Reach (comics)
The Reach are a villainous race of cybernetic insectoid aliens in the DC Comics universe. They are unintentionally responsible for the creation of the dynasty of super heroes known as the Blue Beetles.
Fictional history
The Reach were a race of world conquerors. Their actions eventually brought them into conflict with the Green Lantern Corps, the two sides eventually fighting to a stalemate. The Corps' leaders, the Guardians of the Universe forced The Reach into a truce, making them promise never to invade any other planets. The Reach agreed to this, and then devised a new method of conquest: infiltration. By sending an Infiltrator scarab to the targeted world, and having it bond with and overwhelm the mind of one of its native lifeforms, The Reach could use it as a faux ambassador, pretending that they sent the scarab to help the people of the targeted world, as a gesture of friendship and goodwill, while the Infiltrator gathered information on that world's defenses. Once enough information had been gathered, The Reach would then cease their pretense, having the Infiltrator turn on the race it once defended. Other varieties of Scarabs included Enforcer, intended as physical coersion, and Negotiator, whose function was to lull targeted worlds into false senses of security.