BLUE BEETLE Director Explains He Planned Out a Full Trilogy
The director of Blue Beetle, Angel Manuel Soto, has big plans for the franchise that he hopes to execute. The upcoming movie set to be released is the first of a planned trilogy, but as of right now, the next two films have not been greenlit by DC Studios.
Soto is completely invested in telling more stories with Jaime Reyes, aka Blue Beetle. He and the creative team are proud of what they did with this first film, but if they want to continue to tell stories with these characters, the fans have to show up at the theater to watch the movie. During an interview with Total Film, Soto teased his big plan saying:
"Our first movie, the way we wanted to do it, was always with the mentality that we wanted to do two more, at least, and taking the traditional three-act structure of a story, we wanted our first movie to practically be the first act of a saga.
"We are part of the universe, we are part of the world, we are part of the plans that they have been creating for the future instalments of the DCU. But we are not tied to all the films from the past. Yes, our movie lives in the world where superheroes exist. But that doesn't mean that a certain event, or certain alliance, or certain things from the past dictate where our film is going."
James Gunn already confirmed that Blue Beetle is the "first DCU character." Then In a previous interview with the film’s star Xolo Maridueña (Cobra Kai), he said he eventually wants to see the character rolled into “the Justice League shit.”
"If we get one movie or a trilogy and f**king fold this into the Justice League sh*t, we're ready for the whole nine. For me and Angel [Manuel Soto, director] and the team, we kicked ass with this movie. It just depends on numbers."
It does depend on the numbers, and after Black Adam and The Flash numbers came in lower than expected at the box office, I’m not sure that Blue Beetle is going to cut it. But, we’ll see.
The story for the movie centers on Jaime Reyes, the alter ego of the Blue Beetle, a vigilante who has a scarab grafted onto his spine that gives him tremendous powers and the ability to emit blue energy. You get to see that transformation take place in the trailer, and it’s like family-friendly body horror. Here’s the synopsis:
Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it. As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the Super Hero BLUE BEETLE.
The Blue Beetle movie is directed by Angel Manuel Soto (Charm City Kings) from a screenplay adapted by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer (Miss Bala). The movie also stars Bruna Marquezine as Penny, the female lead and love interest; Belissa Escobedo as Jamie’s younger sister, Milagros; as well as Harvey Guillén; and Susan Sarandon as the villain Victoria Kord.
The movie is set to be released only in theaters on August 18, 2023.