Real Name: Abner ("Abe") Jenkins

Class: hi-tech hero

Occupation: wanderer, adventurer; former criminal; former mechanic

Affiliations: Thunderbolts, former leader of the Sinister Syndicate, former member of the Masters of Evil

Scale of Operations: Counter-Earth; formerly nationwide

Powers: Jenkins has no superhuman powers of his own, but relies on his high-tech battlesuit. His original Beetle suit was constructed of a magnanium alloy, providing him with a high degree of protection against injury, and was capable of augmenting his strength to superhuman levels. The armor could fly with the use of ultra-tough mylar wings, and its gloves contained pneumatic suction-grippers, enabling the armor to cling to walls or life things with its fingertips. Also, each glove could produce a blast of electrostatic energy, the "electro-bite." A mini-computer built into the armor's chestpiece fed data to the helmet on its opponents' probable movements, enabling Jenkins to anticipate their moves.

Jenkins' MACH-1 suit was created to mimic the properties of a fighter-jet. Standing for Mobile Armored Cyber Harness, the suit combined protective armor with high-speed maneuverability and a wide variety of diagnostic sensors. Its offensive array included mercy bullets and missiles containing anesthetic gas or explosive heads. In subsequent upgrades, the armor has been redesigned mostly for cosmetic reasons.

History: Abner "Abe" Jenkins was a master mechanic at an aircraft parts factory who became dissatisfied with his boring, low-paying job. Using his considerable mechanical knowledge, Jenkins built an armor-plated, strength-augmenting suit, a pair of gravity-defying wings, and suction-fingered gloves, and a cybernetic control helmet. Calling himself the Beetle, Jenkins decided to use his battlesuit for fame, wealth, and adventure. Jenkins chose to lure the Human Torch an the Thing into battle, believing a victory over these heroes of the Fantastic Four would make him an overnight sensation. Unfortunately, the Thing and the Torch defeated him, and he was sent to prison. Paroled a short time alter, he sought revenge on the Torch, but found himself in battle wit Spider-Man instead. Once again he was defeated. Upon his released he decided to forego petty revenge and concentrate on the acquisition of wealth. The battled Spider-Man and Daredevil separately on various occasions, and once was recruited by the Collector to serve as his unwilling agent. Under the Collector's domination, Jenkins faced the Avengers.

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

Jenkins then invested all of the capital he could acquire into the modification and refinement of his Beetle armor. With the assistance of the Tinkerer, he produced a new battle-suit with far greater capacitates than his old one. Before launching his comeback, Jenkins recruited the criminal Ringer to put Spider-Man through his paces. The Belt wished to study Spider-Man's fighting style and program it into a computer system so he could anticipate his opponent's moves. Despite his preparations and new battlesuit, Jenkins was defeated by Spider-Man. He was later freed from prison by Egghead who recruited him for his Masters of Evil organization. Jenkins and the other Masters of Evil were defeated by the Avengers and arrested.

Recognizing the value of teamwork, however, Jenkins formed a loosely-organized band of super-villains upon his release from prison. The Sinister Syndicate, as they were called, were defeated by Spider-Man and Silver Sable in their first outing, although they occasionally returned to work together to further their private ends. Unfortunately, over time the members of the Syndicate formed grudges among each other, compounded by the fact that the crime lord Kingpin was manipulating events as part of his own, unrelated scheme. During this time, the Syndicate was hired to kill a scientist who owed a large gambling debt, and Jenkins dealt the killing blow. Torn apart by in-fighting, the Syndicate dissolved.

More recently, Baron Helmut Zemo recruited Beetle to join his Thunderbolts, a new Masters of Evil group posing as super-heroes to win the world's trust while secretly plotting world conquest. Jenkins worked with his teammate Fixer to create a new guise of MACH-1.

However, Jenkins and most of the other Thunderbolts grew to like their heroic roles. He also began a romance with his teammate Songbird, formerly Screaming Mimi. Utimatley, the Thunderbolts turned against Zemo, foiling his attempt at world domination and rescuing the Avengers in the process. Jenkins continued to serve with the team, who operated as a team of outlaw super-heroes.

When veteran Avengers member Hawkeye joined the Thunderbolts as their new leader to help them regain the public's trust, Hawkeye insisted that Jenkins, as the team's only convicted murderer, would have to serve his prison sentence for the good of the group's image. Jenkins reluctantly agreed and surrendered to the authorities, who placed him in Seagate Prison. While at Seagate, Jenkins coped with resentment and occasional assaults from other super-criminals and refused a chance to participate in a mass escape organized by his old employer Justin Hammer. Instead, Jenkins foiled the breakout, an act which brought him to the attention of the government's Commission on Superhuman Activities (CSA). They recruited Jenkins to participate in a sting operation aimed at Hammer. Jenkins agreed, using a newly-desgined armor to operate as the Beetle once more. The activities of the new Beetle attracted the attention of the Thunderbolts. Fearing the CSA might not honor the terms of their bargain, Jenkins fled CSA custody after completing the operation and rejoined the Thunderbolts. Hawkeye blackmailed the CSA into allowing Jenkins to remain free, even though the government's records would list Jenkins as still being in prison, in exchange for keeping the CSA's exploitation of Jenkins secret.

Jenkins modified his MACH-1 armor with the aid of Techno (a robot based off the Fixer who was then posing as Thunderbolts' machinesmith Ogre) and created the MACH-2 battlesuit. Techno also altered Jenkins's physical appearance using "dermaplasty" technology since the public was not supposed to know MACH-2 was Abner Jenkins, and the mischievous Techno had some fun at Jenkins' expense by giving him the features of an African American. While this change made Songbird uneasy for a time, Jenkins himself adjusted quickly and reestablished himself as one of the team's most confident and capable members.

When the Thunderbolts uncovered and thwarted a CSA-connected conspiracy to exterminate all superhumans, Hawkeye blackmailed the CSA into giving the Thunderbolts full pardons in exchange for the group's silence; however, CSA agent Gyrich insisted that he would not go along with the deal unless Hawkeye went to prison for his technically illegal vigilante activities as a member of the Thunderbolts. Hawkeye agreed, despite the protests of his teammates, and surrendered to federal custody. Most of the rest of the Thunderbolts, including MACH-2 and Songbird, were pardoned and released. However, as part of the terms of their deal, they were forbidden from public use of superhuman powers or costumed identities. MACH-2 and Songbird turned their equipment over to the authorities and started new civilian lives in the town of Burton Canyon, Colorado as Abe Jenkins and Melissa Gold.

Ironically, Jenkins found himself employment with the Burton Canyon police department as a tech support specialist. Unfortunately, their quiet lives were shattered when the super-criminal Graviton launched his latest attempt at world conquest in Burton Canyon, imprisoning the world's superheroes and literally reshaping the planet in his own image. Despite their reluctance to risk their newfound freedom, Jenkins and Songbird agreed to join Citizen V (secretly Baron Helmut Zemo controlling Citizen V's body) in attacking Graviton as part of a new team of Thunderbolts. Jenkins was given new armor provided by the Citizen V's financiers, the V-Battalion, and called himself MACH-3. Graviton was defeated and the world was saved, but MACH-3 and the other Thunderbolts disappeared in an implosion created by the dying Graviton's power, with the exception of Songbird, who appeared left behind as the sole survivor.

In reality, MACH-3 and the other Thunderbolts survived, sent by Graviton to the alternate world known as Counter-Earth. The team continues to band together, searching for a way to return to their own world and beginning to establish themselves as the leading superheroes of the troubled Counter-Earth. Most recently, they have entered into an uneasy alliance with their original leader, Baron Helmut Zemo, in an ongoing effort to save Counter-Earth from the various ills plaguing that alternate world.