Blue Beetle Director Angel Manuel Soto Reveals How Cast Celebrated Film's Release Amid Strike

The Blue Beetle cast had some fun together despite not being able to promote the film.

By Jamie Jirak

Blue Beetle hit theaters this summer, but the DC film had the disadvantage of debuting during the SAG-AFTRA strike, which means the cast was unable to participate in the press tour. Since before the movie was released, director Angel Manuel Soto has been sharing a lot of interesting information and fun content about the project, and now he's doing more interviews in honor of the movie's Blu-ray and DVD releases. While chatting with ComicBook.com, Soto revealed how the cast celebrated the film during the strike. 

"We did sneak up on some screenings, you know, and have a little bit of a celebration ... While I was doing some of the traveling, I was able to surprise Belissa Escobedo, she works at a coffee shop in Brooklyn. So we were able to go there and take her out and just have fun. Also, that same trip, I ran into Bruna [Marquezine], so I took Bruna to see the big billboard in Times Square, and all her emotions spilled in the crowd," Soto shared in our interview, which you can view at the top of the page.

"You know, with Xolo [Maridueña] we hang out all the time. We have become family and with George [Lopez] as well ... It was fun with George ... We ended up going to his stand-up show, and it was amazing going to see that man perform, and see a little bit of [his character] Rudy up there ... He was phenomenal. And going to soccer matches with Xolo has been one of the highlights of this moment as well. But I think at the end of the day, being able to just pop in, surprise fans, and see how much it means to them to see themselves represented like this, and what this could mean for the future of characters like this to keep going in cinema. It's very humbling."

When Will Blue Beetle Return to the DCU?

In a recent appearance on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast, DC Studios head James Gunn referred to Jaime Reyes as the "first hero" in the new DC Universe, teasing that Maridueña will reprise his role in future projects. 

"I mean the first DCU character for sure is Blue Beetle and the first DCU movie is Superman," Gunn said at the time.

While chatting with ComicBook.com, Soto addressed the confirmation that Maridueña will return as Blue Beetle.

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"It was very reassuring to know that it's not just the character of Blue Beetle, it's Xolo being Blue Beetle," Soto explained. "Which means that what we have learned up to this point about his background and his family are part of Jaime Reyes' character. And that is a beautiful thing to see because it's a vote of confidence that what we did, the impact that it did and how it was shown, Whatever they end up doing in the bigger scheme of the DCU, you can always go back to Blue Beetle to know what are the foundations of Jaime Reyes."

Blue Beetle is coming to Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K on October 31st. 

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