Blue Beetle (2023)

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There is a new superhero in the movie mix, and his name is Jaime Reyes, a.k.a. Blue Beetle. DC and Warner Bros. are developing a Blue Beetle movie, the first Latino-led standalone superhero feature, according to The Wrap. Mexican-born screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer will pen the screenplay, with Zev Foreman executive producing for Warner Bros.

Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle first appeared in comic form in 2006’s Infinite Crisis #3 (and makes our list of the 20 DC superheroes we still need to see on the big or small screen). Reyes has appeared on the small screen, briefly, in the CW series Smallville, as well as in animated form in Young Justice. As Gregory Ellwood wrote, “Unlike Ted Kord, whose Beetle would remind most moviegoers of Owl Man in Watchmen, Reyes’ abilities are provided by the powerful Blue Beetle scarab which has fused itself to his back. It transforms into a protective suit of armor around him that if you described as an alien Iron Man suit wouldn’t be that off base.”
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Image via DC Comics

Mexican-American teenager Jaime Reyes is the third iteration of the character, and as The Wrap adds, “[he] discovered the Blue Beetle scarab on the way home from school with two of his best friends Paco and Brenda, half-buried in a disused lot. Reyes took the scarab home, curious as to what it might be. That night, the scarab came alive, and grafted itself to the base of Jaime’s spine, and provided him with a suit of extraterrestrial armor which can be modified to enhance his speed and strength, as well as to create weapons, wings and shields.”

A few years ago (2015 to be exact), there were rumors of a Booster Gold and Blue Beetle team-up movie, helmed by CW super-producer Greg Berlanti. That version would have featured the Ted Kord version of Blue Beetle, which honestly, we don’t really need. Jamie Reyes gives us something new and different within the crowded superhero landscape. Though there are Latino characters within the DC movie universe, (like Jay Hernandez as El Diablo in Suicide Squad, and Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya in the upcoming Birds of Prey), this is certainly the first Latino hero to lead a solo film.