‘Blue Beetle’ Reveals the Secret Origin of the ‘Justice League 3001’ Flash

In a surprising twist, Teri Magnus, the 31st Century Flash from Justice League 3001, is apparently the daughter of Blue Beetle villain La Dama.

…Wait, what?

The revelation came on the final page of Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Scott Kolins’s Blue Beetle #13, and fulfills the promise from the solicitation text that “Jaime learns a shocking secret about someone in his own life.”

After the end of Justice League 3001, the Batgirl and The Flash of that time period ended up stranded in the present day — and Teri joined up with Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes in recent months to help contribute to the safety and security of her past/the DC Universe’s present.

At the start of Blue Beetle #13, Teri asks Jaime to use the Blue Beetle scarab to jumpstart a cosmic treadmill so that she and Batgirl can rejoin the Justice League of the future and help overthrow Lady Styx. Styx is an immortal, mind-controlling villain who was the antagonist for the last arc of Justice League 3001, and was responsible for casting Flash and Batgirl back in time.

There is a miscalculation, though, and instead of sending Flash and Batgirl to the future, it shunts Jaime and Teri to the future, where they are help to defeat the Legion of Doom — actually a group of Legion of Super-Heroes members who have been brainwashed by Styx — and turn the tide of the war with Styx.

After that, they are summoned to her side, where Lady Styx reveals that over time, she is continually reincarnated. She is eternal, but not constant, and in the 21st Century she was Amparo Cardenas, a magical villain who is also the aunt of one of Jaime’s best friends, Brenda Del Vecchio.

Lady Styx has also been a villain in the Blue Beetle series, so it seems likely that she and La Dama were either putting on some kind of incredibly complicated act, or that at this point the two incarnations of the character are both alive for…some reason. Time travel may be involved, since it seems to be involved with a lot right now.

She also tells Jaime a good deal about his heroic destiny, including that at one point he will join La Dama for the common good. It is not clear whether Jaime will remember any of this soon after the time travel energy has worn off, but in any event it appears as though Teri will remember that along the way, Lady Styx also revealed herself to be Teri’s mom in the 30th Century.

Giffen, DeMatteis, and Kolins are off Blue Beetle after this, so it is not clear whether or not any of the many stories addressed in this issue will get revisited by the incoming writer.