The Blue Beetle is a long-standing superhero that most have no clue who they are. Can people actually care about a brand-new to them superhero in 2023 during the supposed waning desire for superhero entertainment? Let’s see, the last real unknown to hit on a massive level was and still is the Guardians of the Galaxy, but unlike those characters, there’s a bit more legacy and impact of this hero name that most don’t think about. Quick background info dump – the Blue Beetle first appeared in 1939, the same year as Batman, by a publisher named Fox Comics. The golden age Beetle, Dan Garrett got powers from the blue Scarab – we’ll get back to this. The second Blue Beetle, the most known and popular one until this recent one, is Ted Kord, from Charlton Comics for a short span but was created by Steve Ditko, who has a history of creating cool insect-based superheroes. Ted Kord was part of the group of heroes of that company that had a sizable impact – Captain Atom, The Question, Peacemaker, Peter Cannon/Thunderbolt, and more. These names sound familiar because DC Comics bought them all and folded them in during Crisis on Infinite Earths. These characters also inspired and influenced Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons in created Watchmen. Nite Owl is plain and simple, an alt Ted Kord. He’s the most like the inspiring Blue Beetle.
To speed things up, in the mid-2000s, DC shook things up with a sequel to Crisis of Infinite Earths called Infinite Crisis, and since Blue Beetle was so important to that story, Blue Beetle would be very important to this one. Ted, at the time, was killed, and the Scarab of Dan Garrett ended up with Jamie Reyes, and we have a brand new one for the 21st century. This Japanese hero-inspired Mexican American teen hero Jamie breathed new life into the title and character, especially thanks to the design by amazing artist Cully Hamner, one so good it is wholly carried over to the film with not hardly any changes. Now it’s 2023, and what was once a movie meant for an HBO Max is not being put out on the big screen starring Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña. Here Maridueña plays Jamie, and a recent college graduate returning home to Palmera City, Texas, and finding out his family isn’t doing as well as he thought. Actually, they are all pretty down bad. He’s having a hard time not being able to help and says that this college degree doesn’t equal making the money you need to survive and help your family. After a chance encounter with Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine) with hopes to get a job at Kord Industries, he ends up with a Blue Scarab (told you we’d get back to that), and that Scarab is alive and bonds itself to Jamie giving him a suit of alien armor and an intelligence that can communicate with him. He has to figure out how to deal with this as well as trying to deal with Jenny’s aunt Victoria (Susan Sarandon), who is searching for the Scarab to use it to help create new type of weapons. The conflict between Jenny and Victoria is that Jenny’s father, Ted (the second Blue Beetle, as mentioned before), stopped their company from making weapons. He made his change without being captured in a war zone like Tony Stark. Victoria, who was passed over for taking over the company, resented her brother’s choice and, after his disappearance, took control. Jenny thinks her father’s ideology is the right path and works to stop her aunt from making weapons.
Jamie is pretty much pulled into battle by no choice of his own, but he’s chosen by an entity that no one else also considers – the Scarab. Director Ángel Manuel Soto and screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer choose to inform this story with culture and actual real-world issues. There’s a story dynamic of haves and have-nots that’s not really acknowledged in hardly any superhero movies. The issue of means versus not has been historically a Spider-Man trope and story feature, but as they have made Tom Holland’s Spidey having access to money through support systems for the bulk of his run that left this lane completely open for a character across the street greatly inspired by those earlier stories. Jamie’s family is also a significant part of his story and cast. Belissa Escobedo plays Milagro Reyes, Jamie’s younger sister, who constantly steals the scenes she’s in with on-point comic timing. The character is aged up from what I remember in the comics and works well as a younger sibling that isn’t an elementary-age kid to a person that has a lot more agency and brings more to the story, fulfilling a more confidant role. Elpidia Carrillo and Damián Alcázar play Jamie’s parents, Rocio and Alberto, like actual parents. They are believable as his parents and their place in the world. It feels completely realized, unlike a lot of supporting casts in more than just superhero movies but movies in general. Adriana Barraza plays the grandmother Nana. She has some very interesting surprises to her character that made me laugh out loud yet also brings that heart to the center of the Reyes family. Now the star family member is comedian George Lopez as Uncle Rudy, a hood radical and genius who openly pronounces his politics and beliefs for everyone around to hear and works as a mentor to our hero and even to Jenny during the film. He also is used well as the superhero explainer character that will pique any DC Comics fans’ ears as they watch.
Raoul Max Trujillo plays the heavy Ignacio Carapax, working for Victoria Kord to get Scarab and become her prototype super soldier. While he doesn’t say much, his presence is felt. He’s a threat – he has that Danny Trejo-level formidable guy presence. The character has a good arc and ties superhero stuff with real-world stuff that informs the story well. The action setpieces and effects are very strong throughout the film. The action is clean, and the VFX works along with solid practical effects work, like the Blue Beetle suit. I really like to see more like this, and the director did a great job with this. Never dull to watch on screen. I enjoyed this movie a lot and think it threaded the needle on making Blue Beetle a very good movie and being a great superhero movie. It also reminded me of a modern Kamen Rider movie, not Shin Kamen Rider, which is a throwback to the original 70s show. So rock with me for a minute. Kamen Rider is a Japanese hero who is bug themed, and in the 70s and 80s, they were turned into cyborgs against their will but then chose to fight evil people who did this to them. Now from 2000 and on, Riders is usually a young man who ends up getting this item that allows them to change this bug, and generally now beetle-themed protecting the world and fighting for justice. Usually also fight a villain very much like themselves and influence them to make a change for the better.
There are lots of martial arts, and jumping kicks with way less money than what the US spends on movies and TV. This movie checks all these boxes. I also know Kamen Rider (and Tokusatsu in general) has a strong and historic fandom in Central and South America. The Jamie Reyes version always had that influence for me as I got deeper into that facet of superhero tropes from around the globe. The subtly and also it being an authentic Latin American told experience in a superhero movie felt good to see and refreshing. This was one of the few live-action superhero movies I genuinely enjoyed in a while without any real issues or critiques. I hope they let this continue into Film/TV continuity because it can work a great start in many people’s minds.
Score: B+
