Summary
- The first clip from Blue Beetle has now been released.
- Actor Xolo Maridueña, who plays Jaime Reyes, has had conversations with James Gunn about the character's future in the DCU.
- Blue Beetle tells the story of Jaime Reyes, a Mexican-American teenager who gains superhero abilities after discovering a robotic scarab that fuses to his spine.
The first clip from the upcoming DCU outing, Blue Beetle, introduces us to Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña as Jaime Reyes, the newest superhero. Released courtesy of IGN, the footage finds Jamie doing what many superheroes have had to do in the past – taking a leap of faith. Check out the first clip from Blue Beetle below.
Blue Beetle’s place amid James Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted DCU has been a subject of some confusion, but it now seems that the superhero will be a part of the franchise going forward, with Maridueña revealing that he has had conversations with Gunn about his future.
"I have had the pleasure of getting to speak to Mr. James Gunn and the whole DC fam,” the actor revealed recently. “At the end of the day, we have to cross this first hill and introduce Jamie to the world but it's up to the audience to watch the movie...If it does well we get to open more doors for more Blue Beetles."
Blue Beetle tells the story of Mexican-American teenage Jaime Reyes, who discovers a robotic scarab of unknown origin that fuses itself to his spine and allows him to summon up the “Blue Beetle” armored suit. While this would be a great thing for many teenagers, and Peter Parker didn’t exactly do too badly from that spider bite, it seems that the beetle is something that Reyes is not always in control of, and in many cases it is he who finds himself being controlled by the beetle.
Just like many DC and Marvel heroes, Jaime Reyes is just one of many iterations of the character to have appeared in comic form, but has always been seen as the most popular and this could help he movie along a little at the box office. Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña takes on the role of the unwitting superhero, while Hollywood veteran Susan Sarandon plays Victoria Kord, the movie’s villain who has a very familiar name for those who have read the Blue Beetle comics. The rest of the ensemble cast includes George Lopez plays the role of Uncle Rudy Reyes, Elpidia Carrillo as Rocio Reyes and Raoul Max Trujillo as Carapax the Indestructible Man. Others on board the film are Adriana Barraza, Jorge Jimenez, Bruna Marquezine, Belissa Escobedo, and Damián Alcázar.
Blue Beetle Could Become Part of James Gunn’s DCU
Blue Beetle is a bit of an anomaly in the DC slate. Blue Beetle is probably one of the most unpredictable superhero movies to be released in the last few years. Coming right in the middle of the transition between the old DCEU and the new DCU, it is has been hard to work out exactly where the film sits or how well it will fare at the box office after the disappointment of Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
Put into production long before James Gunn and Peter Safran took over the reins at DC Studios, the film was originally destined to be an HBO Max exclusive movie along with the now defunct Batgirl. While that movie became one of the major casualties of the now infamous WBD reshuffle and tax write-off period of transition, Blue Beetle somehow survived and was moved to a theatrical release. The question is, why?
With the old DCEU dying out with the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, it is strange to imagine that Blue Beetle would have gone ahead if it did not have a place in the future of the franchise as unlike both the Aquaman sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash, it was put into production much later than the other movies which all saw substantial delays to their release after production ended. As James Gunn is clearly looking to some lesser known DC heroes as part of the new DCU, Blue Beetle could certainly find a home there if audiences show up for his first outing. You can check out the trailer for Blue Beetle below.