Marvel’s Captain America may be famous for punching Adolf Hitler in the face, but only DC’s Blue Beetle discovered the nefarious – and Satanic – truth about the dictator’s true identity. Steve Rogers’s very first issue included a now-famous cover drawn by Jack Kirby of the Sentinel of Liberty socking the Germany dictator on the jaw, which immediately cemented his place in comic book history. But Rogers failed to discern a piece of information known only to the Blue Beetle: in the DC Universe, Adolf Hitler is literally Satan.
The Blue Beetle isn’t as popular as Captain America today, but both characters originated from the same Golden Age of Comics time period – and he actually predated Steve Rogers, appearing in Mystery Men Comics #1 in 1939. The Blue Beetle is also a legacy title, belonging to three major characters over eighty years: the Golden Age Dan Garrett, Silver Age Ted Kord, and finally Jaime Reyes of the modern era. As was the tradition for heroes during World War II, both Captain America and the Blue Beetle had run-ins with Adolf Hitler – but Dan Garrett’s conversation with Hitler took a shockingly dark turn.
In Blue Beetle #22, the Golden Age Beetle (Dan Garrett) embarks on a mission to Nazi Germany and finds himself in a Nazi headquarters. Venturing inside, he realizes he’s in Hitler’s own abode – and what he sees stuns him. Hitler’s face begins to transform before his very eyes; his skin turns a dark red and large horns grow on his forehead. “Impossible!” thinks Garrett. “It can’t be! This is too utterly fantastic!” Both Garrett and the reader witness Hitler’s face shapeshifting into the Devil himself.
Absolutely no explanation follows as to why Hitler is the DC equivalent of Mephisto (or merely a simple demon) in disguise, but events rapidly escalate from there. Hitler spots Garrett, who picks up Hitler and tosses him against the wall before being captured by his guards. Garrett escapes by dodging the firing squad’s shots, using Hitler as human shield, ripping off his mustache and mailing it back to an ally in the United States. In short, every Golden Age absurdity is crammed into the final few pages of the issue.
Dan Garrett was eventually replaced as the Blue Beetle by Ted Kord who was in turn replaced by Jaime Reyes. Reyes’ suit is far more technologically advanced than either Garrett’s or Kord’s, but his adventures are still far more plausible than this European escapade. Captain America defeated Hitler with one punch, but the Blue Beetle beat him in a far more humiliating (and outlandish) manner.
