Morden Man — Roleplayer Guild

It was surreal to be stood across from the man Jonathan Kent had grown up adoring. His father had been a Captain America super fan as a child. The young Jonathan Kent had collected every piece of Captain America memorabilia that he could get his hands on – which given he was in rural Kansas, wasn’t very much at all. Somewhere in an old box in the Kent room were yellowed Captain America picture books that detailed his adventures during the war with the Justice Society of America. And here Clark was holding a conversation with the man, talking as equals. 

Captain America seemed every bit the good soldier that history had made him out to be. He was strong, his resoluteness came through even in his silences, but there was a kindness there that was plain to see. The Justice League was not Clark’s enemy and Captain America certainly wasn’t either – that much was clear from the look on the Captain’s face. Lex had pulled the wool over their eyes as he had done with the rest of America. Stood there across from Captain America, Clark had some hope that he might be able to steer the League away from whatever Luthor had planned from them.

He hoped when the time came he could count on Captain America’s support. If he was half the man he seemed, he suspected he might be able to. For the time being though it was better he didn’t give voice to his concerns about Lex. He’d focus on what they did have in common instead.

Clark smiled.

“If the world needs us, we’ll be there, Captain. You can count on that much.”

In the corner of his eye Clark spotted Barton lift his hand from his bow and tap an imaginary watch on his wrist.

“We’ve got places to be, Big Blue.”

Clark nodded in his direction as his thoughts turned to Lois sat at home waiting for the pair of them. He squinted a little as he searched Metropolis for any other opportunists that sought to strike whilst the League were gone. There was nothing. 

“It was a pleasure working with you both,” Clark shook Captain America’s hand again and smiled towards Zatanna. “I don’t doubt that we’ll run into one another again sometime.”

Clark turned to fly away and Barton took aim with his bow towards a nearby rooftop. As Superman’s feet left the ground, Barton looked to Captain America and Zatanna with a smirk.

“If you ever get some free time, I suggest you take a deeper look into your sugar daddy’s other business dealings.”

Clark was halfway in the air when the barb left Clint’s mouth. He rolled his eyes as little as Barton unfurled an arrow that careened over Clark’s shoulder and embedded itself in one of the city’s many buildings. The pair of them made their way through the night, assured that Metropolis could rest easy for the night again.

Well, in terms of my lack of posting here, aside from another hospital stay THIS is what I've been working on!

Name: Edward "Ted" Stephen Kord A.K.A. The Blue Beetle!

Alignment: Neutral Good

Affiliation: None

History: Even as a very young child, Ted Kord was exponentially more brilliant than the average human being, skilled at just about any task he put his mind to. Ted was the son of Thomas M. Kord, CEO of the famous Kord Omni-Research and Development Industries and by the age of nine he was already attempting to assist his father's scientists in their labs at first to their annoyance, but as time went on to their amazement. Unfortunately, even tinkering with and improving upon his father's designs was not enough for Ted Kord and the boy went looking for even greater intellectual challenges. At the age of 13 Ted successfully hacked into the most secure and intimate portions of the Department of Defense's computer network, though his actions were eventually discovered and lead to a raid on his home and his subsequent arrest. He was later released after it was confirmed that he was a minor and that his actions were driven by non-malicious boredom. Nevertheless it was enough to gain the wunderkind a certain degree of notoriety and ensure that the U.S. government kept a close eye on him from then onward.

Still, Ted's parents knew that something had to be done about their son's increasing need for mental stimulation. Thus at age fourteen, he was enrolled at the prestigious Excelsior Academy alongside such future luminaries and members of the North American elite as Bruce Wayne, Anthony Stark, Alexander Luthor and Oliver Queen. Ted relished the new access to knowledge and information the academy gave him, as well as the chance to socialize with some equally bright or even brighter minds. One more exciting opportunity awaited Ted Kord at Excelsior in the form of his history and archaeology professor, Daniel Garrett. Garett needed a student to help him on one of his 'famous research trips' and young Ted being the eager and somewhat dorky mind that he was, enthusiastically volunteered despite most of his classmates assuming he would be in for days sitting in musty libraries and baking in hot, boring old ruins. To Ted's surprise Garrett turned out to be an archaeologist of the more adventurous type and Ted instead found himself battling cultists and grave-robbers, dodging through booby-trapped tombs and sealing away the occasional dark elder god within the week. While Ted found the mystical side of all this to be a little out of his purview, he did find the adventuring life to be extremely morally satisfying and exciting and decided to stay on as Garrett's assistant full-time. Thus during school breaks and vacations. While this was far before the prominence of beings claiming the title of "superhero" Dan Garrett did have experience with the arcane along with access to a mysterious Blue Scarab artifact, which he could draw upon in times of need to enhance his strength and durability and occasionally project bolts of energy. With Ted's inventiveness and quick mind and Garrett serving as a mix of muscle, mentor and authority on all things ancient and arcane the duo had numerous adventures across the globe for four exciting years until Ted graduated from the Academy four years later.

Ted continued to study a wide range of topics and it was at Harvard that he first met and befriended Bruce Banner. The two struck up a strong friendship albeit mostly at Ted's insistence. After graduating he continued his personal studies in fields as varied as chemistry and aircraft design. In particular he later went on to study the various properties, applications and related fields of Solar Energy, a topic that became a lifelong passion. But not all was well in Ted Kord's life, because while he was away his uncle Jarvis Kord had seized control of Kord Omniversal from his father and begun using its' advanced technologies in a plot to achieve world domination. 

Ted turned back to his old mentor for help with one last adventure. The two battled through hordes of robotic minions and deadly high-tech traps in a secret battle not just for the soul of KORD Industries but also the fate of the world. In a hard-fought final confrontation Ted was able to sabotage his uncle's suit of powered armor as Dan wrestled with it using the Scarab's might, but unbeknownst to Ted his frantic efforts had worked too well. Rather than harmlessly short circuiting the armor overloaded and in the subsequent explosion both Ted's uncle and his mentor were mortally wounded. As his dying request, Dan Garrett urged his protege not to mourn his death or fall into despair but instead take the Scarab and use it to do good, always looking to make a brighter future.

Ted tried to honor the late professor's request, but found that the Scarab would not respond to him as it had to Dan. Determined to nevertheless become a force for good in the world, Ted got in contact with SHIELD via the U.S. government's already constantly present surveillance on him and demanded to be trained as a field agent. The response from the agency was unenthusiastic, at least until Ted agreed to turn his genius to designing technology for Big Brother in exchange for field deployment. Ted worked for SHIELD for some time but ultimately found the life of a super-spy and government tech-designer to be a lot more morally questionable than he was comfortable with and the incident resulting in the disappearance of his close friend Reed Richards and SHIELD director Nick Fury vanishing into the wind was the final straw for Ted. He tendered his resignation as an Agent of SHIELD and decided he needed to take his quest to make a positive impact on the world in a new direction. 

Ted took over as CEO of KORD industries for his ailing father and began building the company up almost single-handed. He put his genius to work openly to create inventions on both world-changing and common scales and increasingly bring the Kord name closer to the likes of Stark, Luthor and Wayne in terms of research and development capability as well as becoming one of the leading advocates and designers for clean energy in the form of solar power. At the same time though, he missed the life of action and hands-on do-good-ing he had lived as Dan's assistant and in SHIELD. Taking inspiration from the emergence of heroes around him and the formation of Lex Luthor's Justice League Ted created his costume, his airship and his identity as the Blue Beetle using his old mentor's mystical Scarab as inspiration. Since then he has been fighting crime and improving the world with his physical skills, an array of high-tech non-lethal gadgetry and most importantly his brilliant intellect.

Supporting Cast:

Allies:

 Will be elaborated on IC

Enemies:

The Beetle: A former engineer and mechanic in the employ of Kord Omniversal, Abner Jenkins stole and modified a suit of powered armor designed by Ted and attempted to destroy his company due to feeling under-appreciated and undermined at his job. Ted defeated him once before but was unable to imprison him, resulting in his escape. Currently works as a mercenary using the suit as he plots his revenge on Blue Beetle.

Promethium Man:  Curt Calhoun was a foreman at a KORD Industries experimental site who was accidentally coated in molten Promethium. Ted was able to save his life, but not remove the Promethium coating around him. Enraged at being forever disfigured and unable to feel, he has declared himself an enemy of Blue Beetle. 

The Masked Marauder: A costumed crime-lord, super-genius and enemy of Blue Beetle.  

More to be revealed IC

How (if at all) does the New Frontier version of your character differ from the original?: Ted has a lot more experience battling all sorts of foes in far different situations than does his original counterpart. This version of Ted was an an intrepid boy genius sidekick to adventuring archaeologist Dan Garrett and first a scientist and then field agent for SHIELD, explaining the original's espionage and combat training. Some of Ted's rogues are also a little different or else borrowed from Marvel in the case of The Beetle and Marvel's version of the Masked Marauder. In addition while he'll still be goofy, lighthearted and wise-cracking I also intend to showcase his genius at times, as the comics often forgot to do and potentially tie-in the Scarab's connection to The Reach. Overall it's the same old Ted, but with a slightly different backstory and hopefully really given a chance to stretch his diaphanous wings and fly a little. 

Post References:
See my earlier stuff and my Moon Knight work.

I know we don't want every character being trained by someone or having some connection to SHIELD, but I just really feel like it fits with Ted and explains some of his more physical abilities well, plus it links into potential for more stories down the line provided this hasn't died.@Dblade26

We are at nearly a hundred IC posts in two weeks. I think a bit of a lull can be excused given that.

Once I'm back home I'll take a proper look at your application.

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