Blue Beetle

Ted Kord is a brilliant inventor and the president of Kord Industries. Unfortunately, his business sense isn't always the best causing KI to often be on the brink of becoming KIA.

The Blue Beetle is a rather odd hero. He flies around in an airship he calls The Bug and doesn't seem to have any actual powers of his own to speak of. He has an on-going Bromance with Booster Gold

Background
Ted Kord was born into a family of wealth and prosperity. He grew up living the lavish lifestyle of someone who's had everything handed to him. He was a brilliant student, but there was really no need to apply himself much. He got several degrees, but they were in things that interested him anyway. After college was over, life became a long Spring Break. He pondered going to work with his father, but there were so many places to see and blondes to meet...

Ted's life changed after he heard of the disappearance of his Uncle on Pago island. He recruited one of his college professors that he had befriended, Dan Garret, to go with him and figure out what happened to his uncle Jarvis. They found out that Jarvis had a little surprise and that he had faked his disappearance in order to work on an Android Army in an attempt to take over the world. But Dan Garrett had a secret too as he used his mystical scarab to transform himself into the Blue Beetle! They had a mighty battle and in the end Jarvis was defeated and his army destroyed, but Dan Garret was killed as well. Before he died, he made Ted promise to carry on the legacy of the Blue Beetle.

Ted took the mystical scarab, but while he was a scientific genius, he knew little of the occult and couldn't get it to transform him as it had Dan. He traveled for a while trying to unlock the scarab's secrets, but finally gave up and decided to carry out his promise his own way. He set out to design a costume and some gadgets and started training himself in martial arts and acrobatics so he could become a crime fighter. He decided he needed transportation and a base of operations, so he worked on them together and created the Bug, his flying mobile lab and base.

Just as his years of work came to fruition and he was ready to venture out as a Superhero, duty of another sort called. His step-mother had died and his father had become overwhelmed with grief. Kord Omiversal Research and Design was plummeting into oblivion, and with it Ted's inheritance and bankroll. He decided he had to step in and try to save it. Remarketting it as Kord Industries with himself at the head, he managed to save the business, but just barely. Once things looked like they had stabilized, he focussed once again on his promise to cary on the legacy of the Blue Beetle!

He began focusing just on crime in Chicago, but son her caught the attention of other heroes and found himself as part of the Justice League. Fighting alongside the likes of Superman, Batman, Martian Manhunter, Guy Gardner, Fire, and Ice, Blue Beetle made a name for himself as a great hero, if a bit qwirky of one. It was also in the Justice League that his bromance began with his soulmate in mischief, Booster Gold.

While originally Ted didn't like or trust Booster because of his attitude and seeming idiocy, as he got to know him better, Ted found the real man behind the bravado and became best of friends. Though... this hasn't always been to Ted's benefit when he lets Booster talk him into schemes like opening up a Justice League themed casino on an island called Kooiekooiekooie with borrowed Justice League funds. Still, together they proved to sometimes be the conscience that would keep other members of the Justice League from getting too full of themselves. When someone needed their ego brought down a notch or two, Booster and Beetle would usually have some sort of prank up their sleeves.

Ted's traveled through time, visited other worlds, battled some of the most terrifying villains in the universe and still come back for more. But it's hard to do all that heroing and still take care of things at home as well. Kord Industries began to sink into bankruptcy again and Ted didn't have the time to dedicate to it anymore. He didn't want his family legacy to be lost just due to his ineptitude however, so he found a solution. Selling a large percentage of stock to Waynetech, ted allowed them to take over the day to day management, keeping just enough stock for himself to still sit on the board and help ensure the people who had given his family such dedicated service over the years were still watched out for.

Heroing hasn't been all roses for Ted however. The Queen Bee took over his mind, almost caused him to kill Maxwell Lord and placed him into a coma that Dr. Fate had to come rescue him from. Another coma was caused at the hands f the monster known as Doomsday when it was rampaging its way towards Metropolis where it battled and killed Superman. Ted spent months in a coma and then physical rehab just to get him back to walking again. He pondered the wisdom of being a hero without powers and even contemplated settling down to a nice normal life. But in the end the siren's song of a heroes' life called out to him and he once again donned the spandex of the Blue Beetle.

Ted's made a lot of friends and contacts in the heroing community. Maxwell Lord often turns to Beetle for help with projects and seems to have a very convincing manner about him that can get Ted to agree to things in the end even if he was opposed to it to begin with. He's very close friends with Barbara Gordon and knows about her identity as Oracle. He's even given her some financial and technical backing to help with her Birds of Prey as well as donning the costume a time or two to run missions for her as an honorary Bird.

Personality
Ted has always been a bit of a Bon Vivant... or so he likes to label himself. Others call him a flake. He generally has a smirk on his lips and a wisecrack on the tip of his tongue. He has a quick and brilliant mind, but that can get him into trouble as well since he realizes often just how crazy it is to be out doing this sort of thing as a Superhero. Still, he has the spirit of a hero within him and is able to buckle down when the time comes and focus on what has to be done. He might gripe about things being too dangerous or foolhardy, but when the time comes he has no fear of laying his own life on the line for his friends and the public.