Although the DC Extended Universe comes to an end this December with the upcoming DC movie Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and the DC Universe will take its place, some elements of the former shared continuity are being kept around for this new era. This includes Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime Reyes, who debuted in Blue Beetle this past summer. While it remains to be seen what’s in store next for this take on Jaime, Maridueña used the perfect word to describe how he feels about continuing on in the James Gunn-spearheaded DC Universe while talking with CinemaBlend.
Our own Sean O’Connell chatted with Maridueña ahead of Blue Beetle’s arrival to Max subscribers on November 17, three months after its release on the 2023 movies calendar. When asked for his thoughts on getting to continue playing Jaime Reyes, the third character to hold the Blue Beetle mantle in DC Comics lore, the actor said the following about how “validating” it feels:
I guess I would say it feels validating. When we were making the movie, there really was no intention of having it be in... we wanted to give this movie, and Jaime and his family, a time to shine. So there wasn't really time to have (other characters) come in, or whoever the heck. And that really helped it feel homey, and family-like. I'm so excited to see where the Reyes family fits in to the other universe. I feel like we'll cross that bridge when we get there. But in a word, it felt validating to know that both the people that, you know, started with this project and the people who were handling it towards the end loved it. And we're ready to see where the future holds. That's good enough for me.
Blue Beetle occupies an interesting place when one looks through the DC movies in order, because although it was made while the DCEU was still running, there’s nothing that explicitly ties the movie to this particular reality. Yes, characters like Batman are mentioned, but this could easily be shifted to the version we’ll see in the Andy Muschietti-directed The Brave and the Bold rather than Ben Affleck’s Caped Crusader. More importantly, the goal was to give a platform for both Jaime and his family to shine on a cinematic platform, and Xolo Maridueña is pleased that these particular characters will get to keep going rather than be set aside.
As for how Jaime Reyes and his family will specifically fit into the DC Universe, that’s hard to say at the moment. Blue Beetle’s end-credits scene set the stage for another adventure with its tease that Ted Kord is still alive, but there’s still no word on whether Blue Beetle 2 will move forward. If that ends up not being in the cards, perhaps Jaime and Ted’s stories could continue in Booster Gold, one of the officially-announced upcoming DC TV shows. After all, Booster is tight with both of these Blue Beetles, so it’s not like including them in his show would feel forced.
We’ll let you know once concrete plans for this Blue Beetle are publicly announced, but for now, Xolo Maridueña is just happy his time as Jaime Reyes isn’t over. He also has one final outing lined up as Miguel Diaz in Cobra Kai Season 6, which will debut to people with a Netflix subscription at a yet-to-be-announced date.
