Beetle
- Debut: Abner Jenkins – Strange Tales #123 (August 1964), Leila Davis – Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #1 (May 1991)
- Created By: Stan Lee & Carl Burgos (Abner), Danny Fingeroth & Al Milgrom (Leila)
It should be noted that the “Beetle” moniker is held by several different characters over the history of Marvel Comics. The original Beetle was Abner Jenkins, who held the title for several decades before becoming something of an anti-hero. This changed in the 1990s, however. Anthony Davis (Ringer) was manipulated by Jenkins to go into a life of crime and is later killed by the anti-hero Scourge. Of course, he also had several battles with Spider-Man before this. Leila Davis, his now widow, vows to get revenge on all three. To do this, she joined the Sinister Syndicate, led by Beetle.
She’s initially known as Hardshell, but after getting her revenge, she becomes the new Beetle. Marvel had more plans for Abner, so this needed to happen. Leila holds the role for a while and ends up taking the Beetle moniker into anti-hero status. However, Abner was a very impressive villain. Abner is a genius and gifted aircraft mechanic, so he designed the Beetle suit. It allows the user to possess super-strength and durability while also allowing them to fly. The armor is also nearly impossible to crack, allowing Beetle to avoid traditional weapons. On top of this, the Beetle suit possesses several weapons of its own, including rockets, bombs, and much more.