Who Is Ted Kord in ‘Blue Beetle’ & Why Is He Important?

Throughout the entire ‘Blue Beetle’ movie, the Kord family is one of the focus points of the plot because Victoria Kord was trying to use the Scarab’s powers for her good, whereas Jennifer Kord was looking to make sure that her aunt wouldn’t be able to use its power selfishly. In that regard, Jaime Reyes got entangled in the mess when the Scarab chose him as its next host. Of course, Jenny’s father, Ted Kord, was an important figure when it came to knowing more about the nature of the Scarab. So, who is Ted Kord?

Ted Kord is Jenny Kord’s father and was the head of Kord Industries before he disappeared years before the movie’s events. It was eventually revealed that Ted used to be a superhero named Blue Beetle but could never use the power of the Scarab because it never chose him as its host.

The thing about Ted is that his life revolved around trying to find a way to make use of the Scarab’s power. While he failed to do so, he eventually developed tech that could mimic a fraction of the Scarab’s powers. However, he disappeared for some unknown reason, which could be an important plot point in the future. That said, let’s look at what we know about Ted Kord.

Everything could be traced back to Ted

During the early part of ‘Blue Beetle,’ we get to see one of the most important themes of the entire movie. It was a family rivalry involving Victoria Kord, who ran Kord Industries as its head, and the younger Jennifer Kord, who worked as one of the board members of the entire company. Jenny wasn’t entirely agreeable with the fact that Vicky was steering the entire company toward weapons manufacturing as she was developing the OMAC system, which was based on the same technology that the Scarab uses. And everything could be traced back to Ted Kord.

Ted Kord was the father of Jenny Kord and led Kord Industries when it was just a regular tech company built to help steer Palmera City into the future. However, years before the movie’s events, he disappeared along with the Scarab. And this Scarab was the very same piece of technology Vicky coveted the most because of its technological capabilities.

On the other hand, Jenny had to sit on the board instead of her father, who disappeared when she was still young. She spent her entire life trying to make sure that Kord Industries wouldn’t become a weapons company again, as her father helped improve the company’s reputation during his time.

What happened was that Ted’s father and Victoria started the company together, only for Kord Industries to fall into Ted’s hands instead of Vicky’s. That was when Ted started running Kord Industries as a tech company with nothing to do with weapons. This didn’t sit well with Vicky, who thought the company should have been hers. And it probably made sense that Kord Industries went to Ted because Vicky wanted it to become a weapons company.

But after Ted’s disappearance, Vicky dedicated 15 years of her life to finding the location of the Scarab so that she could use it to develop a weapons system designed to steer Kord Industries into the future. And that was where the problem between her and Jenny arose.

Ted Kord was the second Blue Beetle

As the movie progressed, Jaime Reyes became the new host of the Scarab. Wanting to learn more about the Scarab and how to take it out of his body, Jaime and his Uncle Rudy went with Jenny to the abandoned Kord Estate, which used to be the childhood home of Jenny. That was when Jenny revealed a hidden base under the Kord Estate mansion to them. And Rudy was quick to realize that this hideout belonged to Blue Beetle.

Blue Beetle was a classic tech-based superhero that was not too different from Batman, except that, in Rudy’s words, he wasn’t a fascist like Batman. However, Jenny said that Ted couldn’t turn himself into the host of the Scarab, and that’s why he chose to create his technology that could mimic a fraction of the Scarab’s powers. This allowed him to become the Blue Beetle.

In the comics, Ted Kord was the second Blue Beetle because the first one was Dan Garrett, who used to be a host of the Scarab. Meanwhile, in the movie, it was never mentioned whether or not Garrett used to be the Blue Beetle, but it was mentioned that he was once the host of the Scarab and was one of Ted’s mentors. Upon Garrett’s death, the Scarab went to Ted, who dedicated his entire life to making it work even though it never chose him. And Jenny believed that this was what caused him to disappear.

Ted’s disappearance could be important in the future

While Ted never appeared in the events of the ‘Blue Beetle’ movie, his influence could be felt. That’s because Uncle Rudy used Ted’s database to learn more about the Scarab. That allowed them to learn more about the nature of this alien tech and how it bonded with Jaime on a molecular level. During the film’s climax, Ted’s technology was also important because Jenny and the other members of the Reyes family used it to rescue Jaime, who Kord Industries captured.

But during the mid-credit scene, the scene shifted to Ted Kord’s hideout. That was when one of the computers started to receive a transmission from an unknown source. There were hints that this person at the other end of the transmission was Ted Kord because he said that he loved Jenny. On top of that, the message also said that Ted Kord was still alive.

So, if that’s the cause, there’s a good chance that Ted could become more important in the future of the ‘Blue Beetle’ franchise if Jaime Reyes and the other characters of this movie become a part of James Gunn’s DCU. If the ‘Blue Beetle’ movie eventually earns a sequel in Gunn’s regime, there’s a good chance that the sequel will explore Ted Kord’s disappearance and how Jaime, Jenny, and the other members of the Reyes family will work together to find out where he could be and how they could rescue him.

Ted’s disappearance could also unlock more information regarding the Scarab. After all, it was already mentioned in passing that the Scarab was meant to be a planet-conquering piece of technology. As such, there’s a good chance that Ted’s disappearance could be related to the origins of this device, especially because Ted was always so obsessed with the nature of the Scarab.

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