Following The Flash’s arrival later this week, there are two upcoming DC movies left to look forward to in 2023: Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. While the latter movie is set to be the final installment in the DC Extended Universe, until today, it’s been unclear where exactly the former lies in the overall DC Films landscape. Well, thanks to James Gunn, we now know that Blue Beetle is more important to DC’s cinematic future than we thought.
Gunn stopped by Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum to talk about his career, and Rosenbaum is an especially fitting podcast host to do this with, as he’s not only worked with the filmmaker a few times, but he also has DC cred from playing Lex Luthor on Smallville and voicing The Flash in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. During their conversation, Gunn dropped this interesting tidbit about Blue Beetle:
The first DCU character for sure is Blue Beetle, and the first full DCU movie is Superman [Legacy].
In late January, it was announced that a new shared DC Universe is being put together, and while it will technically kick off with the animated Creature Commandos series next year, Gunn and Peter Safran, who run DC Studios together, have said that Superman: Legacy, which Gunn is directing and writing, will be the “true beginning” of this new era. However, this latest statement reveals that although Blue Beetle is coming out in the final stretch of the DCEU, Xolo Maridueña’s version of Jaime Reyes will be considered part of DCU canon, as opposed to being relegated to the Elsewords corner of DC media, like Robert Pattinson’s Batman and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker.
Judging by what was shown in the first Blue Beetle trailer, there aren’t any elements to tie this movie to the DCEU. Sure, George Lopez’s Rudy calls Batman a “fascist,” but that didn’t have to apply to Ben Affleck’s version of the Caped Crusader, and we know a new Batman will be introduced in The Brave and the Bold (which Andy Muschietti is reportedly the “top choice” to direct). So really, Blue Beetle will be our first taste of the DCU, though again, it’s Superman: Legacy that will properly kicks things off in summer 2025.
Jaime Reyes’ inclusion in the DCU also makes sense when one remembers that a Booster Gold TV series is in development. Yes, Booster is primarily associated with the Ted Kord version of Blue Beetle, but he and Jaime have also crossed paths in the comics, so that could be a good place for Jaime to pop up. I’d also like to think this DCU clarification bodes well for the possibility of Blue Beetle 2 happening, assuming the first movie performs well. The other DCU movies officially slated include Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and Swamp Thing, and on the TV side of things, Waller, Paradise Lost and Lanterns are also in the lineup.
Blue Beetle opens in theaters on August 18, and you can count on it eventually being available to stream with a Max subscription like so many other DC movies and TV shows. Xolo Maridueña and George Lopez are joined in the movie by Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar Raoul Max Trujillo and Susan Sarandon, among others, and Angel Manuel Soto directed off a script written by Gareth Dune-Alcocer.
