Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle, was the apprentice of the first Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett. Dan possessed the Khaji Da, an ancient scarab that when attached to his body, granted him the superhuman powers of the Blue Beetle. Dan Garrett later passed the scarab to Ted. However, the scarab didn't work on Ted, and he was unable to gain the powers of his former mentor. He didn't let this stop him. He trained himself to superior physical fitness and used his tech-savvyness to make up for the lack of powers. With his resources and intelligence, he became his own Blue Beetle without the scarab.
Morgan has been unclaimed all her life. She was always happy with how she was, though not having the element of fire specifically (like her mentor Marcus) gave her some limitations on how she could perform technomagic. Similarly to Ted, Morgan didn't let her absence of an element stop her from becoming the best student in her class. She built up her knowledge of technology and use her skills to work around her limitations, surpassing her elemental peers in school
Like Ted, Morgan's also known for her sense of humor (sometimes inappropriately shown) and a lack of filter with the things she says. Whether it's a friend or an enemy, Morgan's always cracking jokes or teasing others.
Despite her sense of humor, both she and Ted recognize their responsibilities and have the desire to help others the best they can, possessing a sincerity of heart that wants nothing but the world to be a better place. She’s always there for her students when she needs them and does her best to show them the potential they have in their respected fields.
Morgan also has a love for building gadgets and brainstorms constantly about what type of technology to create. Ted and Morgan both have a genius-level intellect and a technological mind that rivals even Batman himself.
"The music meister sings the song that the world wants to hear"
The Music Meister’s main power is his singing voice. He can create a pitch that’s so high that it hypnotizes people. In their state of hypnosis, it causes his victims to sing and dance. This is Rick any day of the week at his concerts. While he doesn’t do it in the name of villainy, but more so in the name of music and allowing people just for a time to let go and let the music wash over them.
"Bullies used to pick on me because I sang in choir, but something very strange occurred as I kept singing higher, the ruffians around me quickly fell into a trance, and it was then with wicked glee I made those puppets dance!"
The Music Meister and Rick do share a similar background. Whereas he claimed he was bullied as a child because he sang in choir, Rick didn’t always have the easiest time due to the fact that he was half CommonFolk. He dreamed of fame and fortune and that was his revenge. People that made fun of him and said nasty things about his bloodline would eat those words, and he probably did ‘make those puppets dance’.
"I'm going to kill him. And if you get in my way, Matthew, I'm gonna kill you too." ―Elektra
As a child, Elektra was trained in combat. She often fought three grown men at the same time just at the age of twelve. Elektra brings on similarities to Nina because even at the age of thirteen, dark magic, fighting and even murder were things that were taught to her. Like Elektra, Nina learned to be the perfect killer at a young age. The first time Elektra killed she was defending herself and admitted she liked doing so. Nina although killed accidentally tended to like the act after the act of doing so.
Elektra is a confident woman, and sometimes even arrogant, and she doesn’t posses Matt’s moral compass, but at the same time she respects his refusal to kill. This is also mirrors Nina. While she has friends that would not kill, and she respects that, Nina lacks that moral compass and the same views as her friends. Just as Elektra tends to think of her goals first and has little sympathy for other people or care or even realize that she’s breaking the law, Nina is the same. She never thinks of the law before she uses black magic. She rarely thinks of others as she uses it.
While Elektra does enjoy murder, and has even admitted to knowing that there is a darkness inside of her that is violent and volatile, there is some good in her. She has a selfless and brave moment as she’s willing to sacrifice herself for the man she love. Nina has those moments where she can be selfless and self sacrificial for those that she cares about. While there is a darkness in her, one that snuffs out most of the light, she tends to have a glimmer of good within her.
"They say everyone's born a hero. But if you let it, life will push you over the line until you're the villain. Problem is, you don't always know that you've crossed that line. Maybe it's enough that the world thinks I'm a hero. Maybe if I work long and hard, maybe I can fool myself."―Jessica Jones
This quote alone resonates with me as a Camden Drake quote. She at one point probably believed that she was some kind of “medical hero” in the apothecary business, doing good things. That was until she was kidnapped. After being brainwashed to give up Riap’s location, she was now attempting to do good for the school so that she could hope to fool herself into believing she was doing something good for the school.
Like Jessica Jones, her life drastically changed. Jessica was tortured and mind controlled by Kilgrave. Once she did break free, she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and her career path where she wanted to be a hero changed to opening up a detective agency instead. Cammie felt as though she couldn’t return to her life as an apothecary in California. The dream felt dead and gone much like the person she used to be, thus deciding to become a potioneer for the healing center.
Jessica doesn’t sugarcoat anything, and that’s a quality that she and Cammie share. Cammie doesn’t truly believe in beating around the bush when the direct route is simply saying what you think.
She suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress and Survivor's Guilt, occasionally undergoing hallucinations and flashbacks of her time in Kilgrave's grasp. In these instances she can act out more erratic and violent. Cammie also suffers from PTSD, and often times even just the close proximity to others can trigger her memories or her time in captivity. Most times she feels triggered she acts first and has to apologize later for nearly attacking someone.
Jessica had great difficulty fully forming emotional connections to a person as she couldn't even tell Trish Walker, her adoptive sister and closest friend "I love you". Like Jessica, Cammie post kidnapping has trouble trusting and connecting to people. There are only select few people in her life right now that she can truly trust. There’s only one person, her sister Morgan, that she’s emotionally connected to.
At first glance both can have quite intimidating impressions on people. They hold cold and judgemental demeanours and can be arrogant and patronising especially in their own fields of science. Driven to constantly innovate and create, their actions are often very precise and calculated. With very similar pasts, including unresolved problems with ex wives and surprise children, they both try to rationalise unemotionally but both end up being deeply affected.
Marcus is certainly not so morally twisted and evil but sometimes for the sake of discovery and progression in technomagic he will allow more questionable methods. Get past all the emotional distance, the stubborn attitude and never being able to switch off from work and you’ll find someone who genuinely care for others but is never quite sure how to show it. Also secretly enjoys huge theatrics and cheesy names.
Derek is completely and utterly protective of every single person he cares about. It’s hard to find someone he doesn’t care about. After years of defending Unclaimed witches in court, he found himself caring about a lot of people when he finally came to RIAP. Although he doesn’t talk to many people, just like Captain America, he will defend them to the death. He would risk his own life to protect anyone around him no matter who it is. Although Derek works for the government, as he is a lawyer, he would be quick to separate himself from them if he finds that their decision is wrong and doesn’t benefit the people the way that it should. Dedicated and willing to help even if he doesn’t have the same views as others, he will be quick to help for the greater good.
“Fabulous. Now I'm in trouble, too. This has to have happened for a reason. I saved one life, does it stop there or do I go on? Maybe this is what I've been waiting for. Maybe I'm finally part of something... bigger.” -- Kamala Khan
I have never seen another person better suited for Zoey in my life. Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel is Zoey in a nutshell.
Kamala always felt different in her life, and even if she loved the values and the heritage and faith that her parents instilled in her, she still didn’t feel she fit in with her peers. She was mocked for her nerdy interest and her strict parents.In addition to her friends, she found escape in her love of video games, social media, fan fiction, and above all, superheroes Zoey believed in her parents and what they stood for but even so being homeschooled, living the way that she had, she didn’t fit in with the people she came in contact with at times. She also didn’t make friends all that easily due to her upbringing. The friends she did have they were like her solace. Like Kamala, who found an escape in her friends and nerdy interests.
Kamala can make friend with just about anyone. Even a large teleporting dog named Lockjaw. This is definitely something that she also has in common with Zoey. She can and will at least try to make friends with anyone she meets. Even if in earlier times she feared not being outgoing enough to make friends.
Kamala is a big superhero fan, and even writes superhero fan fiction. Now, Zoey doesn’t write fanfiction, doesn’t mean she doesn’t read it, but she is a big superhero fan and always has been.
One thing that is definitely a Zoey quality is that no matter if Kamala was a part of the superhero narrative now, even when she had the pressure of being an Avenger she never lost the sense of joy that came with being an Avenger. This is Zoey but in witch form. Zoey has loved the fact that she was different, that she was a witch since the moment she accidentally flew. The fact that she is a witch, with witch and wizard friends, in a magical college is never lost on her. To most, it’s the most normal thing, but every day for Zoey is like living in Hogwarts. She wouldn’t trade this life for any other and that pure joy will always be with her.
Jenna Sparrow · Alter Ego: Laurie Collins · Codename: Wallflower
Jenna does not cut a particularly heroic figure. She is meek, sensitive, and not hardly attention-seeking. A private person, she relishes her time alone, but values and admires the people around her. And while she is certainly kind, she has undergone a change in her past that has completely changed her outlook on life.
Laurie Collins grew up with her mom as her key role model- a hardworking professional that taught her daughter to see herself as her best company. While Jenna’s mother might not have shared her intense introversion, she certainly looked to her mother as her example.
When Laurie was thirteen, she got her powers, which were identical to her (here, absent) father’s. These were powerful pheromone-based abilities that could influence just about anybody to feel love, fear, panic, or exhaustion. At first the mutant girl thought that she was popular and worthy of being happy.
But Laurie’s mother made her aware of her ability, and urged her not to use them. The girl grew up frightened of what she could do, and kept to herself. Meanwhile, Jenna’s mother wanted her daughter to use her magic abilities, but also to conform to her expectations for a lifestyle and career. Jenna hardly retaliated, following along with the career path her mother wanted, and generally doing what she was told.
Laurie was sent to Xavier’s School as a young teenager. While her mother moved closer to campus, she wanted her daughter to live there and make some friends. An attack on that school terrified the teen, and she hid in bed, inadvertently releasing fear pheromones that exacerbated the panic in bystanders. The damage to her personality was hard to shake by this point, and the girl was afraid to befriend anyone out of fear that they only were there for her abilities.
The attack to YSAW shook Jenna to her core. She did her best to help, but panicked at some of the moments that she could have shined. In the aftermath, what weak confidence that she had built up dissipated, and she became a frightened, intensely private person, as opposed to simply a shy one.
The parallels are obviously not identical, but the shy demeanor that could turn prickly when someone grows too close certainly lends some credibility. In the end, though, how many characters out there are sweet, quiet blondes with mommy issues that are afraid to live up to their potential?
Hopefully, these stories do not end the same way- death.
