The Blue Bug isn’t one of DC’s most famous characters, and it’s not clear if, unlike other heroes, his popularity will surge after his film adaptation, which hits theaters today. That’s not necessarily a problem with the film: the origin story is more than accurate, with a solid lead (Xolo Maridueña, the teenage star of Cobra Kai) as well as hints of Spider-Man in his family and neighborhood dimensions, or Iron Man in traits and Powers of the protagonist but with their own personality. And with grace in the way he embraces the Mexicanness of the superhero and his rich surroundings. However, Blue Beetle hits theaters this Friday after a tentative publicity campaign, which is not very typical for a production estimated at $120 million and is definitely a far cry from the feat seen just two months ago with the predecessor, Flash , has seen. of Superheroes, published by Warner.
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The connections between Puerto Rican Ángel Manuel Soto’s film and the rest of the common DC Universe have not been made explicit in the advertisement and the reason is that they are not entirely clear. “Blue Beetle” contains very casual references to Superman and a joke about Batman, but for now it’s viewers who must decide which faces to give these superheroes: whether those of Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck, the leads in the canceled film The Saga the Justice League, Superman’s, which hits cinemas in 2025 – and will officially open the new universe – or George Clooney’s from Batman and Robin (1997), which was restored as a comic twist in Flash. For now, filmmaker James Gunn, creative director of DC Studios since late 2022, has stated that the film is officially detached from the rest of the cinematic universe and that Blue Beetle is the first character in the new series, however due to the confusion that may result, does this not make the production the first episode of this saga.
The film’s hero, Blue Beetle: half human, half space beetle. Warner Bros. (ZUMAPRESS.com / Cordon Press)
However, it may not be entirely accurate to speak of the film being mistreated. Last summer, the studio decided not to release Batgirl, a feature film starring Leslie Grace and Oscar-winning Brendan Fraser as heroine and villain, respectively, in which – like in Flash – Michael Keaton returned as Batman. The film was already filmed and the date was reserved for the same year 2022 on HBO Max. The official reason for his disappearance: a change in strategy to bring more value to the brand, with exclusive cinema premieres and no streaming. Blue Beetle, also originally designed for the platform, managed to save itself from burning. But the low profile of his promotion has angered some fans, particularly in the Hispanic-American community since Jaime Reyes, the boy who receives the Blue Beetle’s powers, is DC’s first Latino hero. These followers have responded to the lack of marketing by promoting the “Blue Beetle August 18th in theaters only” meme on social media, trying to give it the character of an event Warner didn’t give it.
Other memes the film spawned go the other way common emptiness jokes in online reservations in the cinemas to mock the lack of interest in the million-dollar production. It seems that all of these precedents form the chronicle of a foretold failure, but the unpredictable cinematic development that DC is pursuing better begs to predict as little as possible. The first surprise is that, unlike the studio’s previous efforts, “Blue Beetle” has already garnered a positive reception from critics. Whether he behaves with dignity at the box office or whether the lavish references to Latino culture (like the references to El Chapulín Colorado or the hero’s initial transformation to the rhythm of Vicente Fernández’s El Rey) ultimately make him a community phenomenon, it’s not clear whether the unforeseen will be a joy or rather the umpteenth headache for the study as it confronts the outlines of its complex plans for the future.
design a universe
“I think with DC they were in a hurry, they had no patience and they were overly ambitious once they started their cinematic universe,” he says, consulted by ICON, comic artist Rodrigo Zayas. With Man of Steel (2013) as the cornerstone, the so-called DC Expanded Universe began in the second part, Batman v., with its two most famous heroes. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). “The Marvel Universe began after Iron Man [2008] Add, almost jokingly, a post-credits scene with Samuel L. Jackson playing Nick Fury to see what would happen,” Zayas continues. “The play was doing well, so they kept growing. To get to Avengers: Infinity War [2018] or endgame [2019]You have a long journey behind you. DC wanted to match Marvel’s success very quickly and get the same results in half the time since the subgenre was already very established and the previous steps could be skipped. But the narrative codes are ultimately what they are. Everything has rhythms, the audience expects the characters to develop.”
DC Studios Chief Creative Officer James Gunn at the premiere of “Blue Beetle” August 15 in Los Angeles. Nina Prommer (ZUMAPRESS.com / Cordon Press)
For the illustrator, another important factor in the difficult composition of the DC Universe lies in the director, who held the reins for years. “DC has made an audiovisual and aesthetic proposal informed by the personality of Zack Snyder [autor de El hombre de acero y Batman v. Superman], which was very different from what Marvel was doing,” he explains. “Personally, I found it very interesting, but that collided with the preferences of the audience, which mainly consumes this type of film.” The disappointing box office results of the second film in particular caused a change of course in 2016 with “Suicide Squad”, a comeback , to deviate from the somber tone director David Ayer had given it a priori. The attempt to transform the DC Universe into something more likable was accomplished in Justice League (2017), a film created by Snyder, who left the project due to his daughter’s suicide, and by Joss Whedon, who Director of Los Avengers, was reconstructed (2012) by Marvel.
That was the breaking point between DC and most of his fans. The supporters of Zack Snyder, someone whose commercial weight was in question but who knew how to mobilize the networks, pushed for the premiere of a Justice League montage as created by the original director, a victory they eventually overcame HBO Max clinched 2021. Snyder, who even won the two audience Oscars the academy opened (and closed) for its 2022 edition via online voting, has been accused of using bots to pressure Warner and with organized threatened a boycott. Meanwhile, Dwayne Johnson, whose Black Adam (2022) was tasked with bringing order to the DC cinematic universe, delighted that fandom by surprisingly hiring former Superman Henry Cavill for a final scene. Again, it didn’t make it to the box office.
“The power hierarchy in DC is about to change,” was the hasty sentence Johnson said ahead of the film’s premiere. He was right, except he wouldn’t be the person to top that hierarchy: with the eventual rise of James Gunn, another Marvel Quarry director (he was in charge of those between 2014 and 2023). Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy) came the end of the previous narrative universe and the announcement of a complete reboot beginning in 2025 with the self-signed Superman: Legacy.
The protagonist of “Blue Beetle”, played by Xolo Maridueña, surrounded by his Mexican family: their relationship (and culture) has an essential meaning in the film. Warner Bros. (ZUMAPRESS.com / Cordon Press)
The next problem for Warner is in the tracks. Flash, whose main character in Batman v. Superman saw his rapid development as a series of scandals involving his protagonist Ezra Miller with criminal records, violent behavior and allegations ranging from robbery to sexual abuse to cult formation. It is estimated that Warner lost $200 million in failure in 2023. After several delays, another production of the previous regime is scheduled to hit theaters in December: Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, a sequel to Aquaman (2018), whose role in the new order of things is also complicated, to say the least. In a new balancing act to avoid the bad image of a studio releasing new installments of an already canceled series, Gunn has said that like Blue Beetle, Aquaman 2 is part of the new universe (although the beginning will still be his). future Superman). Meanwhile, with the release of Blue Beetle, Zack Snyder has already tapped into Warner’s weak spot, his apparent disinterest in the Latino community announced on Twitter that he would be going with his children to see it next to the hashtag #RepresentationMatters (representation matters).
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