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Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Entertainment
Adam Holmes

First Blue Beetle Reactions Are Online, And It Looks Like DC’s Latest Movie Gives Jaime Reyes A Terrific Theatrical Debut

Xolo Maridueña's Jaime Reyes showing off Blue Beetle armor's arm cannons

It’s been a rough year for DC movies so far, with the 2023 release schedule having already delivered Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash, both of which critically and commercially underperformed. But there are still two more upcoming DC movies on the immediate horizon, the first of which, Blue Beetle, arrives later in the month. However, reactions to the superhero blockbuster are in, and it looks like Jaime Reyes, the young man in the title alien armor, is getting a terrific theatrical debut.

Starting off, The Wrap’s Umberto Gonzalez first praised Blue Beetle for delivering positive representation of Latino culture, then complimented the movie as a whole for spicing things up for the superhero genre.

POC Culture also enjoyed Blue Beetle immensely, describing it as their favorite DC movie to come out since Christopher Nolan wrapped up his Dark Knight trilogy and appreciating how well it explored Jaime Reyes’ Mexican family culture and, as seen in a later tweet, its pop culture references.

While Brandon Davis from Comicbook.com wasn’t as effusive with his praise, he still found DC’s third theatrical movie of the year to be a good time at the theater, specifically shouting out George Lopez, who plays Rudy Reyes, the uncle of Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime.

CineXpress' Fico Cangiano started off declaring that Blue Beetle effectively handles Jaimes Reyes’ introduction and exploration of Latino culture, then shouted out the movie’s actions, visual effects and Maridueña’s leading performance.

Finally, Collider’s Steve Weintraub threw love out to Blue Beetle director Angel Manuel Soto and how he delivered a “fun” blend of action and humor.

As if the all of the above positive reception wasn’t notable enough, Zack Snyder also showed support for Blue Beetle earlier this month, saying he was looking forward to taking his kids to see it. Xolo Maridueña and George Lopez are joined in the Blue Beetle cast by Damián Alcázar, Adriana Barraza, Elpidia Carrillo, Bruna Marquezine, Harvey Guillén, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon and Becky G, while behind the scenes, Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer wrote the script. Although Blue Beetle is coming out while the DCEU is still active, not only is this feature more of a standalone offering, DC Studios co-head James Gunn said that Jaime Reyes is the new DC Universe’s first character, so it sounds like we’ll be seeing more of him in the years ahead.

You can judge Blue Beetle for yourself once the movie opens wide on August 18. Meanwhile, Max subscribers can easily stream Jaime Reyes’ animated appearances, but those looking to watch his live-action TV debut on Smallville more than a decade ago will need a Hulu subscription. Following Blue Beetle’s release, 2023’s final DC movie, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, hits theaters on December 20.

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