Abner Jenkins

Abner Ronald Jenkins, also known as the

The character has been adapted from the comics into several other forms of media, such as animated television series and video games.

Publication history

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Abner Jenkins first appeared as the original incarnation of the

He later became a member of the group of supervillains who briefly posed as the Defenders to confuse the authorities and earn a bit of public trust.^[9]

Losing every battle against costumed crime-fighters and failing to accumulate very much wealth, Beetle offered his services to underworld financier Justin Hammer who kept various superhuman criminals on retainers. His offer accepted, Beetle was dispatched against the original Iron Man, as part of a battalion of costumed criminals. His Beetle armor was severely damaged by Iron Man during the fight.^[10]

Abner then invested all of the capital he could acquire into the modification and refinement of his Beetle armor. With the

Beetle organized his own team of super-villainous mercenaries called the Sinister Syndicate, which ran afoul of Spider-Man.^[15][16]

As a member of the Thunderbolts

When most of

On Counter-Earth, Zemo's Thunderbolts had encountered the effects of a white hole spawned from an abandoned spacecraft, as its engine's radiation began eating Earth from the inside. The Thunderbolts embarked on a plan to combine their powers to punt the alien ship off the Earth and sever the link between the worlds. However, to complete this plan, the Thunderbolts needed to be inside the engine-spawned void to keep it clear of the real Earth as it closed. By so doing, they would reemerge from the void on the real Earth, forfeiting their roles and place on Counter-Earth. Emerging from the void, the Thunderbolts encountered their former teammates Hawkeye and Songbird who had formed their own version of the Thunderbolts who were similarly engaged with the void from the real Earth's counterpart of the spaceship. The two teams of Thunderbolts combined forces to plug the void and shunt the alien ship from Earth. Jenkins's reunion with Songbird was short-lived. Despite their feelings for each other, Jenkins left Songbird, once more remanding himself to police custody to serve the remainder of his sentence.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Back on Earth

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For six months, Jenkins had been a model prisoner at Parsons Minimum Security prison in

Later, Mach-V works at The Raft as the Head of Security. He brings Luke Cage below sea level where they are introduced to Man-Thing who will serve as the Thunderbolts' mode of transportation.^[25] Along with Songbird and Fixer, he frequently serves as a trusted chaperone for Cage's Thunderbolts team.

During the Standoff at Pleasant Hill, MACH-VII is working with S.H.I.E.L.D.^[26][27] Afterward, MACH-VII became MACH-X and joined with Winter Soldier's new team of Thunderbolts.^[28]

Abe briefly rekindles his romance with Songbird when she joins the Winter Soldier's Thunderbolts team (in the aftermath of Civil War II). However, in the lead up the Secret Empire event, Baron Zemo attacks the Thunderbolts with a new incarnation of the Masters of Evil. Songbird and Abe resist Zemo's offer to join up with him and the rising Hydra empire and, in the fallout of their confrontation, Songbird is left searching the snowy wasteland for Abe's missing body.^[29]

Powers and abilities

Abner Jenkins has no superhuman powers, but has extensive knowledge of mechanics and engineering.

As the Beetle, he designed and wore a suit of full body

• In 2020,
  CBR.com ranked Beetle 7th in their "10 Most Powerful Members of the Sinister Syndicate" list.^[30]

Abner appears alongside the Thunderbolts in the Dead Days one-shot of the Marvel Zombies miniseries wearing an early version of his MACH suit, and alongside the rest of the group is seen attacking first Thor and then Nova. He is quickly killed by a blast of flame from the Human Torch.

House of M

Abner Jenkins is a scientist secretly working for the Human Resistance (along with

The Ultimate Marvel version of Abner Jenkins is alluded on a list of cat burglars on the Daily Bugle's database.^[32]

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows

During the "Secret Wars" storyline in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, Beetle is recruited by Regent to fill in the membership gaps of the Sinister Six. He and the rest of the Sinister Six attack the secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base.^[33]

Old Man Logan

An older Abner Jenkins appears in Old Man Hawkeye, a prequel to Old Man Logan. Mach-X and the rest of the Thunderbolts betrayed Clint years before which resulted in the deaths of all of the other Avengers. Years later, Jenkins is now working in a Doombot factory in Kree Haven before Hawkeye arrives to kill him for revenge for his betrayal. Clint allows him to put on his Beetle outfit (which Abner chose because he did not find it fitting to dress up as the heroic Mach-X) and tells Clint that he sided with the Thunderbolts against the Avengers to protect Songbird. Clint kills him and takes his final love note to Songbird.^[34]

In other media

Television

• Abner Jenkins as the Beetle appears in the
  Firestar, and Spider-Man
  forming the Spider-Friends.
• Abner Jenkins as the Beetle makes a cameo appearance in the Iron Man episode "The Armor Wars, Part 1", voiced by John Reilly.^{[citation needed]} This version's armor was based on stolen designs for Iron Man's armor.
• Abner Jenkins as the Beetle makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "Beetle Mania".^{[citation needed]} After learning they are going to be fighting the Beetle, the S.H.I.E.L.D. trainees imagine their upcoming fight with him, with White Tiger fighting him in his first armor from the comics while Power Man fights him in his second armor.
• Abner Jenkins appears in Avengers Assemble, voiced by Mark C. Hanson.^[35] He initially makes non-speaking appearances as Masters of Evil member the Beetle in the episodes "Adapting to Change" and "Under Siege" before making speaking appearances as MACH-IV of the Thunderbolts in the group's self-titled episode and "Thunderbolts Revealed".
• Abner Jenkins as the Beetle appears in Spider-Man (2017), voiced by Fred Tatasciore.^{[citation needed]}