It’s been a brutal year for superhero offerings from Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Studios, and the latest non-starter will wind up among the worst DC cinema performers of all time. In an undeservedly disastrous outcome, Blue Beetle sits atop a worldwide box office cume of just $85 million, and now eyes a $110 million final box office cume. Next stop, DCU? Or will it be “bust” for the big blue bug?
The last eight DCEU theatrical releases in a row have all failed to gross $400 million, a catastrophic five-year rut for what should be Warner Bros. Discovery’s most lucrative properties. Instead, the crossover universe of DC superheroes has collapsed at the box office until even a summer tentpole team-up featuring the return of one of the most popular big-screen Batmans of all time became one of the studio’s worst flops (despite the fact that, dodgy CGI aside, the film is highly entertaining).
Despite the cold audience reception (which was due to the DCEU’s toxic brand and limited marketing, not any failure of Blue Beetle to deliver a great, exciting origin story and wonderful ensemble cast), Xolo Maridueña and his super-persona might return anyway in the upcoming relaunch of DC Comics’ iconic characters in James Gunn’s and Peter Safran’s new DCU.
There is obviously no official word yet, and none could be expected at this point, with Blue Beetle still in theaters amid a bad financial outcome, with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes ongoing and more strikes possible, and with plenty of evolving conditions and plans at WBD and within the newly minted DC Studios.
However, we know James Gunn said on Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast, “The first DCU character for sure is Blue Beetle, and the first full DCU movie is Superman.” And I think that helps give us a pretty clear image of what the general idea is.
I think we can all agree Gunn is referring to Superman: Legacy as the first full DCU movie. Which means Blue Beetle as a film isn’t a full DCU movie. So I think we can assume that whatever world and events exist in the movie Blue Beetle, it’s not set in the DCU proper. However, while it isn’t a “full” DCU movie, the character himself — and, hopefully, Xolo Maridueña in the role — will carry over into the DCU when it is launched in 2025 with Superman: Legacy (which Gunn wrote and directs).
The two key questions are, will the Blue Beetle character we see in the DCU be the same one we met in the movie Blue Beetle? And regardless of the answer to that question, will Maridueña reprise the role (be it as a continuation of the same characterization from the film Blue Beetle, or a new version that ignores what happened in the film)?
I think the fact Gunn felt willing to mention Blue Beetle as the first DCU character is inherently attributable to the film Blue Beetle and refers to this on-screen version of the character, since otherwise what’s the point of mentioning it at all? More to the point, how could it even be possible, if Superman: Legacy is the first full DCU film — it would imply Gunn’s statement refers to Blue Beetle simply being the first superhero face we see on screen in Superman: Legacy, a looney interpretation.
No, Gunn clearly means this Blue Beetle is the first DCU character, but the film he’s in isn’t in the DCU proper. Maybe Ted Kord is over in the DCU proper, stuck there in some experiment gone awry, and he somehow trades places with Jaime Reyes or otherwise interacts to bring Maridueña’s version of the character over into the DCU.
So, we see him now in his origin film Blue Beetle that is set in some separate part of the DC multiverse, and later — after the first true DCU movie, Superman: Legacy — this same Blue Beetle (hopefully played by Maridueña, but they might recast due to scheduling conflicts, or due to bad box office results and proximity to a failed DCEU) will appear in a DCU movie set in the newly established DC cinematic timeline.
For now, the studio is mum about precisely what’s in store, and with good reason. Even if hypothetically Gunn and Safran already made up their minds and have a specific plan, it’s way too soon to reveal it or set it in stone — they have plenty of time, and there’s enough of it that many things might happen to upset some parts of their plan or necessitate changes, so why commit to any specifics yet?
DC Studios can let Gunn’s statement speak for itself, since it’s generally clear and realistic about the situation, and allows enough room to make whatever final choice is best for the DCU’s future.
I hope, as many fans do, that Maridueña continues in the role of Blue Beetle in the DCU, and it seems Gunn and Safran liked Maridueña in the role as much as we did. But it’s also possible that whatever intentions existed or still exist right now, there’s still a lot of ground to cover and many moving parts that make it impossible to firmly commit to any outcome yet.
The silver lining is, since so few people even saw Blue Beetle, there’s not much change audiences will notice if casting carries over, limiting the “DCEU curse” tainting it. But for the folks who did actually see the movie, a B+ grade suggests they might not have loved the film, but they didn’t hate it and probably won’t hold it against future films if they choose to include the same character and actor. So on the one hand, there’s little downside to keeping Maridueña if Blue Beetle returns in the DCU.
On the other hand, with such an unfortunate box office outcome, and with the obvious negative baggage the DCEU brand has attached to these properties, any attempt to rehabilitate DC cinema has to break as much as possible from the DCEU brand. Is it worth taking any risk of tainting an attempted revival for DC by carrying over elements of a DCEU that audiences clearly don’t want to see anymore? Why even take the chance at all?
That said, even if direct ties to the DCEU are cut from stories in the future, it could work to cast certain performers in the same roles as long as there’s enough distance and reason for them to continue without being an in-story continuation (think Judi Dench as M in the James Bond franchise).
Does that include Maridueña? Time will tell. But with Gunn’s statement and what we already know about the upcoming plans (so far) for the new DCU, it seems the intention behind his remarks was to express DC Studio’s support for this version of Blue Beetle — hopefully with Maridueña still under the mask, and I think there’s good odds in his favor in that regard — appearing in the DCU in the future, whatever path it takes to get him there.
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