13 Reasons Why’s Christian Navarro Wants to Play DC’s Blue Beetle

Saying that LatinX moviegoers deserve to see themselves reflected onscreen, 13 Reasons Why actor Christian Navarro took to social media today to lobby for a job at Jaime Reyes, the third Blue Beetle, in an upcoming DC project. Jaime, created in 2005 by comic book superstars Keith Giffen and Cully Hamner with Hollywood screenwriter John Rogers, is one of the company’s most successful new character launches in decades, and has already had multiple appearances in animated form as well as a popular live-action one-off on Smallville. He is also one of DC’s most popular LatinX characters, and easily the buzziest one outside of the comics themselves.

After his brief appearance on Smallville, DC veteran Geoff Johns was said to be developing a TV series for the character, but it never materialized. In more recent years, the rumor mill seems convinced that Warner Bros. sees Blue Beetle as a feature film character, rather than TV, with rumors periodically popping up to get fans excited.

Navarro followed up a cryptic “blue looks good on me” tweet with a comment that Blue Beetle is [the] “Only role I want. LatinX are the largest group of movie goers. We deserve a super hero of our own. Jaime Reyes is that superhero, and there isn’t a soul alive better equipped to bring him to life than me.”

He followed up with appeals to Warner Bros., HBO Max, and Justice League actor Ray Fisher, who has been speaking out in favor of more representation for actors of color in DC’s movies following his accusations that Joss Whedon behaved unprofessionally on set.

You can see the first tweet below.

Getting Blue Beetle would be his second time in a superhero show — and ironically, the first time was on The Tick, another insect-themed hero with a blue costume. He has also had minor roles in Vinyl, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Blue Bloods.

Most of the time, Jaime’s character is rumored to be developed for film or TV with Booster Gold as a foil. Sometimes the rumor is there’s a Blue Beetle project that will co-star Booster, sometimes it’s a Booster Gold project that will co-star Beetle. Occasionally the rumor mill even comes up with a Blue & Gold movie, making them co-headliners — something that fans of the characters have long wanted to see, but which has never made it to print.

Any plans for Blue Beetle in live-action — with or without Navarro — will likely be talked about at DC FanDome next month.