We Finally Know How Beetlejuice Died - And Possibly How He Got His Powers

Contains major spoilers for "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice"

If you've ever wondered why everyone's favorite Ghost With the Most ended up a specialist in scaring the pants off of the living, a fresh clip from "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" reveals how he became a member of the undead — and how he met his lovely wife, Delores (Monica Bellucci). If you look closely enough, it might even reveal how he got his powers.

In the clip below, Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) reveals to Bob and the rest of the crew at his workplace that he was once a humble graverobber in an Italian city during the Black Death, or bubonic plague. While picking a pocket in a charnel pit one day, he comes across Delores, who appears to be a plague doctor. They are united in the rites of unholy matrimony — and a goat sacrifice is involved. After a passionate wedding night, they share a toast. Beej quickly learns that his bride is part of a death cult when she poisons him, hoping to attain immortality according to its rites. But he doesn't take the betrayal lying down — he kills her with an axe, which explains why she bears a wound to her face in the afterlife. It doesn't show how Beetlejuice manages to hack off Delores' ring finger to get Lydia her ring, a 36-year-old mystery solved by one of the movies' trailers.

This also shows how Delores' powers came about — she is seen literally depleting living bodies by sucking their souls out in a previous trailer, which might presage Beetlejuice's own final death — and the ancient nature of Beetlejuice's afterlife existence. But might this also explain his powers?

There's always been something somewhat unique about Beetlejuice's powers — while we know death affords all sorts of body-twisting abilities to those who pass away in this universe, he's always had a sinister power that goes beyond what other immortals can do, something that can warp reality in a way neophyte ghosts cannot. Perhaps this revelation about his background explains why he's so powerful and why this is so specific to his existence.

Beetlejuice's alliance with Delores clearly contributes something to his ability to haunt — her connection to the occult is pretty clear, and it's obvious that he's a practitioner of her faith, if only via extension. Her murder means she doesn't get to keep his soul; it's now strengthened by whatever residual magic was involved in the rite. The fact that it's a death cult and that it basically survives off the souls of the innocent leads one to conjecture that something happened when Delores sacrificed Beetlejuice to whatever malevolent spirit she pays homage to. Presumably, the movie itself will explain why and how that occurred. All scores will be settled when "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" is released on September 6.