DC's Blue Beetle Movie - What We Know So Far
Blue Beetle is one of the more recent (relatively speaking) additions to the popular DC Comics lineup of heroes. While the Blue Beetle has been around in one form or another since the 1940s, the name and identity was reinvented several times before it finally reached the current iteration, a teenager named Jaime Reyes who fights crime thanks to an alien artifact fused with his spine. Still, the current Blue Beetle has proven successful enough to star in several prominent DC cartoons, and he's finally getting his own movie.
To be fair, the Blue Beetle movie is kind of old news since it has been in development hell since 2018, but the movie is finally gaining some traction. Perhaps this is the first time you've heard of the movie, or maybe you've forgotten everything about it in the three years since its announcement — not surprising since the Justice League Snyder Cut has dominated most audiences' attention. Either way, here is everything we know about the Blue Beetle movie so far.
When will the Blue Beetle movie release?
This is the million-dollar question, isn't it? When will the Blue Beetle movie release? Unfortunately, not a single source has a concrete answer. The movie has been in the works since 2018, when it only signed on Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, who wrote Miss Bala, as writer (via The Wrap). DC just signed on Angel Manuel Soto, who directed Charm City Kings, as director in 2021 (also via The Wrap). So, a release date is impossible to predict, especially since delays are common in the current social distancing climate.
On the other hand, since the Blue Beetle movie is finally moving along, it will start shooting soonish. The Wrap confirmed that DC plans to start producing this fall, so with that, we can approximate a reasonable release window.
Comparatively speaking, Blue Beetle could probably have a scope similar to the movie Shazam! That film entered production in early to mid-2018, and it didn't release until April 2019. Even though Shazam!'s release date was pushed up instead of back, the movie's development history provides a decent inference model.
All things being equal and not accounting for potential delays or reshoots, we could probably expect Blue Beetle to hit theaters and/or streaming services in late 2022 or early 2023.
Who will star in the Blue Beetle movie?
Much like the release date, the Blue Beetle movie's cast is shrouded in mystery, and there are too many talented actors and actresses out there to make any predictions. But, we can take some educated guesses to whittle down the possibilities.
When The Wrap confirmed that Angel Manuel Soto would direct the Blue Beetle movie, he sent the site the following statement expressing his excitement and confirming the movie's protagonist: "It is an honor to direct Blue Beetle, the first Latino superhero film for DC. I want to sincerely thank everyone at Warner Bros. and DC for trusting me to bring Jaime Reyes to life. I can't wait to make history together."
Since Jaime Reyes is a Latino teenager in the comics, he will likely be portrayed by a young Latino actor. The site Geeks of Color suggested actors such as Diego Tinoco (On My Block) and Jake Austin (Wizards of Waverly Place). Moreover, the site raised a salient point: Austin voiced Jaime in recent Justice League and Teen Titan movies, so how cool would it be for him to also play the character in live action? However, one actor does not a movie make. We don't know who will be cast as Jaime's friend's, the movie's main villain, or the voice of Jaime's alien artifact (assuming it has one).
With luck, we will learn more about any potential cast members in the coming months.
What is the plot of the Blue Beetle movie?
Even though Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer has worked on the Blue Beetle movie script since 2018, he is as tight-lipped about plot details as ever. But, odds are the movie will serve as an origin story for the current iteration of Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes. After all, The Wrap already confirmed that the movie will be about him. What else would the character's first big-screen adventure revolve around? That actually might prove difficult to answer, depending on how closely Dunnet-Alcocer sticks to the source material.
Assuming Dunnet-Alcocer uses Jaime's first adventure as a blueprint, then audiences will possibly see a snippet of the gigantic mini-series event Infinite Crisis, where Jaime is recruited by Batman and the bumbling hero/time traveler Booster Gold to fight the rogue AI Brother Eye and its army of OMAC androids.
Of course, this is pure speculation based on comic canon, and the DC Extended Universe is very different. After all, Shazam didn't fight or defeat a demon-possessed Doctor Sivana – or create the Shazam Family – in his first outing, but that's exactly what happened in the Shazam! movie. We won't know the Blue Beetle movie's plot until it is teased via official announcement or trailer.