Blue Beetle just lost an essential part of his crime-fighting arsenal, and it’s even more consequential than Batman’s biggest recent defeat.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Blue & Gold #2, on sale now from DC Comics.
Ted Kord’s Blue Beetle is one of the top scientists, inventors and industrial titans of the DC Universe, with his wealth and resources typically paling only in comparison to Bruce Wayne, Lex Luthor and Oliver Queen. Unfortunately for him, that’s no longer the case, as recent events have left Ted one particularly squashed bug in Blue & Gold #2, by Dan Jurgens, Ryan Sook and Rob Leigh.
The sudden loss of Ted Kord’s resources mirrors the similar events that recently happened to Bruce Wayne, though in this case, it might have even more drastic effects. Since he lacked Batman’s level of resources and acumen, Ted Kord might become even more desperate and destitute as a superhero. Here’s how his lack of cash is perhaps the worst thing to ever befall the street-level Justice League hero.
In Blue & Gold #2, Ted Kord finally makes it to one of the many business meetings that he had theretofore been missing out on. Unfortunately for him, it’s all far too little too late, as his recent absences dealing from both being a superhero and a recent storyline involving the Suicide Squad have kept him from his entrepreneurial responsibilities. Likewise, this issue involved a Kord Industries vehicle that was supposed to be resistant to hacking, though that turned out to not be the case.
With his vocational truancy being only further compounded by his seemingly failing scientific acumen, Ted Kord is removed from the very company that his father had left him. This rips the bottom out from under him in terms of steady wealth, which had beforehand been used to fund his expensive gadgets and adventures as the Blue Beetle. The unfortunate financial state of events forces Ted to consider his best friend Booster Gold’s new idea of being heroes for hire, though the circumstances also resemble those now thrust upon Gotham City’s Caped Crusader.
In the aftermath of the recent “Joker War” storyline, Bruce Wayne was left without a vast majority of his personal wealth. This money had been stolen by the Joker to fund his own army, and though Catwoman was able to secure much of it back, it was now legally out of the hands of Wayne himself. This meant that the Dark Knight would have to get creative in terms of his crime-fighting, as the transfer of wealth made him unable to securely fund his activities as Batman as he had beforehand.
Ted Kord’s similar situation is even worse, as quite frankly, both in-universe and in the real world, he’s simply no Batman. He might have been quite wealthy before, but he didn’t have Bruce Wayne’s level of technology, resources or money. Wayne Enterprises had all manner of wings and subsidiaries that made Kord’s company comparatively look like small potatoes, not to mention a much broader influence on the economy of the DC Universe.
Likewise, Batman has a team of sidekicks who usually have their own sources of wealth and assets, which allows them to reverse the situation and be his benefactor if need be. Blue Beetle simply does not have this, making his fall from grace even more tragic. This also means that he has to be even more cognizant of how he uses his money, especially when his gadgets break. This technology is vitally important to his superheroics since Blue Beetle’s martial arts skills are usually merely passable. This also means his teaming up with Booster Gold is likely more important than ever. Without Booster and his powers, Ted is barely a bug on the windshield of the fight against supervillains.
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