Looks like Warner Bros. and HBO Max have settled on their Blue Beetle superhero. The Wrap reports, backed up by several trades include THR, that 20-year-old Xolo Maridueña, a breakout actor from “Cobrai Kai” will play the Latinx superhero. While the actor was said to be in talks or being “eyed” for the role, a THR reporter says director Angel Manuel Soto and WB, surprised the young actor with the news the previous night (see below).
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Soto is known for directing the Sundance indie “Charm City Kings.” Maridueña is mostly known for playing Miguel Diaz on “Cobra Kai,” but has also appeared on the “Fast & Furious Spy Racers,” TV series and “Cleopatra in Space.”
“Blue Beetle” is one of the many mid-sized superhero films, along with “Batgirl” and “Static Schock” that Warner Bros. is eyeing to release as an HBO Max streaming movie, not intended for theatrical release. The idea behind these films seems to be to grow HBO Max subscribers, have budgets that don’t break the bank, and so far, mostly hire unknown BIPOC actors as the leads.
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“Blue Beetle” in the DC Comics originally began as Ted Kord (there was a version of the character before that owned by Charlton Comics that DC absorbed), who became a member of the Justice League of America, and used gadgets and science to achieve his crimefighting ways. There’s one more comedic version of the character that’s rather famous that became good buddies with the superhero Booster Gold, and in fact, CW megaproducer Greg Berlanti, once tried to make a “Blue Beetle/Booster Gold” buddy superhero film that never materialized.
But this “Blue Beetle” is based on the more modern iteration of s Jaime Reyes, a teenager who discovered that the original Blue Beetle scarab morphed into a battle suit allowing him to fight crime and travel in space.
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DC Films and Warner Bros. has been quite forward about their diverse casting of late. Dominican/American actor Leslie Grace was recently hired as “Batgirl,” “Birds Of Prey” had quite a lot of BIPOC representation with Jurnee Smollett-Bell, and Rosie Perez, and ‘Static Shock,” a young Black superhero should be the next DC Films/HBO Max casting we hear about next. DC is arguably way ahead of even Marvel in its Latinx representation; they’ve also cast Latina Sasha Calle to play Supergirl in “The Flash.”
Mexican-born screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, who wrote “Miss Bala” and the upcoming “Scarface” reboot, also penned the “Blue Beetle” script. Angel Manuel Soto has also been hired to direct a new “Transformers” film will presumably come after “Blue Beetle.”