Janice Lincoln
Janice Lincoln is a female comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Janice Lincoln was a female human who was born the daughter of notorious mobster Lonnie Lincoln. (The Superior Foes of Spider-Man v1 #6) From a young age, her father often helped assist her in schemes that cheated the other children who she had 'befriended'. As she grew up, she was enrolled at Columbia Law School with her father having funded her education and bribed the teaching staff to ensure Janice graduated. In fact, he wanted her to become a Valedictorian and arranged for an accident to befall the runner up to the position. After graduating, her father presented her a gift which was a fancy car but Janice instead wanted to become a supervillain. This led to an argument with Lonnie Lincoln who wanted his daughter to instead focus on a career as a financial lawyer where she could steal without getting caught. Tombstone did not want Janice to work as a supervillain on the streets which he believed was a life more suited for a man. This angered Janice who was determined to make it on her own with the fight leading to her father stating that she would have to make a villains life by her own means as he would not support it. Five years later, she came to be a high-ranking lawyer at a law firm where a senior partner assigned her a case to be a go-between for Baron Zemo. (The Superior Foes of Spider-Man v1 #7)
Working as a bartender at the Brooklyn Bridge Bar, a bar frequented by James Barnes, Sam Wilson, and Steve Rogers, Janice slipped a nano-virus into Barnes' drink. (Captain America v1 #606) When Barnes and his associate the Black Widow realized that the bartender had dosed Barnes with the virus, they came calling at her brownstone. She then attacked where she was clad in her Beetle armor. (Captain America v1 #607) The all-new Beetle fought Bucky and Black Widow in a short battle where she was defeated in their fight. Bucky unmasked her, and realized she was responsible for using the nano-virus on him, when she posed as a bartender to slip it into a drink while in a bar with Steven Rogers and the Falcon. She was imprisoned in the Raft, where she revealed that she knew Captain America and Bucky are one and the same. While Janice resisted Bucky and the Widow's attempts to interrogate her for the identity of her employer, the Fixer asked Zemo whether they should punish her for her failure. Zemo was merciful, saying that she knew no information that would hurt them. Janice was left to her own devices, and the heroes still managed to piece together Zemo's identity. However, Zemo still exposed Captain America's true identity to the general public. (Captain America v1 #608)
She would later be freed where she came to be a member of Boomerang's Sinister Six where they fought against the Superior Spider-Man only to be defeated by the hero. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #1) After being imprisoned, Boomerang was secretly contracted by the Chameleon to recover the head of former Maggia leader Silvermane from the Owl. To this end, Boomerang deceived the team into agreeing to help him. (Superior Foes of Spider-Man #2) However, after the original Beetle, the reformed Abe Jenkins, was assigned to be Boomerang's parole officer, the team voted him out and Janice as their new team leader. Speed Demon's vote was motivated by his unrequited attraction for her. The others noted that the Beetle became more despotic as team leader, but attributed this as a reaction to the pressure to succeed and avoid incarceration. Boomerang secretly notified Power Man and Iron Fist of the Sinister Six's whereabouts. Janice and her teammates were arrested, but Boomerang freed them in transit to jail, reclaiming his leadership role. (Superior Foes of Spider-Man #4) Beetle and her teammates scoped out the Owl's base, and handed out binders she'd made up with their individual assignments. Boomerang swatted aside the binders, and asserted that he was in charge. After Speed Demon and Overdrive softened up the defenses, Beetle and the team moved in, fighting their way through werewolves, giant scorpions, monster plants, and ninjas...while Boomerang sped ahead and stole the real prize, a painting of Dr. Doom's true face. (Superior Foes of Spider-Man #5) Beetle, Overdrive, and Speed Demon were captured by the Owl on their way out the back door; Overdrive tried to plead for his life, but the Beetle silenced him. She tried to convince the Owl into releasing them, on the grounds that they would not tell anyone how they had violated his sanctum. Unimpressed with the Beetle's defiance, the Owl ordered his men to shoot them all - only for Tombstone to arrive in the nick of time. (Superior Foes of Spider-Man #6)
Janice continued the case by the prosecution against Scott Lang where it appeared that he would be indicted based on the testimonies provided by witnesses. During a private meeting with Scott, Janice revealed that she was only doing it because she wanted access to shrinking technology of Pym Particles. Thus, she offered a deal whereby if she had his Ant-Man gear brought to him in the trial that he would give her the technology whereupon she would throw the prosecution case against him allowing him to emerge free from further action. (Astonishing Ant-Man v1 #12) Despite her scheme, the trial was interrupted by Yellowjacket who wanted revenge against Scott Lang leading to him as Ant-Man and his allies fighting against the villain. This in combination with his ex-wife’s testimony meant that he was found innocent thus thwarting Janice Lincoln’s plans at acquiring shrinking technology for herself. (Astonishing Ant-Man v1 #13)
Seeking revenge against Boomerang, she found his apartment intending to kill him only to find Randy Robertson who was Meyers roommate with Janice and him having an instant attraction as they spent the night together. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #63) She then began to date Randy Robertson though he was at first unwilling to be involved with a supervillain but Janice claimed to had turned over a new life and dedicated herself to her law career even though she continued operating as the Beetle. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #28) She was hired by a wealthy client to represent the captured Mysterio who was facing charges of attacking the city. Initially, Mysterio intended to represent himself and pleaded not guilty though Lincoln arrived at the scene where she changed the plea to insanity with him eventually agreeing with her. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #1) Lincoln then decided to form a new incarnation of the Sinister Syndicate with the intention of it being a women-led criminal organization designed to provide support for female supervillains. It was this that led to her recruiting Lady Octopus, White Rabbit, Scorpia and Trapster with them recruiting their newest member Francine Frye by rescuing her from a prison convoy. Their first mission together was to get revenge against Boomerang who was attending the launch of the new F.E.A.S.T. centre. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #26) In reality, she intended to collect on the bounty on Boomerang and also planned to set up her Sinister Syndicate to take the fall but came to realise that she was engaging in the same acts as Fred did to her. Furthermore, she came to learn the reason for Mayor Fisks focus on Boomerang and thus decided to break the deal with her recommitting to leading the Sinister Syndicate. In addition, she decided to prove herself to Randy by using her connections to help fix the F.E.A.S.T. centre from the damage made by her earlier attack. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #28)
Her father came to find out that Janice was dating Randy Robertson and he fell into a rage where he banned her from seeing him. However, she simply left her hideout and told her friends in the Sinister Syndicate about her boyfriend. At first, they found her relationship to be romantic but then Francine Frye suggested that she break it off with Robertson who would attempt to control Janice and want her to change her ways. Later on, she went to meet Randy who told her that his father found out about their romance and similarly wanted them to break up. Janice though believed that they should continue their relationship despite their father's disapproval. It was then that Randy looked about Janice changing her criminal ways at which point she realised that he was attempting to change her just as her friends had told her. She then looked to breakup with Randy when the apartment was raided by armed men led by the Crime Master who was hunting for Boomerang. This brought them into a fight with Janice which was interrupted by Madame Masque who was similarly hunting for Meyers. Janice was ecstatic at meeting her idol but Madame Masque came to knock her out leaving her unconscious whilst she set about her task. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #63)
Overview
Personality and attributes
From a young age, she had a long desire to become a supervillain like her father and be a crime boss. (The Superior Foes of Spider-Man v1 #7) One of her idols was in fact Madame Masque who was a role model on how a woman could be a successful crime boss and work in a male dominated underworld. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #63)
Janice had a thing with using a planner and using the calendar to organise her activities. (The Superior Foes of Spider-Man v1 #7)
Her father was the notorious crime boss known as Tombstone who loved his daughter dearly though disagreed with her life as a supervillain. (The Superior Foes of Spider-Man v1 #7)
She came to be involved and dated Randy Robertson with her even trying to change her ways by avoiding killing people in order to please him. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #28)
Powers and abilities
The Fixer had created her Beetle suit which was a smart armor that was light, versatile and form-fighting. This exo-skeleton augmented the strength of the user and was tough enough to take on a repulsor blast from Iron Man. A pair of wings allowed her the power of flight whilst a mask hid her features from her enemies. (The Superior Foes of Spider-Man v1 #7)
Notes
- The new Beetle was created by Ed Brubaker and Jackson Butch Guice where she made her first appearance in Captain America v1 #607 (August, 2010).
Alternate Versions
- In Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows v1 #2 (2015), an alternate version of the Janice Lincoln Beetle appeared as part of the Regency on Battleworld that had been fashioned from remnants of Earth-18119 in the Multiverse. Beetle was one of the old enemies of Spider-Man. When the Regent took over Regency, Beetle became one of his agents. When Regent located a rebellion, Beetle joined his Sinister Six. However, she was subdued by the Avengers.
- In Marvel's Voices: Spider-Verse v1 #1 (2023), an alternate version of the Janice Lincoln Beetle appeared in the Spider-Punk reality designated as Earth-138 in the Multiverse. Beetle was member of the Sinister Six-Piece, a music band that doubled as a criminal enterprise. They participated at the Battle of the Bands hosted at the Daily Bugle, the heart of punk rock. During their act, they used the hypnotizing music to mind-control everyone into giving them all their money. Out of all audience, only RiotHeart was unaffected, being protected by her armor. She also put a device on Spider-Punk that freed him from the mind control as well. Enraged by the commercialization of music, Spider-Punk attacked the Sinister Six-Piece and was soon joined by the rest of his Spider-Band. After webbing the Sinister Six-Piece, the Band then went on-stage to rock.
In other media
Films
- In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Janice Lincoln appeared in the setting of the live-action film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where she was portrayed by actress Claire Rushbrook. This version was a former employee of Stark Industries and a member of Mysterio's crew where she helped in his his plan to fraudulently establish him as an Avengers-level hero from another world. As his costume designer, she designed Beck's Mysterio suit and largely handled costume fittings.
Video games
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Janice Lincoln appeared as a boss antagonist in the setting of the Facebook video game. Her backstory mentioned her being Janice Lincoln who idolised her father though Tombstone wanted her to be a lawyer with her later deciding to be a supervillain after settling a dispute between Baron Zemo and Fixer. She then operated as the Beetle until her arrest and imprisonment in Ryker's Island though Phil Coulson released her in exchange for her working for S.H.I.E.L.D. as a form of community service.
Appearances
- Captain America v1: (2010)
- Superior Spider-Man v1:
- Superior Foes of Spider-Man v1:
- Astonishing Ant-Man v1:
- Amazing Spider-Man v5:
- Amazing Spider-Man v6:
External Links
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