Theodore "Ted" Kord was the son of famed industrialist Thomas Kord. At a young age, Ted showed the aptitude for invention he would become famous for later in life, creating a GPS system for the family lawnmower and vacuums in order to cut down on his chore time and give himself more time to practice his gymnastics and listen to stories from his father's best friend, Dan Garrett. Garrett was a globe trotting archaeologist, and always returned from trips with a new story or trinket for young Ted, and Ted dreamed of a life of adventure like Dan's for himself someday.

Still, his father pushed him towards a life of science and industry instead, seeing untapped economic potential in Ted's innate genius. Thomas's pressure eventually led to a heavy falling out with Ted, who left for college studying engineering, anthropology, and archaeology in a rare and seemingly-impossible triple major. After graduation, he convinced a reluctant Garrett to take him on as a partner. While Dan was reluctant to side against his friend Thomas, he also realized Ted was going to emulate him no matter what and it was safer to mentor him.

The two traveled the world, and Ted experienced the adventure he had always dreamed of. They studied and discovered new ancient sites said to be touched by the gods, encountered lost civilizations deep in the jungles of the Southern Hemisphere, studied martial arts the world over, and even believed they had found the first clues to the fabled city of Atlantis.

This all came to an end when during an excursion into the Middle East, Dan was killed in a clash between militants and the US armed forces. Heartbroken, Ted returned home, and found to his dismay his father had also died shortly after Dan, leaving Kord Industries to Ted. Losing both his father and his surrogate father left the younger Kord in a state of shellshock, and the company suffered for it. The only profitable sector left was the military arms sector, which Ted wanted nothing to do with after witnessing the horrors of war first hand.

His demeanor changed at the reading of Dan's will, however. His mentor had left Ted only one thing, a mysterious artifact Dan kept locked away in the vault of his house. There, alone, sat what appeared to be a carved Egyptian scarab beetle made of a strange blue metal. Taking the scarab to his personal lab, Ted quickly realized it was an advanced piece of technology, which he speculated was alien in origin.

Reverse engineering the scarab's technology, Ted was able to set off a wave of brilliant inventions. Seeing a new avenue for his talents, he dissolved the military branches of Kord Industries, which were sold to tycoon Maxwell Lord. Ted consolidated the remaining parts of the company, now far smaller but more inline with Ted's vision. He renamed the company "Kord Sciences" and set out in hopes of a better future.

Now, after a pandemic crippled the world, Ted sees that his inventions can do more than help people live easier lives. He can help make a difference in the new fight for justice. Using his private lab built in his father's old garage, he begins adapting his patents in ways to help protect the innocent people of New York.

Meanwhile, the dark underbelly of the city is beginning to emerge, and a criminal genius known only as "The Brain" is whispered to be behind it all...

My goal was to go with a fun, colorful character. While I initially was leaning towards Aquaman, I realized Ted was more what I was looking for. That way I can be more street level where I feel more comfortable writing, and don't have to have the entire lore of the oceans on my back. Ted will be a mix of classic Ted, a little MCU Tony Stark, and a little bit of Peter Parker thrown in as well. (Shut up, I'm more of a Marvel fan, deal with it). I want to build out a strong Rogues Gallery for BB, something I feel like is largely absent from his canon.

I'd also love for him to be involved with supplying tech to other heroes that may need it. Being a bit more of a benefactor to the hero movement at large.

The Beetle Base
-Once the massive underground garage in Thomas Kord's Westchester mansion where the he kept his car collection, Ted has transformed the cavernous space into his own private lab. It's here that he experiments with the technology he has reverse engineered from the alien tech. Dubbed by him the "Beetle Base", it is where he stores most of the larger items he has created, including the small airship he nicknamed "The Bug".

Allies

• David Garrett - Dan's son, and Ted's best friend. Head of Kord Sciences' security.
• Joan Garrett - Dan's widow
• Jarvis Kord - Ted's uncle, who is CFO of Kord Sciences
• Tora Olafsdotter - A researcher at Kord working on environmental sciences.
• Beatriz da Costa - Kord Sciences' public relations and marketing liaison.
• Kha - Rudimentary AI system Ted named after the Pharaoh whose tomb was the finding place of the scarab.

Enemies

• Maxwell Lord - CEO of Lord Aerospace. Max bought out Kord's military wing, and now is one of the largest military contractors in the world.
• The Madmen - An colorful, anarchistic group of criminals terrorizing New York in the wake of the pandemic.
• Farley Fleeter - Leader of the Madmen
• Black Spider - A master thief with spider-like abilities.
• "The Brain" - Allegedly the criminal mastermind behind the recent New York crime wave.

"Okay, you can do this," Ted Kord murmured to himself as he powered up the airship. He felt the low rumble of the high density battery packs sprung to life through the floor. His eyes swept over the instrumentation panels around his field of view, and everything read as it should. No power spikes like the last time, which almost resulted in the damn ship exploding here in the lab...which of course would have lead to his death. Which wouldn't have been ideal.

He took another deep breath in and flipped a switch on the console next to him, and through the long, almost 180 degree view port, he saw the hanger doors he had installed begin to open. Thanks to the Bug's, as he called the airship thanks to its beetle-like shape, slim profile, he had managed to make the hangar doors fairly inconspicuous in the small cliff-side of his father's old house.

"Welp, here goes nothing," he winced as he pushed the throttle forward. The ship zipped in that direction almost whisper quiet, and Ted let out a triumphant yell that he was immediately ashamed of afterwards. The anti-gravity tech he had managed to gleam from the Scarab worked beautifully in small scale applications, that much he knew. Kord Sciences was already rolling out new anti-collision technology for cars that featured it, allowing passengers to be encased with a bubble of protective antigrav energy. But the idea that it could allow something as big as the airship to move almost silently through the air was nothing more than theory.

At least it was nothing more than theory before tonight.

Bringing the Bug to a higher altitude, he put the craft on autopilot towards the city and flipped on the police scanner. He had little hope that it would turn up anything useful. The police seemed more intent on keeping the outward appearance that the city was under control more than dealing with the actual problems of the city lately. But it was somewhere to start.

Ted rested his chin on his hand, leaning on the armrest of the Bug's pilot chair, and peered out the window as he went. Not long ago, the traffic he saw bellow would have been a rare sight after the pandemic brought the world to a grinding halt. His company had done all it could to help with the mitigation efforts, but even they had trouble with the pathogen. Ted had to admit he was happy to see people getting about their lives again, even if the world they came back to seemed awfully different.

The radio crackled, drawing his attention, "All units, we have a report of a break in at STAR Labs up in Harlem. Requesting someone go check it out."

"Harlem?" a voice on the other end scoffed. "You think we're going up there any time soon? After last week's protest. They can bite me."

"Well, girl," Ted shrugged and spoke to the airship, "they're calling our number."

Coming soon