Blue Beetle's Director Shares Why Xolo Maridueña Is Perfect

By Aaron Perine

Blue Beetle's director shared why Xolo Maridueña is absolutely perfect for the role. The upcoming DC Comics film got the big cover story treatment from MovieMaker and Angel Manuel Soto had some serious praise for his star. While looking at the source material while making Blue Beetle, he couldn't believe the resemblance and said, "Oh my gosh, he looks so much like Xolo." The similarities to Jaime Reyes are hard to dispute, but elsewhere in the profile, there's also some likeness in their demeanor. With teenaged superheroes, it becomes really key for the characters to be relatable. In the case of Blue Beetle, they're really hit it big with Maridueña. Check out what else the filmmaker had to say down below!

"Xolo's very smart. He's not aloof or anything like that. He's a very smart kid. He's eloquent, but he's also a kid that lives in his age," Soto told the outlet. "He can be funny and quirky and then he gets self-aware that he's quirky and then he gets serious again."

"I was like, 'Holy s***, this is Xolo,'" Soto added when talking about reading Blue Beetle. "It almost feels like the comic is inspired by him. Even his personality and the charisma and the honesty, the innocence, all that stuff that plays into the character of Jaime Reyes, Xolo embodies it."

Blue Beetle Dials Down The Stakes For His First Movie Adventure

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(Photo: DC)

Keeping Blue Beetle really grounded was a stated goal according to Soto. He says that having the teenager protecting his family and community at first just made sense. In that regard Jaime Reyes stands out from some other recent entries in the superhero genre. Check out how the director approached that idea down below!

"The idea was, for the first movie, we wanted to keep it as grounded as possible," the director shared. "We wanted the dangers to be more one-to-one. We wanted him first to be the hero of his family and his area and his community before he becomes the hero of the world. Before he becomes the hero of the universe. We didn't want him to save the planet from alien destruction on the first one."

Will Blue Beetle Be The Start of Something Big?

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- DC / Warner Bros)

The creative team behind Blue Beetle is hoping that this can be the start of something big for the character. With James Gunn and Peter Safran running the show over at DC Comics now, there's been some question about what that means for the young hero. Well, the director and star are hoping they get the chance at a trilogy.

"Our first movie, the way we wanted to do it, was always with the mentality that we wanted to do two more, at least," Soto explained. "And taking the traditional three-act structure of a story, we wanted our first movie to practically be the first act of a saga."

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"We are part of the universe, we are part of the world, we are part of the plans that they have been creating for the future instalments of the DCU," Soto claimed. "But we are not tied to all the films from the past. Yes, our movie lives in the world where superheroes exist. But that doesn't mean that a certain event, or certain alliance, or certain things from the past dictate where our film is going."

Do you think Xolo is perfect for Blue Beetle? Let us know in the comments!

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