While new Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav scrapped the Batgirl movie that was intended for HBO Max, he upgraded another film that was earmarked for the streaming service, Blue Beetle, and boosted its budget to make it worthy of a theatrical release. Cobra Kai‘s Xolo Maridueña stars as the DCEU’s first Latino superhero, Jaime Reyes. The cast also includes What We Do In The Shadows’ Harvey Guillén, Bruna Marquezine as Penny, Jaime’s love interest, Belissa Escobedo as his sister, Milagros, Raoul Max Trujillo (Mayans M.C.) as villain, Carapax the Indestructible Man, as well as George Lopez, Adriana Barraza, Elpidia Carrillo, and Damián Alcázar.
However, playing the film’s major baddie is the legendary Susan Sarandon as Victoria Kord. Sarandon appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and praised how the film was embracing Jaime’s Mexican heritage and also teasing a bit about her character.
“What’s fabulous about it is that it’s the first Latin-X hero that has his own movie. Even better, all of the Mexican, because his family is Mexican and all the actors were Mexican-American and it’s in Spanish. So there’s subtitles. I’m of course the bad guy. I’m the white military-industrial complex, so I had a fabulous time because there’s nothing better than being bad.”
Kord is the last name of the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, so there is clearly a connection him and between Sarandon’s character.
You can watch her segment below:
Earlier this year, Maridueña discussed Blue Beetle, saying:
“This is really gonna be a stepping stone in my life. I’ve gotten the chance to build chemistry with these people over the years on Cobra Kai. To try to recreate that chemistry in a much shorter amount of time is gonna be difficult, but all of these guys are professionals. I know that I’m in the hands of people who are the best at what they do. The opportunity at Cobra Kai has really blessed me; I can do stunts, we can do crazy stuff. Adding this new level of green screen and suits and CGI and all of this will add a whole new crazy level to it that I’m so excited for.”
Blue Beetle was directed by Angel Manuel Soto with a screenplay by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer. It will hit theaters on August 18, 2023.
