Warner Bros. Pictures has again changed the release format of the DC live-action films. Blue Beetle directed by Angel Manuel Soto. The film will now be released exclusively in theaters on August 18, 2023. Previously, it was confirmed that the project would not be releasing in theaters and would only stream on HBO Max.
This is a particularly surprising move as the studio seems eager to expand and support their new streaming service, to the point of including same-date premieres (with theaters) for certain titles.
Film project development Blue Beetle started in 2018 before being officially announced in February 2021 and, as previously stated, it was originally set to join the DC lineup on HBO Max. The film will tell the story of a Mexican-American teenager named Jaime Reyes, played by Xolo Maridueña (Cobra Kai) after he gains superpowers when he touches an alien armor.
Blue Beetle originally created for Fox Comics in 1939 by Charles Wojtkowski. Fox Comics then went out of business in the 80s. DC then bought the rights to the character and then introduced him to their comic world. In the comics, the story is about a Mexican-American teenager named Jaime Reyes. He is the third character to become a Blue Beetle after Dan Garret and Ted Kord. This character first appeared in Infinity Crisis #5 2006, it was followed by its own monthly series which debuted in May 2006 under the title #1 Blue Beetle.
The story begins when Jaime Reyes finds a Blue Beetle carving/artifact on his way home from school with his two friends Paco and Brenda. Reyes takes the object home, and at night the beetle artifact comes to life, and attaches to the teenager’s spine, and this allows him to have a space suit/armor that can be modified to increase his speed and strength, as well as to create weapons, wings. , and shield.
FYI, the first Beetle was Dan Garrett who initially gained superpowers from a special vitamin, which was later converted into the power of a “holy scarab”. While the second Blue Beetle is the successor to Dan Garrett, known as Ted Kord. Kord “jumped” into the DC Comics universe during Crisis on Infinite Earths.
