Bumblebee (comics)

Bumblebee
Bumblebee: One Year Later. Art by Tony Daniel.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	as Karen Beecher: Teen Titans #45 (December 1976) as Bumblebee: Teen Titans #48 (June 1977)
Created by	Bob Rozakis
In-story information
Alter ego	Karen Beecher-Duncan
Team affiliations	Doom Patrol S.T.A.R. Labs Teen Titans
Abilities	Shrunk to insect-like size. Her solar-powered suit enables her to fly (via bee-like wings), fire sonic force blasts, and unleash electrical 'stings'.

Bumblebee (real name Karen Beecher-Duncan) is a fictional character, existing in DC Comics' main shared universe. She was a member of the Teen Titans and is a member of the Doom Patrol. Karen adopted the Bumblebee identity three issues later, becoming DC's first African American female superhero.

Karen Beecher first appeared in Teen Titans #45 and was created by Bob Rozakis. Her Bumblebee alias first appeared in Teen Titans #48.

Scientist Karen Beecher was the girlfriend of Teen Titans member the Herald (a.k.a. Mal Duncan). In order to help make Herald look good in front of the team, Beecher secretly made herself a bumblebee-themed supersuit and attacked the Teen Titans. She escaped without this ruse being revealed.

When she later explained to Mal and the Titans what she had done, they were impressed enough to offer her membership, which she accepted. She and Mal subsequently moved to the new Titans West team, having relocated to San Francisco. When the Titans team dissolved for a time, Karen and Mal married and 'retired' from superheroics. Karen took a job with S.T.A.R. Labs, where she designs non-lethal weaponry.

They have returned to crime-fighting from time to time to assist the team, most notably during a short-lived revival of Titans West and the JLA/Titans event, which reunited everyone involved with the team. A fight broke out over the fate of Victor Stone, Cyborg. Bumblebee personally fought Zauriel, a member of the Justice League. Despite the assistance of the current Supergirl, Bumblebee was swiftly defeated.

Following this, Mal and Karen briefly joined the latest incarnation of Titans West (now called Titans L.A.), but this incarnation of the team never really got off the ground, and the heroes returned to their lives of semi-retirement.

Several years later, Mal and Karen briefly returned to action as part of a team of over two dozen past and present Titans who were called in to stop a rampaging Doctor Light.