Jason Statham’s new movie The Beekeeper arrived in theaters on Friday. And true to its name, he plays a highly-trained killer known as a “Beekeeper.” He also just happens to be an actual beekeeper, which naturally begs the question: How many bees would it take to kill Jason Statham? After all, the man is a major action star, which would seemingly make him hardier than the average man — and certainly more impenetrable to bees.
Right?
Not necessarily, says Zachary Huang, a professor of entomology (aka insect science) at Michigan State University and a leading apiologist (aka bee expert). In particular, Huang explains, Statham’s usual M.O. of kicking and shooting are of no use against a swarm of bees. Instead, he says it’s best to just run. “Jason Statham can run pretty fast,” Huang admits, “so running is probably his best option. If you run fast enough, you lose a lot of bees. That, or get into a car.”
If the swarm gets to Statham though, “scientists usually use what’s called the ‘LD50’ — or the dose that kills 50 percent of the population” as a measure for the kind of damage they can do. “For bee venom, for a 170-pound male like Mr. Statham,” Huang calculates, “the median lethal dose would be about 780 stings. But if you want to make sure he’s killed, you probably have to double that.”
For those who aren’t math inclined, that’s a total of 1,560 stings.
Of course, that’s assuming Statham isn’t allergic to bees. If that’s the case, then Huang says, to kill Jason Statham, “just one” bee would do the trick.
Who is the killing machine now?