Blue Beetle Star Xolo Maridueña Says Villain Will Surprise People (Exclusive)

Blue Beetle makes its debut in theaters this weekend, bringing to life the journey of Jaime Reyes / Blue Beetle (Xolo Maridueña). Based on early reactions, Blue Beetle will pave new ground while containing nods to larger DC lore, and one of the most interesting components of that might be the film's villains. Both Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) and Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo) will be appearing in Blue Beetle, and according to Maridueña, their storylines will be unexpected. While speaking to ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis, Maridueña teased that both Carapax and Victoria contribute to the superhero tapestry in some compelling ways.

"I want to keep the spoilers free when it comes to Carapax and Susan, because I really am so excited for people to experience that for the first time on screen," Maridueña explained in our interview, which you can check out above. "But what I will say is that I think it will surprise people. When it comes to approaching villains... I personally like a villain that you just hate like that. You're just like, 'Oh!', you know? And I think that in our movie, we, we get to explore both. Even our strongest villains have moments and have the meaning behind them, and I'm so excited for people to kind of see how that story unfolds."

"In terms of getting to do the action with a superhero and a supervillain, I really just have to give it up to the stunt team because they went above and beyond," Maridueña continued. "To take a quick tangent, one of my favorite things about this character is that, like it says in the trailer and you'll see it eventually in the movie, it really is as far as the imagination can go for Jaime, what this suit can do. And Jaime is a kid who grew up watching these superhero movies and watching anime and reading comics. So I'm just so ready for people to see all the different ways that Carapaxx and Blue Beetle are going to be duking it out. It's going to be fantastic."

Who Is Victoria Kord?

Originally created specifically for Blue Beetle, Victoria Kord is expected to be the older sister of Ted Kord, Jaime's predecessor in his superhero mantle.

"She's a woman who is very smart and was dedicated to the family business, and then the father gives it to the son, which is a huge shock," Sarandon explained in a recent interview. "On top of that, the son is very irresponsible and basically destroys the fortune that has been built, and then just disappears, leaving her to put the business to sleep. Then she builds it back, but with great resentment because she's been passed over."

"Here she is, the only one who really made [the family business] her life," Sarandon continued. "She has no family, she has no friends. She's not interested in anything but Kord Industries. She doesn't shop, she doesn't hang out with her girlfriends. She doesn't have a lover; if she does, it's nobody important. So, everything has gone towards the building of power."

Who Is DC's Carapax?

Created by Len Wein and Paris Cullins in 1986's Blue Beetle #1, Conrad Carapax is actually a rival of the very first Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett. An archaeologist who discovers a secret laboratory tied to the Kord family, Carapax is accidentally bonded with a robot in the laboratory, and subsequently goes on a killing spree. He went toe-to-toe with Blue Beetle multiple times over, and was later used as the basis of a robot army for the Hakke-Bruton company.

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Blue Beetle is set to be released exclusively in theaters on Friday, August 18th.

Editor's note: This interview was conducted prior to the SAG actors' strike.