Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña (he plays Miguel Diaz) has been confirmed to be playing Mexican-American superhero Blue Beetle in a film of the same name for HBO Max. Now that he is a part of the DCEU family, he attended the premiere of The Suicide Squad on Tuesday night, where he revealed that he was informed that he had landed the role just the night before with director Angel Manuel Soto and Warner Bros. execs.
#BlueBeetle has arrived at #TheSuicideSquad ! Director Angel Manuel Soto and Warners execs surprised Xolo Maridueña with the news at dinner just last night pic.twitter.com/IYSfz88YZU
— Aaron Couch (@AaronCouch) August 3, 2021
Soto, who is Puerto Rican, previously helmed the 2020 Sundance drama Charm City Kings which won the award for Best Ensemble Cast. It was announced in February that he would be tackling Blue Beetle for HBO Max. He is also attached to direct a new Transformers movie for Paramount Pictures.
The screenplay comes from Mexican writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, who previously penned Miss Bala and the upcoming Scarface remake.
Maridueña is one of the main stars of the hit series Cobra Kai, which began on the now-defunct premium Youtube Red streaming service, before moving over to Netflix where it found a broader audience and became an instant smash. The series has been nominated for six Primetime Emmys. Cobra Kai is a continuation of the Karate Kid movies from the ’80s, and features original movie stars Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso, William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence, and Martin Kove as John Kreese.
Maridueña previously played Victor Graham on Parenthood and lends his voice to various animated series.
He will be playing DC Comics’ third Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes, created by Keith Giffen, John Rogers, and Cully Hamner, and introduced in 2005, following the death of the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord. Reyes quickly became a popular character and has joined the Teen Titans and Justice League.
The character appeared in live-action during the tenth season of Smallville as portrayed by Jaren Brandt Bartlett. He has also appeared multiple times in animation, voiced by Will Friedle on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Eric Lopez on Young Justice, and Jake T. Austin on Justice League Action and in multiple animated movies.
Jaime Reyes finds a strange blue scarab, which attaches itself to him and acts something like a symbiote. The scarab covers him in powerful shape-shifting armor, allowing him to fly with wings, fire energy blasts from cannons on his hands, create shields and sabers, and grants him super strength, invulnerability, and other abilities. It turns out the scarab was created by the alien race The Reach.
Blue Beetle joins Batgirl as another original live-action DC movie headed straight to HBO Max versus theaters. (But with the delta variant spreading, perhaps all movies are going to be headed to streaming. Again.)
Check back for updates as they arrive.
