Blue Beetle director Angel Manuel Soto reassures everyone that the movie is still moving forward — but that’s not to say he didn’t go through a range of emotions before finding out.
There were some trepidations about the movie’s fate following multiple canned projects from Warner Bros. Discovery, but in an NPR interview with Soto, he shares what he’s been told by executives about Blue Beetle.
“I’m not going to lie. There was concern, anger, fear at first. They told me not to worry, the film has their full support.”
Soto had every right to be worried after the unmitigated fallout of Batgirl, which as it stands has very little hope of ever seeing the light of day. The movie starred Leslie Grace in the title role alongside Brendan Fraser as the villain Firefly, and while it was reportedly nearly finished, Warner Bros. opted to shut it down to save some money as a tax write-off. At least Grace has been sharing behind-the-scenes footage from Batgirl so fans can at least get a taste of what could have been.
Batgirl wasn’t the only project to get the axe, Gordita Chronicles, Strange Adventures, Scoob! Holiday Haunt, House Party, Batman: Caped Crusader, and Looney Tunes projects were all canceled over the summer. There might be a shred of hope for other projects to still reach viewers, though. The animated Caped Crusader is being shopped around to other streamers, and with it being a Batman project, there are high hopes it will emerge from the Lazarus Pit resurrected.
Xolo Maridueña from Netflix hit Cobra Kai will star as Jaime Reyes, a teenager who transforms into the title hero when an alien scarab attaches to his spine. He will be the first Latino superhero to star in his own superhero movie when it releases next summer, and Maridueña is nervously excited about playing him.
When describing the character, the actor said, “He’s kind of like a fusion of Green Lantern and Iron Man. He has a scarab from outer space that is attached to his body called Khaji da.” It’s kind of the perfect description. Blue Beetle uses super-advanced alien technology — only in his case it’s also sentient and that causes some issues on a whole new level.