Warner Bros. and DC’s “Blue Beetle” Heading To Theaters

One of the more unique efforts coming out of Warner Bros. is the upcoming superhero film, Blue Beetle. The studio announced that the feature would follow the adventures of Jaime Reyes, one of DC’s most popular Latino characters.

Reyes first took up the mantle of Blue Beetle in the Infinite Crisis mini-series back in 2006, replacing the Golden Age hero Ted Kord. In the storyline, Reyes encountered an alien scarab that merged with him, giving him his powers. Notably, the scarab and Reyes take on a relationship very similar to that of Eddie Brock and Venom, where the alien provides all the power and the human is the host, but they bicker like an odd couple team.

While the character of Jaime Reyes became very popular in the comic realm, the hero entered the mainstream world via the acclaimed animated series, DC‘s Young Justice, playing a pivotal role in the show’s second season. In fact, it could be argued that the character was the heart of that season and the main character, as everything in that season dealt with the emergence of other scarabs invading the Earth. Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle has not been featured in either of the newer seasons, however.

Looking to cash in on the unique dynamic of the character and his alien scarab, Warners decided to develop a film that was originally set to debut on HBO Max. Cobra Kai’s Xolo Mariduena was cast as the character with an August 18th, 2023 release announced. However, it’s been decided that the film will now hit theaters first, before debuting on the streamer.

The story of Blue Beetle will follow closely with the comics, with Mariduena playing teenager Jaime Reyes, who gains superpowers when he encounters alien armor. The project is helmed by Angel Manuel Soto and penned by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer and is still targeting an August release.