Abner Jenkins

* Mach-IV
* Beetle (AA)
* Hydra Armor
* Beetle (USM)

> "I win, Coulson."
>
>

> - Beetles second line
>
>

The **Beetle** is a skilled villain-for-hire mercenary who uses a suit of hi-tech flying beetle armor to commit crimes. He keeps his true identity a close secret and attempts to destroy anyone who tries to expose it. He was a former member of The Sinister Six. He is a supporting antagonist of Season 1, one of the quaternity antagonists(alongside Scorpion) of Season 2, one of the secondary antagonists(alongside Doctor Octopus, Scorpion and Vulture) of *New Warriors* arc of Season 3: Web Warriors and a minor antagonist of Season 4: Ultimate Spider-Man vs The Sinister Six of Ultimate Spider-Man.

He is one of the secondary antagonists (alongside Fixer, Goliath, Screaming Mimi and Moonstone) of the *Masters of Evil* and *Thunderbolt* arcs of Season 3: Ultron Revolution. He is also the arch-nemesis of Phillip Coulson.

A crime mercenary with an advanced tech array, Beetle made alliances with powerful villains, including M.O.D.O.K. and Doctor Doom. He also tried to murder J. Jonah Jameson when he tried to expose his identity but failed due to the interference of Spider-Man. Coulson and Spider-Man imprisoned Beetle on the Helicarrier, but he escaped upon it's destruction. After his failed plot to destroy the Tri-Carrier, Spider-Man and Hawkeye imprisoned him; but he escaped and joined the Sinister Six, led by Doctor Octopus. Upon his defeat against Iron Fist, he was briefly imprisoned. After he was freed, Agent Venom and Spider-Man took down both him and Taskmaster when they tried to steal the Venom symbiote, and Beetle was imprisoned. The Thunderbolts, led by Taskmaster, attacked the prison and Beetle was among the various villains they broke out, but he was defeated by Agent Venom, Cloak and Dagger and re-imprisoned. Beetle was among the many people transferred by the Grandmaster in his game against the Collector, but he was returned to Earth following the Grandmaster's defeat. Doctor Octopus planned to make Beetle a member of the Sinister Seven but Beetle was taken out by the Web-Warriors before he could accept. Afterwards, Beetle, Goliath, Screaming Mimi, Fixer and Moonstone formed the Masters of Evil. The Masters of Evil faced many defeats against the Avengers until they joined forces with Baron Zemo, who became their new leader. They then masqueraded as the new Thunderbolts, with Beetle becoming the hero "Mach-IV" until he and the rest of the team realised they like doing good for a change and Zemo only cared about himself, so he teamed up with the Avengers and exposed him before turning himself in, now reformed.

## History

*Missed?! I never miss!*
-- '***Beetle'* after missing his only shot on J. Jonah Jameson[src]**
### Season 1

With an identity that virtually has nil, Beetle helps M.O.D.O.K. escape from prison and made deals with Doctor Doom. He also was former 'sparring partners' with Phil Coulson until the agent took him down.

But he became known when J. Jonah Jameson decides to go public with his identity, Beetle went to the Daily Bugle to silence the director. His actions were put to stop when he encounters Spider-Man and his team who were protecting Jameson. Beetle fought them off but is eventually defeated by them because of their teamwork. Beetle was then apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D.

He escaped again and chased down Agent Coulson to a restaurant he was on a date with May Parker at and captured May, but he was defeated with the help of Spider-Man but escaped when the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier sunk.

### Season 2

Beetle went to destroy the new S.H.I.E.L.D. Tricarrier in a secret dry-docks, but his target changed to Spider-Man when he's spotted, but is defeated and captured by Spider-Man and Hawkeye.

After escaping yet again, Beetle joins forces with Doctor Octopus, Electro, Rhino, Kraven the Hunter, and Lizard as part of the Sinister Six. He fought Nova but defeated by Iron Fist after teammates to switch Sinister Six opponents.

Aftermath, he left the Sinister Six for an unknown reason and he was replaced by Scorpion.

### Season 3

Beetle is hired by Taskmaster to obtain a sample of the Venom symbiote, leading to a fight with Spider-Man and then Agent Venom. While Spider-Man deals with Taskmaster, Beetle is eventually defeated by Agent Venom.

Beetle is among the escaped supervillains along with Doc Ock, the Scorpion, and the Green Goblin during a showdown between Taskmaster's team and the New Warriors. Beetle is eventually defeated by Agent Venom and Cloak and Dagger.

In the episode "Contest of Champions" Pt. 1, Beetle - alongside Abomination and Executioner - are sent by Grandmaster to obtain Spider-Man for his contest against Collector.

### Season 4

He is one of the recruits for the new Sinister Six.

Beetle used an upgraded given to him by Doctor Octopus. He was taken down by the Web-Warriorsbefore her could join the new Sinister Six.

### Masters of Evil

He joined the Masters of Evil along with Goliath, and Screaming Mimi. The team however was easily defeated by the Avengers.

### Baron Zemo

They team expanded to include Fixer, Moonstone but after an initial defeat they are later contacted by Baron Helmut Zemo who teleported them to his base in Brazil where he plans to improve the Masters of Evil. They start by attacking Avengers Tower while Hawkeye is the only one there during the time when the Avengers were handling a diversion at where the Masters of Evil were teleported to. Upon the Avengers returning, they help Hawkeye defeat the Masters of Evil. Baron Zemo escaped while the rest of the team was arrested.

### Thunderbolts

Baron Zemo disguised the team as the Thunderbolts taking one new identities becoming Citizen V, Mach-IV, Songbird, Atlas, Meteorite and Techno. They have been the debut superhero team that has been doing some heroics where they had a woman named Gabby as their publicist. The Thunderbolts are first seen when they help the Avengers take down Growing Man. The press ends up giving the Thunderbolts the credit. Iron Man later tracked them to their headquarters and had a brief altercation with them until a bomb sent by Justin Hammer nearly wiped them out. When it comes to three possible bunkers of Justin Hammer, each members of both teams went to them and fought each Mandroid. It was through one of them that Iron Man and Citizen V found that the Thunderbolts' publicist Gabby has connections with Justin Hammer. At the latest bunker, the Avengers and the Thunderbolts fought Justin Hammer in his Mega-Mandroid which had force field abilities. Thanks to Moonstone phasing through, the Mega-Mandroid was defeated with Justin Hammer being handed over to the authorities. Citizen V took the opportunity to fire Gabby as Iron Man is believed to think that the Thunderbolts are good guys after all.

Ulysses Klaue was in the middle of a Vibranium heist until he ends up fighting the Avengers and the Thunderbolts. While fleeing from them, Klaw runs into Citizen V who was the one who secretly hired him to steal the Vibranium. Upon being defeated, Citizen V places a device on Klaw's unconscious body and some on the Vibranium containers. Later on, the device goes off which merges Klaw with the Vibranium turning him into a Vibranium version of himself. It took the Avengers and the Thunderbolts to defeat him. Suspicious of the Thunderbolts, Hawkeye finds out that they were the Masters of Evil and gets detected. Luckily for him, the Avengers showed up resulting a fight between the two groups. After being saved from death by Hawkeye during the robbery, and seeing what it's like be a hero, Songbird convinces the rest of the team to turn on Zemo. Together, the Avengers and Thunderbolts expose Zemo as Citizen V which leads to Zemo combining with the energies of Klaw to become an energy monster. Thanks to a strategy from Captain America and Songbird, the Thunderbolts were able to defeat the energy monster. While also stating that they might not have seen the last of Baron Zemo, Captain America advises to the other Thunderbolts members that they should turn themselves in and that they will become official heroes when they get out.

## Physical appearance

While his real appearance is entirely covered in his suit, his armor, particularly the face, has the appearance of a beetle. It is coated in primarily silver and a violet or light red with green eyes.

The suit has several rib cages molded on and panels around the legs as well.

He seems to be the silent type, as he does not talk at all, except occasionally when complaining about missing his target or even gloating.

## Personality

Beetle is elusive, stoic and ruthless, throughout the series he rarely ever speaks and when he does, its either in surprise or to gloat making him even more enigmatic. As a hired mercenary Beetle's primary concern appears to be money and he always seems to finish through on his deals however he can also be motivated by revenge, as when Spider-Man stopped him from assassinating J. Jonah Jameson, he ambushed and attempted to kill the Spider.

As revealed in "Attack of the Beetle," the Beetle is highly egotistical when Phil Coulson was the first person to defeat him at sparring, he demanded revenge and destroyed an entire restaurant to get to him and actually kidnapped his date, May Parker. However Beetle wasn't incapable of being part of a team, as when he joined Doctor Octopus' Sinister Six but this was most likely due to a personal goal; to destroy Spider-Man.

## Skills & Equipment

* **Hand-to-Hand Combat:** He is seen going toe-to-toe with Phil Coulson, one of the best combatants in the world while rivaling his every move.
* **Genius Level Intelligence:** He was able to create his advanced armor as well as many of his gadgetry.
* **Maximum Human Conditioning:** Despite him utilizing an armored suit, he has shown to be in top physical condition, in terms of strength, speed, agility, physical functions & senses.
* **Guerrilla Warfare:** He has shown himself to be a trained guerilla fighter. During the attack on the Daily Bugle, despite him being a super-mercenary and having the means to overpower all of the heroes in the building, he still resorted to using manipulation & stealth takedowns on the young heroes.
* **Beetle Armor:** Beetle possesses an armored high-tech suit that resembles a beetle which rivals Iron Man's armor. It has the unusually large amount of fold-out rocket launchers hidden all over the surface of his armor.
	+ **Superhuman Strength:** The Beetle has enough superhuman strength to overpower Spider-man and his team. He was able to throw Spider-man though some walls in a restaurant. HE is strong enough to easily break through multiple layers of solid concrete.
	+ **Superhuman Mobility:** He is still able to perform acrobatic maneuvers, despite him donning a bulky high-tech armor. His speed is such that he took downs a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents within a few seconds, even though he was in camouflage mode at the time.
	+ **Superhuman Durability:** His armor is incredibly durable. He is impervious to ballistic laser attacks. He was very resilient to physical attack from Spider-Man, due to his armored hyde.
	+ **Weapons Systems:** His armored suit has many hidden weapons system, which makes him intimidate any foe he faces.
		- **Fold-out rocket launchers**
		- **Energy beam gauntlets**
		- **Lasers**
		- **Missiles**
		- **Heat-seeking missiles**
	+ **Flight:** He has a jet-propulsion system on his suit, which he uses for levitation or high-speed flying.
	+ **Camouflage:** He has been seen using camouflage mode while attacking the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the tricarrier development site as well as used it to aid in his escape.
	+ **Retractable Blades:** He has shown retractable blades, while going toe-to-toe with Phil Coulson. He even has them on his wrists, which he has used many times to attack Spider-man, or cut off his webbing.
	+ **Beetle's Gadgetry:** The beetle has hidden pockets around his armor & even a utility belt, which he uses to store his gadgetry & other devices.
		- **Repairing Tool:** He has a special tool, used to repair minor to moderate damages done to his armor, however, serious damages cannot be repaired. The repairing takes longer, the more the damage is.
		- **Smoke Grenades:** During his attack on Phil Coulson at dinner, he used a smoke grenade to escape & take Aunt May hostage.
		- **Mini Mechanical Beetles:** These are nano-beetles that can electrocute and release sleeping gas on his foes to knock them into sleep. The Beetle primary used this for guerrilla tactics.

## Appearances

### Ultimate Spider-Man

#### Comics

**Marvel Universe Avengers Infinite Comic*** Ultimate Spider-Man Infinite Comic #12 (cameo)
* Ultimate Spider-Man Infinite Comic #15 (cameo)

**Marvel Universe Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors*** Marvel Universe Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors #3

**Marvel Universe Ultimate Spider-Man: Contest of Champions*** Marvel Universe Ultimate Spider-Man: Contest of Champions #1

### Avengers Assemble

#### Comics

##### **Marvel Universe Avengers: Ultron Revolution**

* Marvel Universe Avengers: Ultron Revolution #5
* Marvel Universe Avengers: Ultron Revolution #6
* Marvel Universe Avengers: Ultron Revolution #7

## Background in other media

* This is first other media appearance and animated debut of this version of Beetle.
* This version of Beetle shares similarities with his Ultimate Marvel version, a Latverian agent who encountered Spider-Man while retrieving the Venom symbiote and the person inside the armor's identity has never been revealed.
* He eventually tries to retrieve Venom only for his technology to be assimilated into Venom.
* After his last appearance in "Anti-Venom", this version Beetle began making appearances in the sister show *Avengers Assemble,* as a member of the Masters of Evil. When the villain team begins masquerading as a rival superhero team known as the **Thunderbolts,** Beetle himself disguises himself as armored hero **MACH-V.** While this was an evil scheme orchestrated by Baron Helmut Zemo, the other members, particularly Songbird (aka Screaming Mimi), actually came to genuinely enjoy being heroes and as a result, the Thunderbolts turned on Zemo and became a hero team in earnest, Beetle becomes MACH-IV full-time, closely mirroring the same storyline as the Thunderbolts comic book series.
	+ In addition, while Beetle was mostly silent in *Ultimate Spider-Man* with very few lines, in *Avengers Assemble,* Beetle speaks much more frequently, mainly when acting as MACH-IV. As well, he is voiced by Mark C. Hanson, replacing Steven Blum.
	+ In Avengers Assemble, Beetle loses some of his weapons such as his shoulder missiles since Agent Venom steals them and he loses his upgraded HYDRA armor in this series.

## References

* Mach IV on Avengers Assemble Wiki

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "Beetle Mania". Man of Action & Scott Mosier (writers) & Alex Soto (director). July 29, 2012. No. 16.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Attack of the Beetle". TBA (writers) & TBA (director). October 14, 2012. No. 24.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Hawkeye". Man of Action & Scott Mosier (writers) & Phil Pignotti (director). February 10, 2013. No. 31.
4. ↑ "The Sinister Six". Man of Action & Scott Mosier (writers) & Tim Maltby (director). February 17, 2013. No. 32.

de:Beetle