Jaime Reyes is the third character to become the Blue Beetle, though he differs quite a bit from his predecessors. The first Blue Beetle, Dan Garret, is a police officer who chose to fight even more crime as a masked hero. The second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, is a genius inventor who took up the mantle after Garret (then-spelled “Garrett”) died. While they were already equipped with the skills to act as superheroes, Jaime was a teenager who discovered his courage after becoming the Blue Beetle.

Jaime was created by Keith Giffen, John Rogers, and Cully Hamner, who introduced him in Infinite Crisis #3 (February 2006). He lived in El Paso, Texas with a loving family and friends to whom he was fiercely loyal. During Day of Vengeance, Shazam had possession of Dan Garrett’s mystical scarab, and when he died, the scarab flew across Earth. It landed in El Paso and bonded with Jaime.

The scarab grafted itself to Jaime’s spine where it could activate any number of powers and manifest a high tech, armored suit. Booster Gold found the newly minted superhero and sought Jaime’s help to join him and Batman in defeating Brother Eye.

Jaime returned in his own ongoing Blue Beetle series. It started with a fight against Green Lantern when Guy Gardner’s ring reacted negatively to the scarab, sending him into a fit of rage. Once the fight ended, a battered Jaime found his way home where he told his family and friends about his new identity.

Jaime learned that the scarab was created by the alien race known as the Reach, but they could no longer control it. To protect himself and the scarab, Blue Beetle used the Bleed’s time warping abilities to confront the Reach. In retaliation, they attacked his home and while he was distracted, they removed the scarab. Before they took it from him, the scarab transferred its knowledge to Jaime.

Peacemaker, Guy Gardner, and others helped to protect Blue Beetle’s family and escape the Reach. Then Jaime went after the Reach again and was reunited with the scarab. Angry at the loss, the Reach planned to use a doomsday weapon against Earth, so Blue Beetle and the scarab agreed to sacrifice themselves to save the world. Lucky for them, Booster Gold arrived and saved them.

Later, a group of Reach soldiers went after Jaime again, and his tech support helper Nadia was killed. Blue Beetle flew to space to confront them, and he ended up locked in battle with their negotiator and plummeted back to Earth. The scarab protected Jaime from sustaining too much damage, but he still spent weeks recovering from the fight.