Blue Beetle has been something of an anomaly in the world of DC movies. Having originally been planned as a Max exclusive along with Batgirl, the Xolo Maridueña-led superhero movie managed to avoid the fate of Leslie Grace’s DCEU movie and was instead given its own theatrical release. It seems that not only that, but the film had found itself as part of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new vision for the comic book universe that really gets started with Superman: Legacy in 2025, and according to its director is part of a planned trilogy of movies featuring the Latino hero.
Blue Beetle helmer Angel Manuel Soto recently spoke to Total Film about bringing the movie to the DCU and how he views the future of the character playing out in and around Gunn and Safran’s shared universe. Soto said:
“We are part of the universe, we are part of the world, we are part of the plans that they have been creating for the future instalments of the DCU, but we are not tied to all the films from the past. Yes, our movie lives in the world where superheroes exist. But that doesn’t mean that a certain event, or certain alliance, or certain things from the past dictate where our film is going.Our first movie, the way we wanted to do it, was always with the mentality that we wanted to do two more, at least, and taking the traditional three-act structure of a story, we wanted our first movie to practically be the first act of a saga.”
Is Blue Beetle Part of the DCU?
It seems so. James Gunn has suggested that Blue Beetle is one of the characters that straddles the old and new DC franchises, but will certainly be seen more as a part of the new DCU rather than a throwback to the old Snyderverse. The official synopsis of the movie reads:
“Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it. As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the Super Hero Blue Beetle.”
Naturally, there is still very little known about how the new DCU will come together. James Gunn has previously announced Blue Beetle as the “first DCU character” but noted that Superman: Legacy will be the “first DCU movie.” The main reason for this seems to be nothing more than the fact Blue Beetle was conceived before he and Peter Safran took their positions as the heads of DC Studios. From Soto’s comments, it looks like Blue Beetle is certainly here to stay in the franchise. Hopefully the box office can deliver enough to keep that thought alive.
