DC Studios has released the first official trailer for Blue Beetle, starring Xolo Maridueña from Cobra Kai as Jaime Reyes, who will be the first Latino superhero to lead a movie. It is directed by Puerto Rican director Angel Manuel Soto, who directed Charm City Kings, and in general, this movie is packed with Latino talent. The villain of the movie appears to be Susan Sarandon though, who is not your typical face of evil.
As shown in the trailer, the premise of Blue Beetle is that Jaime Reyes returns home after college but is kind of stuck in a rut, when suddenly he comes into possession of the Scarab, “an ancient relic of alien biotechnology.” (Apparently that’s a thing.) The Scarab bonds with Reyes, turning him into Blue Beetle and giving him awesome powers that could get people killed if he doesn’t get them under control. It’s a pretty familiar setup, but as several Marvel movies have shown, all you really need is a charismatic lead to have a good time with an origin story. And Maridueña is pretty likable on Cobra Kai.
Blue Beetle further stars Adriana Barraza, Damían Alcázar, Elpidia Carrillo, Bruna Marquezine, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon, George Lopez, Belissa Escobedo, and Harvey Guillén.
The only bummer here is that Blue Beetle may represent a creative cul-de-sac at DC Studios, since the movie was in development before James Gunn’s new cohesive vision for the DC universe. Like Shazam! Fury of the Gods, it might be marched into theaters to die and then forgotten, which would be a really depressing way to treat a movie that will mean a lot to some Latinos.
As its trailer notes, Blue Beetle arrives in theaters on August 18, 2023.
