Blue Beetle was released in theaters this past August and, despite mostly positive reviews, the movie holds the dubious honour of being the lowest-grossing DCEU movie of all time at the worldwide box office.
Despite that, DC Studios' co-CEO James Gunn is insistent that Xolo Maridueña's Jaime Reyes will have a place in the new DCU, presumably as part of the Booster Gold TV series being developed for Max.
Talking to IGN, Blue Beetle director Angel Manuel Soto shared his thoughts on the character's future and revealed whether he was made aware of plans for this iteration of the character to make the leap between universes. "No," he admits. "We went through three regime changes."
"James Gunn and Peter Safran came into DC while we were in post so it didn't influence much. At the end of the day, we wanted to tell a story that was standalone, that was an introduction, a prologue to a new superhero," the filmmaker continues. "If he wants to join a league, if he wants to continue in his own independent journey - at least now we have a foundation of what makes Jaime Reyes Jaime Reyes because this was always the first act of a bigger universe."
The movie ended by teasing Jaime's eventual association with the original Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, and in a separate interview with Screen Rant, Soto confirmed there were once plans for the character to make a physical appearance.
"Our initial joke with that was, Jaime and Jenny would be talking later, and he showed up and they [Jaime and Ted] are like, 'Who are you? That's your dad?!' between them. But I think by doing it this way opens up more of a curiosity to where is he and why is he sending this message today? Why did he leave? What did he go out to do and I think it opens a lot of doors."
For me, I always liked the idea of him and Booster Gold doing adventures and then this message being sent as a warning of something that eventually Booster Gold is the one that's able to bring Jaime into the mix, or tap Kord's expertise through Booster's time travelling powers. So for me, one of those things I definitely [want to see] are Booster Gold and Ted Kord, I want them to be a part of Jaime's future."
Well, that may go some way in explaining rumours about Jason Sudeikis showing up as the fan-favourite superhero, anyway!
Only time will tell what the future holds in store for Blue Beetle on screen. Having him go from starring in his own movie to being a supporting character in a TV show feels like a downgrade, but based on those all-important box office receipts, there's simply no way a sequel is heading to theaters.
Let us know your hopes for Jaime Reyes on screen in the comments section below.