Beetle
From Spider-Man Wiki
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| MACH-IV | |
| Real name: | Abner Ronald Jenkins |
| First Appearance: | Amazing Spider-Man Annual 19 |
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Created by: | Stan Lee Carl Burgos |
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Affiliations: | Commission on Superhuman Activities Masters of Evil Sinister Syndicate |
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Abilities: | Highly intelligent Powered armor grants: Flight; Variety of weapons systems |
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Portrayed by: | None |
Abner Ronald Jenkins (formerly known as the Beetle, MACH-1, 2 and 3 and currently MACH IV) is a fictional character, a former supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Abner Jenkins used to be a skilled factory mechanic. A very skilled one. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and wanted to be a big, important person. He created a sticky-fingered battle-suit with flight capabilities so that he could become a master thief. It worked pretty well. Early run-ins with Spider-man and Daredevil convinced him that he needed more power. This resulted in a sleeker battle suit with more offensive capabilities and greater strength. Seeking fame, glory, and profit, Abner Jenkins spent several years as the notorious villain called Beetle.
[edit] Criminal career
Abner Jenkins was a master mechanic at an aircraft parts factory who became dissatisfied with his boring, low paying job. Using his considerable mechanical knowledge, Jenkins built an armor-plated, strength-augmenting suit, a pair of gravity-defying wings, suction-fingered gloves, and a cybernetic control helmet. Calling himself the Beetle, Jenkins decided to use his battle-suit for fame, wealth, and adventure. Believing a victory over half the Fantastic Four would make him an overnight sensation, the Beetle chose to lure the Human Torch and the Thing into battle. However, the Thing and the Torch defeated him, and he was sent to prison.
Paroled a short time later, he sought revenge on the Torch, but found himself in battle with Spider-Man instead. Once again, with help from the Torch, he was defeated. Upon his release, he decided to forego petty revenge and concentrated on the acquisition of wealth. At one point the Beetle was mentally dominated and recruited by the Collector to serve as his unwilling agent. Under the Collector's domination, the Beetle faced the Avengers. He battled Daredevil and then, allied with Gladiator, fought him again. The Beetle also battled Spider-Man again. He later became a member of the group of supervillains who briefly posed as the Defenders in order to confuse the authorities and earn a bit of public trust.
Losing every battle against costumed crime-fighters and failing to accumulate very much wealth, the Beetle offered his services to underworld financier Justin Hammer, who kept various superhuman criminals on retainers. His offer accepted, the Beetle was dispatched against the original Iron Man, as part of a battalion of costumed criminals. His Beetle armor was severely damaged by Iron Man during the fight. Beetle was one of the villains that attacked the Fantastic Four during the Acts of Vengeance.
Jenkins then invested all of the capital he could acquire into the modification and refinement of his Beetle armor. With the assistance of the Mad Thinker, he produced a new battle-suit with far greater capacities than his old one. Before launching his comeback, the Beetle recruited the criminal Ringer to put Spider-Man through his paces. The Beetle wished to study Spider-Man's fighting style and program it into a computer system so he could anticipate his opponent's moves. Despite his preparations and new battle-suit, the Beetle was again defeated by Spider-Man. He was later freed from prison by Egghead who recruited him for his Masters of Evil organization. The Beetle and other Masters of Evil were defeated by the Avengers and arrested.
Justin Hammer then commissioned Beetle, Blizzard, and Blacklash to kill Clayton Wilson, but Iron Man defeated them. Soon thereafter, Beetle battled Iron Man again, but this time all portions of the Beetle's battle armor using Stark technology were fused.
The Beetle organized his own team of super-villainous mercenaries called the Sinister Syndicate. The team ran afoul of Spider-Man and Silver Sable, and later imploded due to internal conflicts.
After this Jenkins became MACH 1-IV.
[edit] Powers
Beetle wears a flight-enabled battlesuit that also provides him with many military-like weapons. These include forcefield grenades, electricity-based discharges that he can fire from his arms, and suction cups. Beetle's exoskeleton also enables him to bash through walls without getting himself hurt.
[edit] Other versions
[edit] Marvel Zombies
Abner appears alongside the Thunderbolts in the Dead Days one-shot of the Marvel Zombies miniseries wearing an early version of his MACH suit, and alongside the rest of the group is seen attacking first Thor and then Nova. He is quickly killed by a blast of flame from the Human Torch.
[edit] Ultimate Marvel
Ultimate Beetle made his debut in the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, acting as an agent for the Latverians, collecting genetic information from superhumans to allow them to genetically engineer super-soldiers. The notable actions he took in the game were stealing a vial of sand from which it is implied the Ultimate Sandman has a connection, freeing Norman Osborn (also known as the Green Goblin) and capturing Venom who later defeats (or possibly kills) him. He also battled Spider-Man shortly after freeing the Green Goblin, but escaped by ducking into the nearby Latverian Embassy. He later appeared in the comic book series starting with issue 124, in which the comic book retold the events that happened in the "Ultimate Spider-Man Video Game".
[edit] In other media
[edit] Television
He also appeared in the 1980s Saturday morning animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends voiced by Christopher Collins. The Beetle stole a crime-detection computer and the Power Booster invented by Tony Stark to increase his power. He was the first villain that the Spider-Friends faced together in that origin episode.
The Beetle made a brief appearance in the Iron Man episode "Armor Wars" Part 2 voiced by John Reilly with a Liverpudlian accent that evokes the similarly-named band. He was trying to steal the Tibetan Diamond at an auction at the Museum of Modern Art only to be pinned him down with a giant shoe by Iron Man and had his armor—based on stolen Stark designs deactivated by a Negator Pack.
[edit] Video games
- Beetle appears in both the Snes and Sega Genesis games based on the animated series.
- The Beetle was the first boss in the 1995 Super Nintendo game Spider-Man: Lethal Foes, a game only released in Japan.
- The Beetle played a minor role in the sequel to the Spider-Man game for the PlayStation, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro,where he worked for Hammerhead. He only appeared in cut-scenes and did not appear as a boss character. He was voiced by Daran Norris.
- In the Ultimate Spider-Man video game (released September 23, 2005), You fight him as both Spider-Man and Venom. He was voiced by Tucker Smallwood.
[edit] Appearances
Strange Tales #123 (August, 1964)first appearance
