DC and Warner Bros. are working on a stand-alone Blue Beetle film, with Latino comic book character Jaime Reyes as the chosen incarnation of the title hero. Reyes is a Mexican-American teenager from El Paso, Texas who inadvertently becomes the conduit for the Blue Beetle scarab that gives him access to a suit of superpowered armor and extraterrestrial abilities. According to The Wrap , DC comics and Warner Bros. are currently adapting the comic-book story to the big screen as part of the DC Extended Universe.
Reyes will be the first Latino comic book superhero to be at the center of a live-action film adaptation, and Mexican writer Gareth Dunnet-Alocer has been tapped to write the screenplay. Dunnet-Alocer is also the writer behind Universal’s Scarface remake, and Miss Bala, an upcoming remake of the 2011 Mexican action-drama starring Gina Rodriguez.
Jaime Reyes is a relatively new character in the DC universe; his first introduction was in 2006, as the third recipient of the alien artifact from which the hero gets his name. While Latino super-characters existed in the DCEU before Reyes—Jay Hernandez spends most of Suicide Squad with barely any lines as El Diablo—Reyes will be the first Latino lead in a film from either of the major comic-book publishers.
If there is any justice in the world, this milestone film will find a seat next to Wonder Woman rather than Suicide Squad in the DCEU’s turbulent track record of film adaptations. Fingers crossed.
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I was 16 and an avid comic book reader when Jaime was introduced. His first solo series was pretty good, and it was nice to have a superhero I could relate to at that age (I saw a lot of my family in his), so I’m pretty psyched that this is happening*. The headline should replace the “DCEU” qualifier to reflect the actual significance.Having said that… I would’ve been equally (…maybe more) excited if they’d announced a Ted Kord/Booster Gold buddy superhero movie.*Assuming it doesn’t go the way of Lobo, Cyborg, Green Lantern Corps, or the Flash and actually gets made. I’m also betting on New Gods never happening.
It’ll basically depend if they can link it to Shazam! Or not (i.e. if the Scarab shows up in the background in the Rock of Eternity) whether or not we actually get this or not
“the third recipient of the alien artifact from which the hero gets his name”Actually the second; Ted Kord never used the scarab, he just named himself after the first BB and took on an adapted version of his look. Only Dan Garret and Jaime, and Garret only used it as a sort of strength-booster that he wore; it didn’t fully activate and become the bio-armor getup that fuses with its wearer and has intelligence until Jaime.
And then there was the time Booster Gold went back in time with Jaime, Dan, and a kinda sorta Blue Beetle from the future to stop Maxwell Lord from killing Ted.They then went onto have whacky time travel adventures for a bit.
Ball’s in your court, Marvel. If only Marvel had a significant Latin character. Does Miles count?
White Tiger, Living Lightning, Victor Mancha
Hate to break it to you but none of them are significant.
Neither is the third Blue Beetle honestly.
By the standards of characters who haven’t had films he is. He’s appeared in tons of adaptations, he’s popular.
I guess. I always feel like he has been shoe horned in to a lot of things “poochy” style. I like the character but not sure he is going to be the thing that saves the DCEU movies.
He said significant! I know who those characters are, but people who had lives in high school most likely don’t.
I mean, the Guardians of the Galaxy are a huge franchise now. Any character can be a hit.
Oh sure. A character can become significant. Blade was a “barely-was” in comics let alone outside of comics in 1998.
I’m pretty sure Thor is hispanic. They just don’t make a big deal about it.
They have a handful, but none of them are significant. Closest are probably Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) and Miss America (America Chavez).
And Ms. America’s an alternate dimension alien person who just looks hispanic and basically decided to copy hispanic people when she entered the Marvel universe.
Yeah, I think Miles Morales counts as Latino. And given that he’s getting a film, significant too.There’s also a pair of Latino Inhumans on Agents of SHIELD, Joey Gutierrez and Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez, but they’re a bit niche.
America Chavez, Latinx superhero with flight, super strength, and the ability to punch star-shaped holes in space-time.Victor Mancha, son of Ultron, cyborg, recovering Vibranium addict, and currently just a severed head.Robbie Reyes, the fourth Ghost Rider.Roberto de Costa, Mutant, and former leader of the U.S. Avengers.
Superman from “God’s and Monsters”? I’m not trying to be argumentative, I just thought a lot of his backstory was being raised amongst an immigrant family and experiencing the negative side of America, and their backlash towards Latinx instead of being “the big blue cornfed white boy scout from Kansas” who is a stand-in for conservative values etc.
Psyched to see Reyes and BB on the screen though! DC animated is way better than live action.
I really liked Gods and Monsters’ Superman. He wasn’t Kal, so of course he was a little more hot-blooded, but I liked that one pre-movie short with him and Brainiac. It showed how Superman could be both empathetic and…not so much a pacifist. Beyond that, besides the representation part, I do think the current landscape is part of the reason every time I see an article saying that Superman shouldn’t be white I think: “They should cast a Latino actor.” He can still be a cornfed kid from Kansas with a Ma and Pa Kent, but, well.
Yeah having a bit of Zod in your genes might explain him being “hot-blooded” but also they showed, at least in the prequel comic tie in, that the way he was treated by people for being an immigrant was part of the reason he was angrier and more prone to violence as a man was because he’d had to take so many ignoble acts against him and his family and not use his powers to defend them as he was growing up. So he internalized it and then just snapped, in the comics, by the time the movie comes around he’s more grown and mature.
What’s awesome about Jaime Reyas is that he’s basically like Spider-Man if he actually took the motto “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility” to heart.This is a kid who’s ultimate power fantasy is to be a dentist so that he can pay off his parent’s mortgage, pay for his sister’s college, and still have enough to live comfortably.He trusts his family and friends with his secret identity.
The fact that he tells his family and they all immediately rally around him was my favorite thing about the original John Rogers book.So, of course, the New 52 version had extra-violent armor that will kill if he reveals his identity to anyone including his family. Ugh.Anyway, I hope the movie sticks closer to the 2006 series.
Actually Keith Giffen went back on the Blue Beetle books after Rebith so aside from the fact that the Scarab is revealed to be magic again by Dr. Fate and Ted mentoring Jaime, everything’s basically as it was during the 2006 run.You can basically pretend everything that happened to Jaime during the Nu52 never happened.
Ah, awesome. I should check that out.Giffen can be hit or miss, but when he’s on, he’s amazing.
I don’t know what Dunnet-Alocer’s work is like, but DCEU could do worse than to hire John Rogers at least as a co-writer, if he’ll still work for them.
Thanks for posting the dentist page. That’s the first thing that comes to mind whenever I think of Reyes’ Blue Beetle. It was so out of left field. That was when I realized how much I liked this character.
One of my favorite issues from that run is the one that takes place at the family reunion/picnic, and it’s entirely in Spanish. I was a teenager when that came out, and it…as an average Mexican-American kid from a border town in Texas, holy shit, it made me feel seen for the first time.
that looks excellent! OK, where’s a good place to start reading?
The Jaime Blue Beetle part is cool, the DCEU part is not so much. Only one good movie so far out of five (?) is not a track record I have confidence in.
Who here will be shocked (shocked!) if this makes it past pre-production? *raises hand*
Update: DC has announced that this movie will actually star the Joker.
But not the Jared Leto or Juaquin Phoenix version of the Joker–a third one. Also, the scarab is also a Joker. And both of Jaime’s parents.
Hm. Jaime’s first solo was solid, his second was terrible. He was fun in Brave and the Bold, kind of tedious in Young Justice. DC’s film track record is terrible but maybe becoming slightly less so. I can’t say I’m enthusiastic, but I’d be happy if it was good.
If Ted Kord isn’t featured as a mentor figure, I’ll… Go sit in the corner and cry again like I did after Countdown to Infinite Crisis.
And I’ll share a box of tissues with you.
Yeah good luck with that. It’ll probably be cancelled before its written.
Finally, Scarlett Johansson gets to headline her own superhero movie!!
As others have mentioned, Jaime’s first series is excellent and should be the blueprint for any movie. I bought every issue of his New 52 run to support the character, but it was pretty bad. The Rebirth series with Ted Kord was fine, but still lost a lot of what made that original take so special.Speaking of legacy characters, I still want to see something done in live action with Kate Spencer’s Manhunter. The Arrowverse seems like the most logical place except they introduced Kate early on and killed her off during Slade Wilson’s attack on Starling City. For a brief moment I thought they’d turn Laurel into Manhunter (she’s was a district attorney who wanted to be a vigilante, how is Manhunter not a better option than Black Canary?) but that didn’t happen. I guess now they could potentially add her to either the Batwoman show or one of the in-development Harley Quinn ‘girl gang’ movies, but I honestly like the character is strong enough to lead her own show. Maybe on DC Universe?
There goes my dream for a Ted Kord/Booster movie (at least it’s not Dan Garrett)
ANDY SAMBERG FOR TED KORD.
That is all.
It’ll be Bill Hader
Shit, that’s good. That’s real good.
Vibe gets the shaft again, eh?
Still holding out hope for an El Dorado movie…
Still waiting on a Static Shock or Icon movie
So you actually mean it’s going to be a Mexican lead? Because Latino means squat to me. As a Cuban I feel 0 representation by a Mexican lead. Though I’m pretty sure you meant just random brown guy when you said “Latino”. Since we all speak Spanish we must obviously share the same race, culture and history. So patronizing….
What next month’s Spider-Man movie starring Miles Morales?
I was fifteen years old when a bilingual Mexican-American kid from El Paso, a border town, was called upon by Batman to help save the planet. And then he got his own solo series, and I devoured that book. I was a fan of the Blue and Gold from earlier on, too, so this was perfect for me. Jaime Reyes is without a doubt one of my favorite DC characters.
One of the best parts about that first solo book—and which I feel is a roadmap for why certain legacy characters succeed and others don’t—is how like, in awe Jaime was of Ted Kord, his immediate predecessor. He looked up to Ted, and he wanted to do right by Ted’s legacy of being a caring, good-natured hero who always tries to do right. The “honoring the past and growing beyond it” part is such an important part of a legacy character. Wally had it. Kamala Khan had it. Miles had it. (Sigh. What I wouldn’t give for Kamala and Miles to hang out with Jaime.)
Plus, Jaime’s supporting cast is also one of the best in recent memory. I loved his mom being both a loving, supporting mother but also able to strike fear in someone like Guy Gardner, as all good Mexican moms could, and his father being this soft-spoken guy who had all the authority that came from experience, and his little sister being a brat and also super brave in the face of like, alien and monster attacks. Paco and Brenda, Traci 13. Etc. The friggin’ dentist page. The introduction of The Reach. Too many good things during that first run. I hope it serves as the sole basis for Jaime’s film.
Shoulda been a Ted Kord Blue Beetle/ Booster Gold movie. Cause nobody gives a hoot about Blue Beetle by himself and Kord is 100% the best iteration of the character.