“Blue Beetle,” now in theaters, is the latest movie that mines the rich DC Comics catalog to bring a new superhero to the forefront. In this case it’s Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña), who lives in the fictional, superhero-free coastal Texas town of Palmera City. He comes from a more ethnic neighborhood and his family is facing eviction from the evil, monolithic Kord Industries. All seems hopeless, until a magical intergalactic scarab fuses with him, turning him into the Blue Beetle.
This is all well and good (and the movie is a ton of fun) but the question remains: where does “Blue Beetle” fit into what was once known as the DC Extended Universe and is now being referred to, simply, as the DC Universe? The question has even more importance after “The Flash” earlier this summer, which introduced both time travel and multiverse-hopping to the DC Universe.
We will answer all of your burning questions, with some very light spoilers for “Blue Beetle.”
Is “Blue Beetle” a part of the former DC Extended Universe?
Not that we can tell.
What does that mean?
Well, there aren’t any cameos from of the characters or actors that are most associated with the DCEU or, as some have dubbed it, the Snyderverse (since it was largely created and overseen by Zack Snyder). Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa, who have previously made appearances in things like “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and “The Flash,” sit this one out. (Ezra Miller, as you can imagine, also doesn’t show up.) There aren’t any overt references to that universe or those characters and no secondary characters (like Jeremy Irons’ Alfred) are present either.
Is there any reference to other DC works?
Yes. But they are slight.
Go on.
At one point, attempting to activate his powers, Jaime says, “Superman can fly.” But it’s in a very offhanded way where Superman could not even exist in this world besides in comic books and the reference would still work. Elsewhere, we see that Jaime has attended Gotham Law. Gotham is, of course, where Bruce Wayne/Batman lives and operates. You can see a “Lexcorp” logo affixed to a building in Palmera City. (Lex Luthor is Superman’s #1 foe.) And later on in the movie, “The Flash in Central City and Batman in Gotham” are mentioned. It causes George Lopez to exclaim, “Batman is a fascist!” which is a great line and gets one of the biggest laughs in the movie.
Anything else?
This is perhaps the deepest cut but one of the most fun – the movie’s villain, played by Susan Sarandon, is trying to develop a project called OMAC, which stands for One Man Army Corps in the film. This is a throwback to a futuristic character created by Jack Kirby back in 1974 called OMAC (also standing for One Man Army Corps), who in more recent years has served a more villainous role in DC Comics. They are now more often associated with a kind of cyborg death squad, frequently going up against Superman and the rest of the Justice League. Currently, the acronym is more closely associated with Omni Mind And Community, and were originally known as Observational Metahuman Activity Construct. What’s interesting is that OMAC has almost been the villain in other DC movies. OMACs would have appeared in George Miller’s failed “Justice League: Mortal” (that was the one with Armie Hammer as Batman) and OMAC would have been the villain of the proposed but unmade sequel to “The Lego Batman Movie” that was being written by “Loki” creator Michael Waldron and “Rick & Morty” co-creator Dan Harmon. Now, OMAC is finally on the big screen!
Do you get a sense of it being the beginning of the new DC Universe?
There’s no sense that this is an entirely separate world from the one that Affleck, Henry Cavill, Miller and the rest of them inhabited. But there’s no real indication that it’s the same world either. James Gunn, who is running the new DC Studios with “Blue Beetle” producer Peter Safran, has suggested that Blue Beetle will be a character that will show up in upcoming adventures (there are many theories that he’ll show up in the upcoming “Booster Gold” series) and that the character will be played by Maridueña. But there are other characters from the old DCEU that are also being transported to the DCU (like all of the characters Gunn created for “The Suicide Squad” / “Peacemaker”).
Could this conceivably be the start of the new DCU?
Absolutely. But there’s a movie called “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” coming out in December that seems pretty firmly rooted in the old ways (both Keaton and Affleck filmed cameos as Batman for the film over the last couple of years and both have been removed). Here’s hoping that the movie, the last of the DCEU projects to get made, will end with some clarity. But maybe not.
All of that aside, should you go see “Blue Beetle” on opening weekend?
Absolutely. It’s a ton of fun and the cultural specificity sets it apart from the usual superhero outing. And Maridueña is a star.
“Blue Beetle” is in theaters now.
