The DC Universe is transitioning to a whole new future under James Gunn and Peter Safran's leadership. Yet, there are still some projects from the previous DC management that are still set to come out this year. Blue Beetle (2023) will land in theaters this summer, and it stars none other than Cobra Kai's Xolo Maridueña as superhero Jaime Reyes. He is the first Latino lead in a DC project, bringing an additional layer to the comic book character in the live-action. From the release date to the plot, trailer, cast, and more, here are all the details you should know about this highly anticipated project.

Editor's Note: This article was updated on August 17, 2023.

Related:'Blue Beetle' Star Xolo Maridueña & Director Angel Manuel Soto on the DC Superhero and the Use of Spanish in the Film

What Is the Plot of Blue Beetle?

Here is the official synopsis of the film:

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.

When and Where Is Blue Beetle Releasing?

Unlike Batgirl and Scoob!: Holiday Haunt, Blue Beetle wasn't scrapped from the DC release calendar. After the Warner Bros-Discovery merger, a number of upcoming films were double-crossed from existence but luckily, our scarab-themed hero was among those that survived. As for the release, Blue Beetle will land in theaters on August 18, 2023, forgoing its original plan for a direct-to-streaming release on HBO Max. The film will also receive the IMAX treatment, making the viewer experience much more immersive according to director Angel Manuel Soto who said this during a Q&A with the Press:

"...IMAX is the shit. It’s the immersive aspect of it. I try to be as immersive as I can, with the projects that I do. The scope of IMAX allowed you to be swallowed whole into the frame. My relationship with cinema is very spiritual, and it almost feels like you can have a physical connection to it. In the same way that we try our best to bring the audience in and come into this dance, with the story and with the characters, IMAX just advances it a little further. It feels like you’re dancing with your partner, instead of just being alone in a room with it."

Additionally, some lucky fans in Los Angeles also got the chance to attend an early screening of Blue Beetle in IMAX on August 16, hosted by Collider. The event also featured a Q&A session with director Andel Manuel Soto.

Watch the Trailer for Blue Beetle

The Blue Beetle trailer introduces Jaime Reyes as the titular superhero lead. He lives in a fictional city called Palmera and has an unfulfilling job in the hotel industry, up until he is asked to guard a box with a mysterious bug/alien inside it known as a scarab. As the creature manages to escape the box and bite Jaime's spine, he finds himself transformed into the Blue Beetle. From what we can tell from the trailer, Jaime's superpowers include a well-equipped exosuit that shields him from dangerous situations and enhanced vision that allows him to detect any potential threats. Since the film shows him as a newly transformed superhero, it will also likely draw focus to Jaime's process of adapting to his newfound abilities and learning how to use them wisely. While he tries his best to use his supernatural powers for good, the character must keep an eye out for Victoria Kord and Conrad Carapax, who plan to use the scarab that transformed Jaime for a devious plan of their own.

The second Blue Beetle trailer continues to highlight the film's tone. It very much is a classic superhero origin story, and becoming a hero is equally fun as it is challenging for Jaime Reyes. We discover that Jaime's family is what separates him from other teenage heroes. The film is shaping up to be a fun time at the movies.

In this clip, we see the Reyes family help Jaime activate his scarab, the source of his new power. It only activates via self-defense, so it takes a lot to trigger the robot beetle in this hilarious scene.

Related:'Blue Beetle' Movie Gets First Look at Suit in Concept Art

Who's In the Cast of Blue Beetle?

One of the most exciting things about this project is the fact that it's DC's first Latino-led superhero movie. Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña will play Jaime Reyes on the big screen and this will be his first movie credit. During a Q&A session (which Collider attended), Maridueña spoke about what it was like to be cast in the role and getting to tie it all back to the comics:

"That part of things, making everything canon, is a very exciting part of the process. I got to come in during pre-production and help carve out who Jaime is, as a character. I was really grateful that Angel gave me a lot of liberties, in terms of trusting me, as a performer. Jaime feels so honest. Although we’re telling this larger than life story, it felt really easy, especially with the help of the family, to get those moments. Our rehearsal days weren’t getting the lines right. It was talking as a family. Once that part locked into place, the rest of the dominoes went perfectly. That really is due in part to wanting the foundation of this movie and the soil to be really pure, and wanting the hearts and souls of these characters to be three-dimensional. Once that was in place, everything else melted away. At the same time, we wanted to do something that’s different. We’ve seen a lot of these superhero movies, over the course of the past couple of decades, and seeing where we could fit in that feels different, was one of the most magical parts. It’s not about competition to us. We’re not looking to be called the next blah, blah, blah. We just want to enter this space and have it feel new, and I think we completed that. I think we did it."

Due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Maridueña won't be able to promote the film because the studios refuse to listen to their actors. Maridueña took to Instagram to give one last message before Blue Beetle's release.

Brazilian actress Bruna Marquezine plays Penny, Jaime's romantic interest in Blue Beetle. This is her Hollywood debut, after a jam-packed acting career in Brazilian soap operas and TV shows. As for the antagonist, Sharon Stone was originally in talks to play Victoria Kord, but Susan Sarandon will be portraying the villain in the film instead. Here is what she told Collider's own Arezou Amin about the experience playing the character.

"My God, to be in a comic book and to be the bad guy, that was great. And I had great outfits, and I wanted to be a little bit more androgynous, but that scared them. So I'm a little bit more gentle, but that was really a fun thing too. That young director, Angel [Manuel Soto], was fabulous. And I mean, we're gushing a lot. It sounds phony, but really, I love the enormity of it. His whole family is Mexican and they're all Mexican actors, and my henchman is Native American. So it was pretty unusual. It's the first superhero movie that stars a Latino, so that's pretty special, and he's great. The kid's great."

Singer and actress, Becky G (Power Rangers) will voice the mysterious scarab in the film. The actress took to Instagram to make the announcement:

Other names set to star in the superhero film include Raoul Max Trujillo as Conrad Carapax (aka Carapax the Indestructible Man), Damian Alcazar and Elpidia Carrillo as Jamie's parents, Belissa Escobedo as Jaime's sister, the legendary George Lopez as Jaime's uncle, Adriana Barraza as Jaime's grandmother, and Harvey Guillen as Dr. Sanchez.

Related:First 'Blue Beetle' Reactions Call it a Massive Win for DC and a Love Letter to Latino Culture

Who's Making Blue Beetle (And When and Where Was it Filmed)?

Blue Beetle was filmed in a number of cities from Atlanta, Georgia to El Paso, Texas to Santurce, Puerto Rico. Principal photography began in May 2022 in Atlanta under the working title Mofongo. Filming wrapped in Puerto Rico on July 18, 2022.

The film is bringing in a lot of commendable representation both in front of and behind the camera, with a Puerto Rican director and a Mexican writer. As previously mentioned, Angel Manuel Soto is the director of Blue Beetle and this is his first time leading the charge for a superhero film. The screenplay was written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer. Given that the project will no longer be targeted toward a streaming release, the creators were reportedly given more creative liberty to make bold choices when shooting the film. During the same Q&A session mentioned above, Soto talked to media outlets (Collider included) about the behind-the-scenes process:

"Once we started writing the script and I started to create concept art, the studio allowed me to run free in my creativity. Unbeknownst to them and to me, at the time, they were able to see the promise of how we pictured a city, and how we really wanted the city to be, and the bigger realm of this cultural zeitgeist and the impact that this can have culturally, but also in the superhero genre, to try something different. We hoped that people will see it for what it is, which is that it has a lot of love and a lot of heart, and the studio felt like it had the potential to be theatrical."

Zev Foreman, Garrett Grant, and David Siegel contributed as executive producers. Peter Safran and John Rickard are also credited as producers of Blue Beetle, with Pawel Pogorzelski (Midsommar, Nobody) serving as the cinematographer and Bobby Krlic (Beef, Paper Girls) as the composer.

Related:‘Blue Beetle’ Director Angel Manuel Soto on DC Easter Eggs and the Importance of Hiring Mexican Actors

Is Blue Beetle in the DCEU or the DCU?

With a reboot on the way, many fans have wondered if Blue Beetle would be set in the older DCEU or James Gunn's new DC universe. Thankfully director Angel Manuel Soto cleared up the confusion, saying:

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 installments 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.

Will There Be a Blue Beetle 2?

With all the behind-the-scenes uncertainty in the DC camp over the past year, this is a question a lot of people are asking. Ultimately, whether Blue Beetle gets a sequel or not will all come down to how well it performs at the Box Office. Gunn has also previously said that Blue Beetle will be "disconnected" from the previous DC movies, which gives it a pretty good chance of fitting into the studio's future plans. What form that takes is something we'll have to wait and see, but for now, mark your calendars for August 18 and check out this refreshing new superhero.