Blue Beetle: First Reactions Praise Family-Focused Story

Blue Beetle reactions are finally here as multiple people have now seen the DC Comics film. Angel Manuel Soto's been working on this project for a long time now, and the results are out in the world. The first responses to Blue Beetle are generally positive as a couple of main themes emerge from social media. Jaime Reyes' family is a big selling point. The creators wanted to make sure that the concept of this Latino family was front and center in the piece. Secondly, Xolo Maridueña basically "is" the Blue Beetle. So, there will be some interest headed into the theater this weekend.

ComicBook.com caught up with the director to talk all things Blue Beetle. During our interview, Soto spoke about how they handled the transition from comic books to the big screen. They couldn't bring in everything from Jaime Reyes' comics history, but they did manage to capture a lot of it.

The #BlueBeetle movie is mostly a blast.

Some is too silly or childish for me, a lot had me laughing loud (George Lopez!). Practical suit rocks. The Latino representation is awesome.

Enjoyed the family-centric stakes, solid action beats. Overall, it’s fun. pic.twitter.com/5qzWIkmDyE

— BD (@BrandonDavisBD) August 11, 2023

"We knew that that stuff existed. So we didn't want to use it as a reference, we wanted to actually use as much as we could from the comic to sort of express what we could express in the film and in the comics and in the animation," Soto told us previously. "Blue Beetle, he has a mouth, we didn't do the mouth ... Maybe somebody finds a way of including the mouth into the Blue Beetle suit, but we didn't. We felt like, 'You know what, in the comic, he has eye responses, so we can show emotion through his eyes. So we can definitely move that and, it's not a helmet per se. It's a suit, it envelops the mask.' So if you thought it should have a little bit of jaw movement because it's not a helmet, so we were able to have fun and when we try to do our version of what's in the comics."

What is Blue Beetle About?

From Warner Bros. Pictures comes Blue Beetle, which arrives in theaters on August 18th, marking the DC superhero's first time on the big screen. The film, directed by Angel Manuel Soto, stars Xolo Maridueña in the title role as well as his alter ego, Jaime Reyes. 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.

Starring alongside Maridueña are Adriana Barraza, Damían Alcázar, Elpidia Carrillo, Bruna Marquezine, Raoul Max Trujillo, with Oscar winner Susan Sarandon, and George Lopez (the "Rio and "Smurf" franchises). The film also stars Belissa Escobedo and Harvey Guillén. Soto directs from a screenplay by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, based on characters from DC. John Rickard and Zev Foreman are producing, with Walter Hamada, Galen Vaisman and Garrett Grant serving as executive producers.

Are you more excited about Blue Beetle? Let us know down in the comments!