Reach (comics)

The Reach
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Blue Beetle vol. 2 #12 (February 2007)
Created by	John Rogers (writer) Guy Major (artist)

The Reach are a villainous race of cybernetic insectoid aliens in the DC Comics universe. They are unintentionally responsible for the creation of the dynasty of super heroes known as the Blue Beetles.

Fictional history

The Reach were a race of world conquerors. Their actions eventually brought them into conflict with the Green Lantern Corps, the two sides eventually fighting to a stalemate. The Corps' leaders, the Guardians of the Universe forced The Reach into a truce, making them promise never to invade any other planets. The Reach agreed to this, and then devised a new method of conquest: infiltration. By sending an Infiltrator scarab to the targeted world, and having it bond with and overwhelm the mind of one of its native lifeforms, The Reach could use it as a faux ambassador, pretending that they sent the scarab to help the people of the targeted world, as a gesture of friendship and goodwill, while the Infiltrator gathered information on that world's defenses. Once enough information had been gathered, The Reach would then cease their pretense, having the Infiltrator turn on the race it once defended. Other varieties of Scarabs included Enforcer, intended as physical coersion, and Negotiator, whose function was to lull targeted worlds into false senses of security.

The Reach sent an Infiltrator to Earth, some time in the era of the Pharaohs. However, a sorceror, believing the scarab to be a mystical implement, attempted to use it to revive a fallen Pharaoh. The attempt was stopped by a time-traveling Booster Gold, though the Scarab remained infused with mystical energies. In the 20th century, an archeologist Dan Garret located the Scarab. The Scarab, only half activated, granted Garret enhanced strength and speed, which Garret used to become the first Blue Beetle. When Garret died in battle, he passed the Scarab on to his student, Ted Kord. Kord, unable to access the Scarab's power, eventually passed it on to the wizard Shazam, who kept it within the Rock of Eternity. When the rock was destroyed, the scarab fell to Earth, and was found by Jaime Reyes, whom the Scarab proceeded to bond with soon after. However, by that time the Scarab's AI had been affected by the mystical energies it had been infused with, causing it to gain its own intelligence and personality. Instead of overwhelming Jaime's mind, it instead worked with it, allowing Jaime to use its powers to become a superhero. When The Reach became aware of this development, they changed their tactics, attempting to destroy the world via subterfuge. When Jaime undid these plans, The Reach captured him, removed the Scarab, and began a full-scale assault of Earth. However, the Scarab had given its knowledge to Jaime, allowing him to reclaim it, and cripple The Reach's ships. The remaining Reach were repelled by Earth's heroes, forcing them to retreat. The Scarab had also interfaced with several other Infiltrators, instilling within them their own independent personalities, creating the possibility that further Reach infiltrations would turn out the same as they did on Earth.

Shortly afterwards, a group of Reach Infiltrators and Enforcers, affected by the Scarab's reprogramming, formed the "Kahji Dha Revolutionary Army", turning against their masters and freeing many of the worlds under their control. The KDRA then came to Earth, seeking Jaime as a leader. However, they intended to destroy all possible hostile forces on the planet, including the Justice League. Jaime refused, and was forced to fight them. In the ensuing battle, the KDRA were defeated and imprisoned, but Nadia, one of Jaime's tech support, was killed in the crossfire. The Scarab of the lead Enforcer was taken by Nadia's brother Hector, who may or may not have become the Black Beetle.

In The New 52, the Reach locate and initiate an attack on Blue Lantern Corps' home world of Odym intending to defeat the Blue Lantern Corps and allow their HiveMasters to feast upon the Blue Central Power Battery which will "slake their hunger for eons". The Reach attacked, with an overwhelming force of 5 battle fleets. The Blue Lanterns fought valiantly but were overmatched. The other New Guardians, led by Kyle Rayner, (Green Lantern 2814.4) arrived and lent their might to the battle, but discovered that the Reach had cocooned over half the planet during the battle. With Odym lost, the Blue Lanterns continued the fight, but Green Lantern finally convinced Blue Lantern leader, Saint Walker to evacuate the remaining Blue Lanterns rather than perish. The Blue Central Power Battery was apparently lost to the Reach.

In other media

Television

• The Reach appear in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Revenge of The Reach". Like the comics, the Reach are a race of world-conquering cybernetic insectoids from which the Blue Beetle scarab originates. The scarabs attach themselves to humanoid hosts and grant them amazing powers, until their true programming kicks in and they become the point men for a Reach invasion. During the Reach's attack on Oa, Jaime was able to resist the Reach's influence on him and the scarab armor. Three Green Lanterns then unloaded their energy reserves into the Scarab's energy core, which allowed Jaime to "poison" their programming when he shot tentacles into their armors and uploaded the energy into them. The scarabs released their grip from their hosts, ending the invasion of Oa. While Jaime was allowed to still keep his scarab, the other scarabs were ordered to be destroyed.

• The Reach are a major antagonist in Young Justice. They appear as the Partner to The Light (Project Cadmus' Board of Directors) whereas Black Beetle (nicknamed by Wonder Girl) appears as one of their agents. The Kroloteans refer to the Reach as their "Competitor." The Light captures potential young metahumans (Tye Longshadow, Virgil Hawkins, Asami "Sam" Koizumi, Eduardo "Ed" Dorado Jr., and Stephanie Brown) for the Reach to experiment on. The Reach also seek to capture Blue Beetle to put his scarab back under their control. They often refer to the humans as "meat". Impulse reveals that the Reach rules over humanity in the future he hails from. In the episode "Before the Dawn", the Team rescue the Reach's captives, but the Reach go public under the guise of assisting humanity before their invasion is exposed. In "Cornered," Captain Atom meets with the Reach Ambassador and Secretary-General Tseng at the United Nations. The Reach Ambassador speaks with Secretary-General Tseng and Captain Atom where the Reach Ambassador mentioned about the Justice League being wanted in the galaxy and The Team attacking their ship in a co-op mission. Their meeting is interrupted by Captain Atom getting a report about Despero's attack on the Hall of Justice. The Reach Ambassador later appears to deactivate the forcefield that Despero had placed and gives away the information about the Justice League's Watchtower. The Reach Ambassador also reveals to the media about the Justice League's Watchtower orbiting the planet. In "True Colors," the Reach forms a partnership with Lex Luthor in order to established a project that would end world hunger by establishing LexCorp Farms. The Team encounters the Green Martian B'arzz O'oomm (who became the Green Beetle) who helps knock out Black Beetle. B'arzz O'oomm reveals that the Reach has been sending each of the Scarabs to each of the planets in order to prepare for the invasion of the universe. Nightwing tells B'arzz O'oomm that they will have to have him be checked by the Justice League to see if what he says is true. B'arzz O'oomm telepathically tells Jaime Reyes that there is a way for the Reach's Scarab to be removed from it's host. In "The Fix," Nightwing has Miss Martian do a mind-link on B'arzz O'oomm to find out if what B'arzz O'oomm is saying is true. When Miss Martian is unable to read B'arzz O'oomm's mind following recent events, B'arzz O'oomm ends up volunteering his memories to confirm what he says. The drink made by LexCorp and the Reach is said by B'arzz O'oomm to contain an adrenaline inhibitor and a mitrocondria tracer in order to track down potential meta-human. B'arzz O'oomm then assumes a human form to blend in. B'arzz O'oomm tells Blue Beetle a way to get control over the Blue Beetle scarab. With help from B'arzz O'oomm, Blue Beetle manages to get control over his Blue Beetle scarab. This, however, turns out to be a ruse, as Green Beetle in fact performs an in-place reset of Jamie's scarab, placing him under the reach's control. In "War," the people at Rimbor during the trial of the six Justice League members learn that the Reach are on Earth. Martian Manhunter in a psychic patch with John Stewart learn that the Reach has previously engaged the Guardians of the Universe. When Warworld starts to appear near Earth, Green Beetle tells Captain Atom about Mongul and Warworld. The Reach Ambassador appears at the United Nations in a plot to negotiate with Mongul. The Reach watch the Justice League's fight with Warworld as the Reach Ambassador states that everything must depend on their success. After a talk with the Reach Scientist, the Reach Ambassador gives orders to mobilize the fleet from the bottom of the Philippine Sea with half of it's fleet getting sacrificed in the process. After Warworld is deactivate and Mongul is defeated, the Reach Ambassador see through the Blue Beetle Scarab that Blue Beetle had obtained a crystal that was the key to Warworld's power. The Blue Beetle Scarab then takes over Jaime and has him defeat the Team.

External links

• Reach at DC Comics Wiki