Summary

Director Angel Manuel Soto received support and respect from the new heads of DC for his vision of the Blue Beetle film. Xolo Maridueña, known for his role in Cobra Kai, portrays the Blue Beetle’s host, Jamie Reyes. Blue Beetle features a strong supporting cast of characters and includes Victoria Kord as one of the villains.

There’s a new superhero in town: the Blue Beetle. Director Angel Manuel Soto is caught right in the middle of the transition between the supposedly defunct Detective Comics Extended Universe (DCEU) and James Gunn and Peter Safran’s upcoming Detective Comics Universe (DCU). And Soto claims that the new heads of DC “respected” his big-screen vision. Soto said in an exclusive interview with GamesRadar+:

“The studio always, generally, has their hands on it. As far as the essence of the story, [James Gunn and Peter Safran] liked what we were doing, and they respected the vision and what we were trying to do with the film. They really did appreciate the fresh take, the nostalgic factor of how we start the film by taking the audience to see the family and fall in love with them for a prologue-of-sorts.”

Cobra Kai’s own Miguel Diaz, actor Xolo Maridueña, steps out of the famed Karate Kid dojo and into the role of the scarab’s Blue Beetle host, Jamie Reyes. And the new DC hero will need all the superhero technology he can get his hands on. Reyes faces off against both Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) and Conrad Carapax (Raoul Trujillo) who is also known as the Indestructible Man.

Related: Blue Beetle’s History, Powers, and Road to the Big Screen

Peter Safran & James Gunn Approve of Blue Beetle
Warner Bros. Pictures

Angel Manuel Soto didn’t get a lot of guff from the heads of the DCU, James Gunn and Peter Safran. And the Blue Beetle director, along with the film’s screenwriter Gareth Dunnet Alcocer, had the freedom to craft their story and characters the way they wanted. Soto said in the same interview with GamesRadar+:

“We didn’t want to treat them like props. We want to give them arcs. They all deserve the attention that we give them. The love that you feel for them makes everything that happen[s] more visceral.”

Blue Beetle features a strong supporting cast of characters surrounding the film’s protagonist, Jamie Reyes (Maridueña), including Adriana Barraza as Nana, Jaime’s grandmother; Damián Alcázar as Alberto Reyes, Jaime’s father; George Lopez as Rudy Reyes, Jaime’s uncle; Elpidia Carrillo as Rocio Reyes, Jaime’s mother; and more.

For the DC fans, it’s also worth mentioning that Soto’s superhero vision isn’t a “Kord-less” adventure. The aforementioned Victoria Kord (Sarandon) serves as one of the villains, and Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine) is the person who gives the scarab to Jamie. However, there’s one very important Kord not plugged in: Ted.

As DC comic book fans know, Ted Kord is one of those who take up the mantle of the Blue Beetle in the source material. However, there’s been no confirmation that he will actually show up in Soto’s film. One of Ted’s most infamous moments came in the Doomsday storyline leading up to the Man of Steel’s death in Superman No. 75 (1992). In Superman No. 74, Ted’s version of the Blue Beetle is beaten to within an inch of his life and left in a coma after Doomsday gets a hold of him when the B-squad Justice League unsuccessfully tries to help Kal-El fight the Kryptonian killing machine. Fortunately, Jamie Reyes’ Beetle won’t have to face such a formidable foe in his big-screen debut. Not yet, anyway.

Preview screenings of Blue Beetle start Thursday, August 17, and the film opens on Friday. Check out the trailer for Blue Beetle below.