534: The companies filed a trademark application as joint owners for the mark "SUPER HEROES" for a series of animated motion pictures in 2009 (Reg. No. 5613972). Both DC and Marvel also individually owned trademarks involving the "super hero" mark. Notably, DC owns the mark " Legion of Super-Heroes " for comic magazines and Marvel owns the mark "Marvel Super Hero Island" for story books, fiction books, and children’s activity books. DC and Marvel have become known for aggressively protecting their registered marks. In 2019,
11288-552: The companies pursued a British law student named Graham Jules who was attempting to publish a self-help book titled Business Zero to Superhero . Much academic debate exists about whether the "super hero" mark has become generic and whether DC and Marvel have created a duopoly over the "super hero" mark. Conversely, DC and Marvel hold that they are merely exercising their right and duty to protect their registered marks. The following trademarks were or are registered jointly with MARVEL CHARACTERS, INC. and DC COMICS: As mentioned,
11424-477: The debut of Shotaro Ishinomori 's Skull Man (the basis for his later Kamen Rider ) in 1970, Go Nagai's Devilman in 1972 and Gerry Conway and John Romita's Punisher in 1974. The dark Skull Man manga would later get a television adaptation and underwent drastic changes. The character was redesigned to resemble a grasshopper, becoming the renowned first masked hero of the Kamen Rider series. Kamen Rider
11560-401: The end of the decade, in 1939, Batman was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger . During the 1940s there were many superheroes: The Flash , Green Lantern and Blue Beetle debuted in this era. This era saw the debut of one of the earliest female superheroes, writer-artist Fletcher Hanks 's character Fantomah , an ageless ancient Egyptian woman in the modern day who could transform into
11696-410: The entire Charlton "Action Heroes" line of comic books ceased publication in 1968. The story planned for a sixth issue was eventually printed, without coloring, in the fan publication Charlton Portfolio #1 in 1974. Both Blue Beetles reappeared in the third issue of Americomics , a title published by AC Comics in 1983–84. In the first story in this issue, Ted Kord fought a bogus Dan Garrett, but
11832-515: The first black superhero to star in his own series . In 1989, the Monica Rambeau incarnation of Captain Marvel was the first female black superhero from a major publisher to get her own title in a special one-shot issue. In 1971, Red Wolf became the first Native American in the superheroic tradition to headline a series. In 1973, Shang-Chi became the first prominent Asian superhero to star in an American comic book ( Kato had been
11968-454: The first entity to commercialize the phrase "super hero" when it registered the mark in connection with Halloween costumes. In 1972, Mego Corporation , an American toy company, attempted to register the mark "World's Greatest Superheroes" in connection with its line of action figures. Mego Corporation’s attempted registration led Ben Cooper, Inc. to sue Mego Corporation for trademark infringement. Due to its financial struggles, Mego Corporation
12104-549: The first two Blue Beetle characters created for Fox Feature Syndicate and later sold to Charlton Comics . The second Nite Owl parodies the appearance of the iconic popular superhero Batman , while the first parodies The Phantom . The second Nite Owl received a four-part miniseries as part of the Before Watchmen prequel series, and made it to number 115 on Wizard's Top 200 Comic Book Characters list. Both versions of Nite Owl made their first live-action appearances in
12240-561: The hands of Ozymandias' monster. After being forced to change their identities to avoid government persecution, Dan and Laurie changed their names to Sam and Sandra; they used the married surname "Hollis" in tribute to Hollis Mason. Born on September 18, 1940, Daniel Dreiberg , a Blue Beetle -like figure, relied on both technical wizardry and tools as well as his skills as a fighter, which set him apart from his fellow costumed adventurers. All of his gadgets and costumes are based on an owl theme. He uses an owl-shaped flying vehicle nicknamed
12376-460: The history of Dan Garrett and Ted Kord as previous Blue Beetles. A new Blue Beetle series was launched that year, with a one-shot special Blue Beetle: Rebirth (Oct. 2016) preceding Blue Beetle #1 vol. 9 (Nov. 2016), once again written by Keith Giffen. The series starred Jaime Reyes, while also featuring Ted Kord as an ex-superhero who acts as his mentor. The series ran until issue #18 (Apr. 2018). Ted Kord then co-starred alongside Booster Gold in
12512-411: The horror anthology series The Thing! , beginning with issue #18 (Feb. 1955). Issues #18-19 consisted entirely of reprinted Fox Comics stories; #20-21 included new adventures of the Golden Age character. The series was cancelled after these four issues, with numbering taken over from #22 onwards by Mr. Muscles . One more original story starring the Golden Age incarnation of the character was published as
12648-479: The hypothetical heteronormative male audience. Villains, such as Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy , use their sexuality to take advantage of their male victims. In the film versions of these characters, their sexuality and seductive methods are highlighted. Poison Ivy uses seduction through poison to take over the minds of her victims as seen in the 1997 film Batman and Robin . Harley Quinn in 2016's Suicide Squad uses her sexuality to her advantage, acting in
12784-470: The idea of a masked avenger and the superhero trope of a secret identity . Over the next few decades, masked and costumed pulp fiction characters such as Jimmie Dale/The Grey Seal (1914), Zorro (1919), Buck Rogers (1928), The Shadow (1930), and Flash Gordon (1934), and comic strip heroes such as the Phantom (1936), began appearing, as did non-costumed characters with super strength , including
12920-550: The informer and loudly swearing vengeance against Mason's killers with such ferocity that Rorschach had to restrain him. In the end, Hollis' killers (the Knot-Tops) were killed along with half of New York City by Ozymandias' plot. Dan and Rorschach traveled to Ozymandias' Antarctic fortress. They battled with and were swiftly defeated by Ozymandias, who revealed his plan to unleash a telepathic monstrosity on New York City that will release massive psychic waves that will kill half
13056-578: The lab to warn Kord that the scarab is not an alien device, but it is instead magic. This further sparks Kord's interest in the potential of the scarab. The Blue Beetle faces many enemies throughout his storylines, beginning with The White Face Gang in Mystery Men #1 (August 1939). As Ted Kord, he later faces several notable enemies, including Doctor Alchemy ( Showcase #13), Chronos ( The Atom #3), his uncle Jarvis Kord ( Blue Beetle vol. 5 #2), Enigma ( Charlton Bullseye vol. 2 #1), Carapax
13192-449: The late Mason), with dyed blonde hair. They traveled to California and made a brief visit to Laurie's mother Sally Jupiter, the former Silk Spectre, in which Laurie reconciles with her mother over the discovery that the Comedian was her father. They promised to visit again soon and left with the intent of continuing their adventures in crime-fighting. It is revealed that seven years after the events of Watchmen , "Sam and Sandra Hollis" have
13328-467: The latter, complete with a domino mask and a cape, became influential for the myriad of masked rogues in penny dreadfuls and dime novels . The vigilantes of the American Old West also became an influence to the superhero. Several vigilantes during this time period hid their identities using masks. In frontier communities where de jure law was not yet matured, people sometimes took
13464-606: The law into their own hands with makeshift masks made out of sacks . Vigilante mobs and gangs like the San Diego Vigilantes and the Bald Knobbers became infamous throughout that Old West era. Such masked vigilantism later inspired fictional masked crimefighters in American story-telling, beginning with the character Deadwood Dick in 1877. The word superhero dates back to 1899. The 1903 British play The Scarlet Pimpernel and its spinoffs popularized
13600-478: The likes of Batwoman in 1956, Supergirl , Miss Arrowette , and Bat-Girl ; all female derivatives of established male superheroes. In 1957 Japan, Shintoho produced the first film serial featuring the superhero character Super Giant , signaling a shift in Japanese popular culture towards tokusatsu masked superheroes over kaiju giant monsters. Along with Astro Boy , the Super Giant serials had
13736-764: The magazine King of the Monsters in 1977 describing Godzilla as "Superhero of the '70s." In 1971, Kamen Rider launched the "Henshin Boom" on Japanese television in the early 1970s, greatly impacting the tokusatsu superhero genre in Japan. In 1972, the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman anime debuted, which built upon the superhero team idea of the live-action Phantom Agents as well as introducing different colors for team members and special vehicles to support them, said vehicles could also combine into
13872-519: The mainstream continuity (designated as "New Earth") had come into existence. The Multiverse acts as a storytelling device that allows writers to introduce alternate versions of fictional characters, hypothesize "What if?" scenarios, revisit popular Elseworlds stories and allow these characters to interact with the mainstream continuity. For example, the Ted Kord of the Kingdom Come limited series
14008-470: The mark in connection with comic books, and were granted the mark by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 1981. In the years leading up to the assignment of the mark, both DC and Marvel battled to register various trademarks involving the phrase “superhero.” However, DC and Marvel quickly discovered that they could only register marks involving the phrase "superhero" if
14144-432: The new Spider-Man after the apparent death of the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker . Kamala Khan , a Pakistani-American Muslim teenager who is revealed to have Inhuman lineage after her shapeshifting powers manifested, takes on the identity of Ms. Marvel in 2014 after Carol Danvers had become Captain Marvel. Her self-titled comic book series became a cultural phenomenon, with extensive media coverage by CNN ,
14280-623: The pages of several popular superhero titles from the late 1950s onward: Hal Jordan 's love interest Carol Ferris was introduced as the Vice-President of Ferris Aircraft and later took over the company from her father; Medusa , who was first introduced in the Fantastic Four series, is a member of the Inhuman Royal Family and a prominent statesperson within her people's quasi-feudal society; and Carol Danvers ,
14416-420: The past decade following the rise of comic book characters in the film industry (Marvel/DC movies). Women are presented differently than their male counterparts, typically wearing revealing clothing that showcases their curves and cleavage and showing a lot of skin in some cases. Heroes like Power Girl and Wonder Woman are portrayed wearing little clothing and showing cleavage. Power Girl is portrayed as wearing
14552-406: The phrase referenced their own company or a character associated with their company. As a result, DC and Marvel decided to become joint owners of the "superhero" trademark. Although many consumers likely see DC and Marvel as competitors, the two comic book publishing giants are allies when it comes to protecting the trademark "superhero" and variants thereof. Although joint ownership in a trademark
14688-654: The planet, brought Clark to the Hollises to raise. In the 1989 Sam Hamm film draft script and the 2003 David Hayter film draft script, the superhero name is Night Owl . Further, the characters that adopted the Nite Owl persona are combined into one character, and there is no showing or mention of Hollis Mason as the first Nite Owl. In the climax of the 2003 script Dreiberg kills Veidt after sleeping with Laurie while in Antarctica. In addition, Dreiberg and Laurie have
14824-419: The power of a god, but was still drawn to a much weaker, mortal male character. This can be explained by the sociological concept "feminine apologetic," which reinforces a woman's femininity to account for her masculine attributes (strength, individualism, toughness, aggressiveness, bravery). Women in comic books are considered to be misrepresented due to being created by men, for men. The Hawkeye Initiative
14960-520: The public, and policing unauthorized uses. However, misuse by the public alone does not necessarily cause a trademark to become generic if the primary significance of the term is still to indicate a particular source. Some legal experts argue that, like the once-trademarked terms "aspirin" and "yo-yo," the term "superhero" now primarily refers to a general type of character with extraordinary abilities, rather than characters originating from specific publishers. In keeping with their origins as representing
15096-436: The rights to the character in 1983, using the name for three distinct characters over the years. The original Blue Beetle was created by Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski and Fox Comics and later owned by Charlton Comics . The first Beetle was Dan Garret (later spelled Dan Garrett), who initially gained superpowers from a special vitamin, which was later changed to gaining powers from a "sacred scarab". The original Blue Beetle
15232-638: The same creative team, beginning in September 2023. The original Golden Age Blue Beetle is Dan Garret, son of a police officer killed by a criminal. This Fox Feature Syndicate version of the character debuted in Mystery Men Comics #1 (August 1939), and began appearing in his own 60-issue series shortly thereafter. Fox Feature Syndicate sponsored a "Blue Beetle Day" at the 1939 New York World's Fair on August 7, 1940, beginning at 10:30 a.m. and including 300 children in relay-race finals at
15368-552: The scarab for some time, but never used it. He carried it during the Crisis on Infinite Earths when he was chosen by the Monitor to protect the multiple Earths, but it only reacted when he was attacked; it did not give him superpowers. During the " Death of Superman " saga, the Blue Beetle and the other JLA members tried to stop Doomsday 's path of destruction. Doomsday displayed his near-invulnerability and, while brutally defeating
15504-508: The scarab is part of an advanced hive mind, with its own artificial intelligence covertly supplanting the wearer's own. The wearer is turned into the "ultimate infiltrator", a covert agent intended to take over its own world. However, the Blue Beetle Scarab is damaged and so instead of it controlling the host, it forms a symbiotic relationship with them. The Blue Beetle scarab uses its serial number, Khaji Da , as its name. In
15640-520: The scripter. A rookie police officer , he wore a special bulletproof costume and took "Vitamin 2X" which endowed him with super-energy, and he was assisted by a neighborhood pharmacist in his fight against crime. Blue Beetle starred in a comic book series, comic strip and radio serial, but like most Golden Age superheroes, he fell into obscurity in the 1950s. The comic book series saw a number of anomalies in publication: 19 issues, #12 through #30, were published through Holyoke Publishing ; no issue #43
15776-499: The second story was more significant. It revealed that the original 1940s Dan was reincarnated as the Silver Age version (minus his memories of his earlier existence) by some unspecified "gods", presumably the ones responsible for his mystic scarab. The gods subsequently resurrected Dan again and sent him off to save Ted Kord's life (leaving him a note saying simply, "Try not to get killed this time"). After this adventure, Kord turned
15912-432: The series largely carried over the status quo and characters from Charlton Comics, some new elements were introduced: most notably, Ted Kord was made a billionaire industrialist as his research lab was reinvented as the massively successful R & D company Kord Industries. Blue Beetle became a member of the Justice League upon the launch of a new series in 1987, beginning with Justice League #1 (May 1987). Depicted with
16048-441: The series, Batman thinks of Blue Beetle, along with Green Arrow and Black Canary , as his closest (at the time) friends. Blue Beetle is killed with most of the other heroes by a nuclear explosion. Issue #52, the series finale of DC Comics' 2006/2007 year-long weekly title 52 revealed that a " Multiverse " system of 52 parallel universes , with each Earth being a different take on established DC Comics characters as featured in
16184-549: The superhero supergroups featured at least one (and often the only) female member, much like DC's flagship superhero team the Justice League of America (whose initial roster included Wonder Woman as the token female ); examples include the Fantastic Four 's Invisible Girl , the X-Men 's Jean Grey (originally known as Marvel Girl ), the Avengers ' Wasp , and the Brotherhood of Mutants ' Scarlet Witch (who later joined
16320-410: The term "SUPER HERO" trademark is at risk of becoming generic. Courts have noted that determining whether a term has become generic is a highly factual inquiry not suitable for resolution without considering evidence like dictionary definitions, media usage, and consumer surveys. Trademark owners can take steps to prevent genericide , such as using the trademark with the generic product name, educating
16456-421: The two companies also own a variety of other superhero-related marks. For instance, DC owns "Legion of Super-Heroes" and " DC Super Hero Girls " and Marvel owns “Marvel Super Hero Island" and "Marvel Super Hero Adventures." DC and Marvel have garnered a reputation for zealously protecting their superhero marks. As noted above, one of these instances included a man by the name of Graham Jules, who sought to publish
16592-406: The two made passionate love following the rescue. They later broke Rorschach out of prison in an attempt to stop Ozymandias ' scheme to " save the world from itself. " Unfortunately, the freeing of Rorschach indirectly resulted in the brutal murder of Hollis Mason, which Dan learned of only when he and Rorschach interrogated suspects. Upon learning of Mason's death, Dreiberg became violent, attacking
16728-414: The very statue of himself that was given to him by the city as an acknowledgment and reward for his service as a costumed adventurer. Dreiberg learned about Hollis's murder and vowed revenge on the gang. As Nite Owl, he beat up one of the Knot-Tops and threatened to kill him and the whole gang before Rorschach drew him away to continue the more important mission they were on. The entire gang eventually died at
16864-556: The way". All three incarnations of Blue Beetle were depicted in Booster Gold (vol. 2) #6. Following the cancellation of Jaime Reyes' solo series, the character was brought back to star in a backup feature in Booster Gold , once again written by Sturges. The backup feature ran through issues #21-25 (Aug.-Dec. 2009) and #28-29 (Mar.-Apr. 2010). A new Blue Beetle comic was launched as part of The New 52 initiative in September 2011, with Jaime Reyes' history being rebooted with
17000-611: The weakest member of her team a decade ago. Both major American publishers began introducing new superheroines with a more distinct feminist theme as part of their origin stories or character development. Examples include Big Barda , Power Girl , and the Huntress by DC comics; and from Marvel, the second Black Widow , Shanna the She-Devil , and The Cat . Female supporting characters who were successful professionals or hold positions of authority in their own right also debuted in
17136-440: The world. Unseen by the others, Doctor Manhattan killed Rorschach to stop him. Dan and Laurie were offered hospitality by Ozymandias, which they accepted. Before leaving for another galaxy, Manhattan seemed satisfied and happy at the sight of Laurie now in a relationship with Dan. In the conclusion of the story, having been assumed to be dead in the attack, they were seen in their new identities of Sam and Sandra Hollis (in homage to
17272-522: Was featured in not only his own comic but also a weekly radio serial . The second Blue Beetle, created by Charlton and later taken over by DC Comics , was the successor to Dan Garrett known as Ted Kord . Kord "jumped" to the DC Comics universe during the Crisis on Infinite Earths alongside a number of other Charlton Comics characters. The second Blue Beetle later starred in his own 24-issue comic. Kord never had any super powers but used science to create various devices to help him fight crime. He became
17408-591: Was forced to leave it with the wizard Shazam in the Rock of Eternity when the wizard sent him back to Earth . Some time later, Booster Gold , along with Jaime, Dan, and the Black Beetle in the guise of a Blue Beetle from the future, travels back in time to rescue Kord moments before his death. Jaime Reyes is a teenager who lives in El Paso, Texas , with his father, mother, and little sister; his father owns
17544-609: Was in All Star Comics #8 (Dec. 1941), published by All-American Publications , one of two companies that would merge to form DC Comics in 1944. Pérák was an urban legend originating from the city of Prague during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in the midst of World War II . In the decades following the war, Pérák has also been portrayed as the only Czech superhero in film and comics. In 1952, Osamu Tezuka 's manga Tetsuwan Atom , more popularly known in
17680-657: Was published; publication frequency varied throughout the run; and there were gaps where issues were not published, with large ones occurring in early 1947 and between mid-1948 and early 1950. In the mid-1950s, Fox Comics went out of business and sold the printing plates for some stories featuring the Blue Beetle to Charlton Comics . Reprinted stories from the original Blue Beetle series were initially published in Charlton's anthology comic Space Adventures #13-14 (Oct. 1954, Jan. 1955). Charlton Comics then began publishing their own Blue Beetle series, taking over numbering from
17816-525: Was reinvented again in a set of backup stories published in Captain Atom #83 (Nov. 1966) through #86, plotted and drawn by Steve Ditko : they introduced Ted Kord , a student of Dan Garrett's, who took on the role of Blue Beetle following Garrett's apparent death. Kord was an inventor hero, using a variety of gadgets, with a day job of running his own research lab. This Beetle received his own series in 1967, also by Ditko, which ran for five issues until
17952-510: Was seen in Alex Ross and Mark Waid 's limited series Kingdom Come . He is shown with the rest of the Charlton "Action Heroes" not as a member of Magog 's Justice Battalion , but as part of Batman 's group and later of the MLF (Mankind Liberation Front). He would be shown later in the title in a suit of armor powered by the then-mystic scarab, working with Batman's team. In the novelization of
18088-709: Was spotlighted in the second issue of DC's 1980s Secret Origins series, in which his origin was retold along with that of Ted Kord. Subsequent appearances by Dan Garrett (in flashback stories) include guest spots or cameos in Infinity, Inc. , Captain Atom , JLA: Year One , and Legends of the DC Universe . The character briefly returned in DC Comics ' first run of Blue Beetle , resurrected by his mystical scarab to battle against his successor. He can also be seen in various flashback stories. His 1940s incarnation
18224-572: Was the primary Blue Beetle character, only occasionally referring to past versions. With the subsequent continuity revision "DC Rebirth", the previous versions were restored. The original Blue Beetle, Dan Garret , first appeared in Fox Comics ' Mystery Men Comics #1 ( cover-dated August 1939), with art by Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski (as Charles Nicholas ), though the Grand Comics Database tentatively credits Will Eisner as
18360-404: Was unexpected as Marvel and DC had filed a motion to extend time to answer. There is an ongoing debate among legal scholars and in the courts about whether the term "superhero" has become genericized due to its widespread use in popular culture, similar to terms like "aspirin" or "escalator" which lost their trademark protection and became generic terms for their respective products. Some argue
18496-467: Was unwilling to defend itself against Ben Cooper Inc.'s suit. As a result, in 1977, Mego Corporation jointly assigned its interest in the trademark to DC Comics , Inc. ("DC") and Marvel Comics ("Marvel"). Due to the financial prowess of DC and Marvel, Ben Cooper, Inc. decided to withdraw its trademark opposition and jointly assigned its interest in the "World's Greatest Super Heroes" mark to DC and Marvel. Two years later in 1979, DC and Marvel applied for
#365634