Angel Manuel Soto, the filmmaker behind Charm City Kings, will direct Blue Beetle, the first DC Films and Warner Bros. superhero movie starring a Latino character. Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, who wrote the upcoming Scarface remake and Miss Bala, penned the script, based on the character who first appeared in the pages of Fox Comics in 1939 before moving to DC comics. There have been multiple Blue Beetle characters over the years, but it looks like the film will focus on Jaime Reyes, a Latino teenager and the third person to take up the Blue Beetle mantle.
The news about Angel Manuel Soto directing the Blue Beetle movie comes from The Wrap. A potential Blue Beetle film has been kicking around for a few years now – we first reported on it back in 2018. But there’s been very little movement on the project – that we’ve known about, at least – until now. Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer was announced as the screenwriter in 2018, and it looks like his script is the one Soto will direct. “It is an honor to direct Blue Beetle, the first Latino superhero film for DC,” said Soto. “I want to sincerely thank everyone at Warner Bros. and DC for trusting me to bring Jaime Reyes to life. I can’t wait to make history together.”
The 2018 story also confirmed that the film would focus on Jamie Reyes, who is technically the third person to use the Blue Beetle name. The first Blue Beetle, who appeared in Fox Comics in 1939, and then moved to Charlton Comics, was Dan Garret, who gained his superpowers first from “a special vitamin.” Later versions of the same character changed his superhero origin to involve a “sacred scarab,” which admittedly sounds a lot cooler than a vitamin.
The second Blue Beetle was Ted Kord. Kord ended up as part of the DC world after Crisis on Infinite Earths dumped several Charlon Comics characters into the pages of DC Comics. Unlike his predecessor, Kord did not have superpowers. Instead, like Iron Man and Batman, he used science and gadgets to fight crime. Kord’s Blue Beetle was killed off during DC Comics’ Infinite Crisis crossover.
Enter Jamie Reyes, a teenager who discovered the original Blue Beetle scarab, which could transform into a battle suit that allowed Jamie to fight crime and even travel into space. This is the character the movie is using, which would also make Blue Beetle the first Latino lead in a DC/Warner Bros. superhero movie. As The Wrap points out, previous DC movies had Latino characters in supporting roles, but never as the lead hero before.
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