We are just a month away from the debut of the first superhero for the new DC Universe and it appears that the movie has already received praise from one of DC Studios’ top brass.
James Gunn has confirmed that Blue Beetle will be the first character that will be part of his vision for the new DC franchise, the ten-year plan for the DC Universe that he and co-CEO Peter Safran revealed January. Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters will essentially reboot most of the existing DC Extended Universe which ends with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
Xolo Maridueña, who plays Jaime Reyes aka Blue Beetle, revealed that Gunn has seen the movie. In an interview with Total Film, the actor shared the director’s reaction to the upcoming movie.
“I just remember James Gunn has this really excited energy to him all the time,” Maridueña revealed. “But them coming into this position of the movie already being made, and then being like, ‘All right [mimes rifling through a filing cabinet as if rummaging through the movie], let’s see what we have here’ – it was very rewarding for them to actually respond well to it and enjoy it. They had their notes here and there story-wise, but I think, in capturing the essence of Jaime and the Reyes family, [they] think we did a really great job.”
Blue Beetle tells the origin story of how Reyes came to have the Scarab, an ancient alien biotechnology that grants its user incredible powers. The Scarab bonds with its symbiotic host and bestows upon him a suit of armor that has an energy cannon, a sword, and a shield. The armor itself is highly resilient and also adapts to different situations with its intelligent AI.
Getting approval from Gunn is huge for Blue Beetle and its future in the DC Universe. The film was a project of DC Films before the appointment of Gunn and Safran as co-CEOs of the then-newly formed DC Studios. Surprisingly enough, Gunn has included Blue Beetle in the new DC Universe and recognized the superhero as the first character in the new cinematic universe.
While Blue Beetle is a project of the past regime, it features a standalone narrative that isn’t tied into previous DCEU films. The movie has a localized setting and we don’t expect characters from the old DCEU to be present in the movie. However, Maridueña did tease that there will be recognizable characters making a cameo in the movie.
It will be interesting to see if Blue Beetle sets the tone for the DCU and end the series of blockbuster bombs from DC when it premieres on August 18. Warner Bros. Discovery could use a win after the last three superhero movies from the franchise either barely broke even or lost money in their theatrical runs.
Do you think Blue Beetle will end DC’s streak of box office bombs? Let us know in the comments below.
