Earlier, the star of Blue Beetle, Xolo Maridueña, was wise not to put the cart before the horse in regard to the character’s standing as a franchise as he wanted to wait to see how the movie does, “If we get one movie or a trilogy and f*cking fold this into the Justice League shit, we’re ready for the whole nine. For me and Angel [Manuel Soto, director] and the team, we kicked ass with this movie. It just depends on numbers.“. However, it was a little murky on which regime of the DC film universe the origin story would fall under. The new head of DC at Warner Bros., James Gunn, recently appeared on the Inside of You podcast with Smallville‘s Michael Rosenbaum and has confirmed that Blue Beetle will be the first character in his DC universe.
According to The Wrap, the Superman: Legacy director stated, “I mean the first DCU character, for sure, is Blue Beetle, and the first full DCU movie is Superman.” While it may be a curious quote, to differentiate the first DCU “character” from the first “full DCU movie,” Gunn may perhaps refer to Blue Beetle being a film that was conceived and made for the previous universe incarnation before Gunn’s first officially produced film after accepting his new position at DC studios. However, as this is a Blue Beetle origin story, it would open up possibilities in the future for Gunn to bring the character into crossovers with the newly rebooted films apart from sequels.
The official synopsis for Blue Beetle 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.
The movie stars Cobra Kai‘s Xolo Maridueña as the titular hero along with Adriana Barraza (Rambo: Last Blood) as Jaime’s grandmother, Nana, Damían Alcázar (Narcos) as his father, Elpidia Carrillo (Mayans M.C.) as his mother, Bruna Marquezine (Maldivas) as Jenny Kord, Raoul Max Trujillo (Sicario) as Carapax, with Oscar winner Susan Sarandon (Thelma and Louise) as Victoria Kord and comedian George Lopez (Lopez vs Lopez) as Jaime’s Uncle Rudy. Angel Manuel Soto of Charm City Kings directs the superhero film from a screenplay penned by writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, whose credits include Miss Bala.