Blue Beetle’s star explained what sets his movie apart from other comic book projects. MovieMaker published a cover story on Xolo Maridueña’s trip up to the big leagues with DC Comics. Both director Angel Manuel Soto and his young star feel like keeping things centered on Jaime Reyes’s family is a good tactic to take. “We want to invite people into Jaime’s experience, into the Reyes’ family home and their environment,” says Soto.
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But, even more honestly than that, Maridueña believes that not escalating things to the fate of the world benefits Blue Beetle a lot. Over the past few months, you’ve heard a lot of fans making similar comments about the state of superhero movies. Keeping things low to the ground could end up paying dividends.
“We aren’t dealing with an alien invasion that’s going to take over the whole world, or a monster that’s going to destroy the city,” Maridueña explained. “…This is a movie about issues that not only Jaime faces, but the whole Reyes family, and greater Palmera City. All of us can relate to their struggle.”
Xolo Maridueña Was Born to Be Blue Beetle
Elsewhere in the cover story, Soto absolutely gushes about how much his star is like Jaime Reyes. Reading those old issues of Blue Beetle really shocked the filmmaker when considering how perfect his young friend was for this role. DC Comics fans have been waiting to see the character on-screen for a while in live-action. But, it seems like this a dream opportunity for everyone involved.
“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 publication. “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 joked about reading Blue Beetle titles while prepping for the film. “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.”
How Will Blue Beetle Function in the New DCU?
One of the big questions headed into Blue Beetle is where this young superhero fits into James Gunn’s new DC Universe. Well, the director and the DC Films boss both agree that Jaime Reyes is here to stay in the movies. However, Soto and Maridueña wouldn’t mind a crack at a Blue Beetle 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 argued. “And taking the traditional three-act structure of a story, we wanted our first movie to practically be the first act of a saga.”
“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,” the director said. “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.”
Blue Beetle Introduces A New Era of DC Comics Films
In Blue Beetle, 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.
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