Blue Beetle’s trailer just dropped and promises a fun, quirky, and humorous origin story for the DC franchise’s titular hero. The film was supposed to be the last project before James Gunn and Peter Safran take over DC Movie Universe’s reins but the latest rumors indicate that Blue Beetle is still part of James Gunn’s DC vision. Despite not being as famous as other DC heroes, Blue Beetle creators carry the added responsibility of introducing the character in the best way possible. The live-action adaptation has undergone several changes since its announcement in 2018, the change of production head lead by HBO Max under Walter Hamada’s Warner Bros.
Blue Beetle will release in US theaters on August 18, 2023. It’s unique as it can straddle the old DCEU and James Gunn’s revamped DCU. Here’s everything about the upcoming film.
The Origin of Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle
Jaime Reyes’ journey as Blue Beetle in DC Comics is fascinating yet simple. He was a young boy from El Paso, Texas, living with his family.
During a sequence involving Shazam, Maxwell Lord, and the Spectre, the previous Blue Beetle’s lair was destroyed, and as a result, the extraterrestrial Blue Beetle Scarab was launched toward El Paso.
Fate brought him in contact with the extraterrestrial Blue Beetle Scarab, which attached itself to the base of his spine, granting him multidimensional powers. His heroic journey began when he helped superheroes Booster Gold and Batman defeat the Brother Eye satellite. The Scarab teleported him back to Earth, but he had been missing for a year due to its multidimensional powers. Jaime returned home as Blue Beetle and joined forces with the Teen Titans and Justice League to fight crime.
Related: Blue Beetle Reportedly 2nd Longest DCEU Movie After Zack Snyder’s Justice League
Blue Beetle Superpowers Explained
Jaime Reyes’ powers as the Blue Beetle come from the extraterrestrial Scarab that is attached to his spine. The Scarab gives him an incredibly durable exoskeleton that is symbiotically linked to Jaime. Jaime has control over Blue Beetle’s powers most of the time, but sometimes the Scarab can take over and do things on its own.
In addition to regular superhuman abilities such as super speed, agility, strength, and flight, the Scarab also provides a wider range of other powers and abilities. These include enhanced healing, energy absorption, and protection from dangerous environments. The suit can also create various weapons, such as blades, maces, shields, and plasma cannons, as well as other abilities such as pyrokinesis, sound manipulation, scanner and drone creation, and mechanokinesis – the power to control technology.
Xolo Maridueña has been cast in the role of Jaime Reyes for Blue Beetle
Xolo Maridueña, best known for his role as Miguel Diaz in the TV series Cobra Kai, will be portraying the character of Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle in the upcoming film. With a heritage that includes Mexican, Cuban, and Ecuadorian roots and was born in California, Maridueña will be the first actor to play a live-action Latino superhero as the lead in a movie. The choice to cast Maridueña in this role has been praised for its representation of diverse cultural backgrounds in mainstream media.
Xolo Maridueña was asked about his thoughts on the role during the premiere of Cobra Kai season 5, to which he stated:
“It is nervous excitement, it’s antsiness. It’s the anticipation of knowing that you’re on the brink of something potentially big, but it still feels really intimate because you’re just with the cast and the crew… I can’t wait for people to see one of the — if not the first — Latino-led superhero movies ever“
The upcoming Blue Beetle film has such a talented cast and crew. Angel Manuel Soto, known for directing the critically acclaimed Charm City Kings, will direct the film, while the script is penned by another talented filmmaker of Latino heritage, Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer. Xolo Maridueña will star as Jaime Reyes, alongside Bruna Marquezine, Belissa Escobedo, and George Lopez.
Additionally, the film will feature Susan Sarandon and Raoul Trujillo as the main villains. With such an impressive cast and crew, it’s no wonder that Blue Beetle is one of the most highly anticipated superhero films of the year.
Source: SCREENRANT.
