Blue Beetle (2023) is a superhero film adapted from DC Comics, directed by Angel Manuel Soto and starring Xolo Maridueña and Bruna Marquezine. The film is part of the DCEU and was released by Warner Bros.. Runtime: 2h 7m. Rated PG-13. Audience rating: 6.4/10.
What is Blue Beetle (2023) about?
Recent college graduate Jaime Reyes unexpectedly bonds with an ancient and mysterious alien relic called the Scarab, giving him a powerful suit of armor that changes his life forever.
Released in 2023, Blue Beetle was directed by Angel Manuel Soto and produced under the Warner Bros. banner. The film occupies a significant place within the DCEU — contributing to the ongoing narrative and mythology of that cinematic universe.
The film features lead performances from Xolo Maridueña, Bruna Marquezine, Susan Sarandon, among others, anchoring a story that adapts characters first brought to life in DC Comics. Its source material gives the film a foundation rooted in decades of published storytelling, which Soto and the creative team interpret through a cinematic lens.
The film's 6.4 audience rating indicates a mixed response. Even so, it holds interest as part of the broader DCEU catalogue and for how it fits into the lineage of DC Comics-based cinema.
What happens in Blue Beetle (2023)? — Full Plot
We open in Palmera City, a fictional Mexican-influenced American coastal city. Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) — a recent college graduate with a working-class Mexican-American family — is struggling to find work after returning home with unfulfilled career hopes. His family is being evicted from their long-time home; his sister Milagro and grandmother Nana are anxious about the future.
Jaime stumbles upon an ancient alien artifact called the Scarab — a sentient cosmic technology that bonds with a human host and grants them a powered exo-suit. The Scarab merges with Jaime's spine. He becomes Blue Beetle — a flying, weaponized suit-wearing hero. The bonding is, by design, permanent.
Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) — CEO of Kord Industries, a private military contractor — has been hunting the Scarab for years. Her ex-husband's brother Ted Kord was the previous Blue Beetle (deceased). Victoria intends to weaponize the Scarab technology for military sales.
Victoria Kord captures Jaime's family. She uses them as leverage to force Jaime to surrender the Scarab. Jaime escapes with help from his cousin Rudy (George Lopez), a paranoid conspiracy theorist with high-tech tinkering skills, and his great-grandmother Nana (who turns out to have been a guerilla fighter in 1960s Mexican revolutionary movements).
Jaime infiltrates Kord Industries' island headquarters. He confronts Victoria. The Scarab's full power is unleashed during the final battle — wings, energy weapons, defensive shields, and a deep partnership with Jaime's emotional intent.
Victoria is defeated. The Scarab remains permanently bonded to Jaime. The film closes with the Reyes family safe, Jaime as Palmera City's new hero, and a hint that he will continue into the rebooted DCU.
Blue Beetle grossed $130 million globally on a $104 million budget — modest commercial success but well below industry expectations. The film was the last DCEU release before James Gunn's DCU reset. Xolo Maridueña's Jaime Reyes is canonically the only DCEU character announced as continuing into the new DCU. A sequel was greenlit by James Gunn for the new continuity.
Who stars in Blue Beetle (2023)?
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What are some facts about Blue Beetle (2023)?
Blue Beetle released in 2023, placing it within the 2020s era of comic book cinema — a decade that saw superhero films become the dominant force at the global box office.
Directed by Angel Manuel Soto, the film was produced by Warner Bros. and adapts source material from DC Comics.
The principal cast features Xolo Maridueña and Bruna Marquezine, with key supporting roles played by Susan Sarandon, George Lopez.
The film belongs to DCEU — the DC Extended Universe, Warner Bros' connected superhero continuity.
Blue Beetle carries an audience rating of 6.4 — a middling reception but one that hasn't prevented its cultural footprint.
The DC Comics source material for Blue Beetle has been in continuous publication for decades, giving filmmakers a rich well of storylines, character arcs, and iconography to draw upon.
Modern superhero films like this one use a mix of practical effects and digital VFX, with entire sequences often shot against volume walls or LED stages pioneered by shows like The Mandalorian.
Blue Beetle is catalogued on Movies on Comics among our collection of 162 comic book films spanning 48 years of cinema — from Richard Donner's 1978 Superman to the present day.
