‘Blue Beetle’ Movie in Development for Warner Bros. and DC

Warner Bros. ambitious slate of DC Comics films is growing with work underway on a Blue Beetle movie featuring the Jaime Reyes version of the character.

According to a new report from The Wrap, writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer is working on the script for the new movie, while Zev Foreman will serve as executive producer for Warner Bros.

Dunnet-Alcocer previously wrote Universal Pictures’ reboot of Scarface.

This will be one of the first stand-alone superhero movies to feature a Latino character in the lead. Warner Bros. featured Jay Hernandez as El Diablo in Suicide Squad, and Rosie Perez will play the role of Renee Montoya in the upcoming Birds of Prey movie.

Reyes succeeded Dan Garret and Ted Kord as the Blue Beetle, though he utilized an alien scarab that attached to his back and was considerably more powerful than his predecessors. The character has appeared in recent media adaptations of DC Comics, playing a prominent role in the second season of Young Justice.

The latest trailer for Young Justice‘s return to DC Universe also indicates that Blue Beetle will continue to play a major role in the series.

It appears as if this project is different from the Booster Gold and Blue Beetle movie that was in the works at Warner Bros. years ago, which was supposedly going to come from DC TV wunderkind Greg Berlanti, with Marvel movie veteran Zak Penn writing the script.

Those plans have likely been scrapped or never came to fruition, like many other DC Comics-based projects that have either been announced or reported in the press. Green Lantern Corps, Cyborg, Nightwing, Batgirl, the Harley Quinn/Joker team-up movie, and Deathstroke were all revealed in some capacity, though none of those projects have yet to make any movement beyond the development phase.

Either way, it’s encouraging news to know that DC Films and Warner Bros. are looking beyond their tried-and-true stable of Justice League members or Batman characters and instead exploring the possibilities of raising the profile of some lesser known heroes.

Blue Beetle’s status has increased after appearances in Young Justice and the Injustice games, and is one of the more well-received new heroes to come over the last 15 years.

We’ll see if Warner Bros. and DC Films actually moves forward with the project or if it will be stuck in development hell like many other titles that have been reported in the wake of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.