Here’s What Blue Beetle’s Bug Ship Is & Why It’s Important

Batman has the Batmobile, Wonder Woman has the Invisible Plane, the Avengers have their Quinjets, and so on. Over the years, you’ve noticed that many superheroes, despite being able to fly or move at the speed of light, have a great use for personalized vehicles that reflect their powers and their overall theme. In fact, those vehicles often enter popular culture and become synonyms for powers as well. Blue Beetle, the most recent addition to the DCU, is no exception to this rule. We’ve seen Blue Beetle’s Bug Ship in the movie, and now it’s time to explore its comic history and significance. 

Blue Beetle’s Bug Ship is a vertical take-off and landing craft designed and built by Ted Kord because he wasn’t able to fly and used the craft to navigate the area during his crime-fighting efforts. Bug Ship was eventually inherited by Jaime Reyes, the current Blue Beetle. It’s an extremely convenient and powerful vehicle with several gadgets built in and several offensive pieces of weaponry. 

Now that we’ve given you the basics on Blue Beetle’s Bug Ship, it’s time to explore its comic history as well as its current significance. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading! 

Who built the Bug Ship? 

The story of Bug Ship begins with the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord. Ted Kord was rich and incredibly smart and heir to an entire tech empire, you could say, and he had plenty of resources at his disposal, but he couldn’t have one thing. 

Despite coming into contact with the Scarab, it never bonded with him as with its other hosts, which means that he was never able to claim Blue Beetle powers. This left him with quite a few ambitions to preserve order and fight crime. He was inspired by his time-traveling friend Booster Gold to take on crime-fighting efforts and built himself various suits, weaponry, gadgets, and similar stuff in order to bridge that gap between him and superpowers.  

It was successful to a degree, and one of Kord’s most popular inventions was his Bug Ship, which he frequently used to travel from one point to another quickly and efficiently. It was a true command center of sorts that every superhero on the rise needed to have. So, Ted Kord built the Bug Ship because he didn’t have superpowers. 

Justice League International used the Bug Ship as its preferred mode of transportation for a time, and the craft was known to be far more advanced than the Batmobile due to having a plethora of unheard gadgets and systems put in place. 

Ted Kord even developed various other models, the majority of which were destroyed during various Justice League International crime-fighting efforts.  

Why is Blue Beetle’s Bug such a big deal?

As we know by now, Ted Kord did not stay Blue Beetle forever, and eventually, the mantle was carried over to Jaime Reyes, the current and most popular Blue Beetle. 

Like most other Blue Beetle traits, Jaime inherited the Bug as well, even though there’s a catch. Due to the fact that Jaime could access the full powers of the Scarab with which he successfully bonded, this meant that he could fly and access the full array of its alien gadgets and systems.

Under Jaime’s tenure as the Blue Beetle, the Bug didn’t see much use, but his side-kicks did use it occasionally, and he also utilized the craft to access some locations that would be uncomfortable to travel on food, such as underground and underwater areas. 

Still, Blue Beetle’s Bug is significant because it’s sort of a status symbol among the Blue Beetles, and having it means that you are a full-fledged Blue Beetle and not just a pretender. The fact that the craft was included in the DCEU movie proves as much. It’s one of the most iconic references to the source material that the movie could have included. 

How powerful is the Bug? 

As far as fictional superhero vehicles go, Blue Beetle’s Bug is one of the most powerful ones. The Bug was made out of a metallic alloy of titanium and steel panels, which makes it extremely durable. Its main power source are solar panels, which power all the advanced technology that can be found within the craft. 

The Bug has everything that a superhero needs, offensive and defensive, as well as some comforts, such as a stereo and a set of civilian clothes, and it’s extremely quiet during flight. 

The Bug’s engine is among its most advanced features, considering that it can move at speeds of at least 994.1 miles per hour (1600 km/h). The craft can submerge itself underwater, reaching impressive depths of up to 984.252 feet (300 meters). The craft can also reach incredible heights. Its maximum altitude was recorded to be 10,000 meters.

And we keep mentioning gadgets. Well, let’s just say that the Bug puts Batmobile to shame. 

The craft boasts a range of incredible offensive systems as well as tools, including laser beams, magnetic/electrical impulse blasts emitted from its aerials, and solar blasts. Its onboard equipment includes solar collection panels for energy generation, booster jets concealed under the shell for high-speed propulsion, robotic claw arms used for grasping and manipulating objects and deploying electrostatic smoke to camouflage the ship. 

It also features escape hatches, watertight bulkheads, a sky wire for versatile mobility, a portable crime lab for investigative purposes, and miniature Bugs, which are solar-powered probes with audio and video capabilities. 

As you can see, it’s quite a powerful thing to have. Even though we’ve only seen some of the things it can do in the ‘Blue Beetle’ movie, there’s no doubt that it will show up in the possible future installments. 

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