DC and Warner Bros. are bringing Blue Beetle to the screen in the first DC superhero film to star a Latino character. The Wrap reports that Angel Manuel Soto (Charm City Kings) is on board to direct Blue Beetle, which is written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer (Miss Bala).
Though there have been three Blue Beetles over the years, the film will focus on the most recent incarnation of the character, Jaime Reyes, a Mexican-American teen from El Paso who gets super powerful armor from the Blue Beetle scarab.
Blue Beetle has a complicated history. In the shortest possible version: Originally created by Charles Wojtkoski for Fox Comics, the first Blue Beetle was a man named Dan Garret who got super strength from something called Vitamin 2X. After Fox Comics was sold to Charlton Comics, the Blue Beetle was reintroduced as Dan Garrett (with an extra T), who got his powers from a mystical scarab. Charlton eventually introduced a new Beetle, Ted Kord, who didn’t have superpowers but was a gifted inventor. In the early ’80s, Charlton’s characters were sold to DC Comics, who brought Ted Kord (and other characters) into their universe via Crisis On Infinite Earths.
In 2006, DC introduced the third Blue Beetle incarnation, Jaime Reyes, and changed the scarab’s origin—it’s now a piece of alien tech. This version of the character has appeared in the Young Justice animated series (pictured above).
Not much else is know about Soto and Dunnet-Alcocer’s film, but it’s expected to start production this fall.
