While DC Comics characters like Wonder Woman and Aquaman ended up making their live-action theatrical debuts decades after being introduced in the comics, the Jaime Reyes version of Blue Beetle won’t have to wait nearly as long. Introduced in 2006 as the third person to hold the Blue Beetle mantle in DC Comics lore, Jaime has assembled an impressive fanbase and appeared in projects like Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Young Justice, Smallville, three movies from the DC Animated Movie Universe, and several video games. Now the time has come for him to lead his own upcoming DC movie, .
Originally intended to be an HBO Max exclusive like the now-scrapped Batgirl, Blue Beetle was changed to a theatrical release that will come out in the summer of 2023. Charm City Kings’ Angel Manuel Soto is directing the superhero movie, and Miss Bala’s Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer wrote the screenplay. As far as the Blue Beetle cast goes, there’s a solid lineup of talent assembled, including Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña and comedy icon George Lopez. So, let’s talk about who’s showing up in this highly anticipated new superhero movie!
Xolo Maridueña (Jaime Reyes)
The actor bringing Jamie Reyes to life in Blue Beetle is Xolo Maridueña, whom some may remember as Victor Graham in the NBC series Parenthood or more recently as Miguel Diaz in the Cobra Kai cast on YouTube Red, originally, before it was acquired by Netflix. Like his comic book counterpart, Maridueña’s Jaime will be bonded to a powerful, artificially intelligent scarab that forms armor around him capable of boosting his strength, manipulating energy, and reconfiguring into various weapons, among other abilities. Concept art of the armored Blue Beetle was shown off at the second DC FanDome, but it was the trailer that came out in April 2023 that gave us our first taste of the character in action.
Bruna Marquezine (Jenny Kord)
The role of Jenny, the movie’s female lead and Jaime Reyes’ love interest, will be played by Bruna Marquezine. Most of Marquezine’s resume is made up of Brazilian projects, including TV shows like Helena’s Shadow, I Love Paraisópolis, and God Save the King, so Blue Beetle will mark her big American debut. Jenny's last name is Kord, meaning she's related to a character we'll talk about later, and as seen in the trailer, she's the one who gives Jaime the scarab that turns him into Blue Beetle.
Belissa Escobedo (Milagro Reyes)
Like his comic book counterpart, Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime Reyes is a teenager, so we’ll be spending a lot of time with his family. The first of that group is Milagro, Jaime’s younger sister, played by Belissa Escobedo, who has starred in the TV shows The Baker and the Beauty, Don’t Look Deeper, and the American Horror Stories anthology series from FX on Hulu. Prior to Blue Beetle, Escobedo’s biggest movie role came when she joined Disney+’s Hocus Pocus 2 cast as Izzy.
Harvey Guillén (Dr. Sanchez)
As confirmed by an EW exclusive, Kord Industries employee Dr. Sanchez is played in Blue Beetle by Harvey Guillén, who last starred in a DC adaptation when he voiced Nightwing on Harley Quinn. While he’s best known for playing Guillermo in FX’s What We Do in the Shadows, his notable TV credits also include The Magicians, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, and the first season of Amazon’s hit action drama, Reacher. He previously lent his voice to the Puss in Boots: The Last Wish cast as Perrito and, as mentioned in a recent EW profile story about him, is apparently playing a furry animal in 2023 as well in Strays.
George Lopez (Rudy Reyes)
One of the biggest names attached to the Blue Beetle cast – in the role of Jaime’s uncle, Rudy – is George Lopez, who also leant his voice to Harley Quinn as himself once and played opposite superheroes as the villainous Mr. Electric in Robert Rodriguez’s family-friendly spectacle, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. The actor has proved himself to be a comedy powerhouse time after time, from his standup routines to his extensive work on TV – including the self-named sitcom he led from 2002 to 2007 – and film – like writer, director, and star Charlie Day’s comedy, Fool’s Paradise, more recently.
Adriana Barraza (Nana Reyes)
Playing Jaime Reyes’ grandmother, Nana, is Adriana Barraza, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000 for her performance as the mother of Gael Garcia’s character in Amores Perros, which itself was nominated for Best Foreign Film. You may have also seen her in Rambo: Last Blood, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, and Netflix’s follow-up to Sharkboy and Lavagirl, We Can Be Heroes, to name a few projects. Blue Beetle is, technically, Barazza’s second comic book movie, having previously played Isabela Álvarez in a few deleted scenes from Thor.
Elpidia Carrillo (Rocio Reyes)
Jaime’s mother, Rocio, is played byElpidia Carrillo, who last worked with George Lopez in David Ayer’s The Tax Collector, but is arguably best known from the first two Predator movies for playing Anna Gonsalves. She has also popped up in Nine Lives, Seven Pounds, FX’s Mayans M.C., and alongside the Euphoria cast on HBO.
Damián Alcázar (Alberto Reyes)
As Jaime’s father, Alberto, we have Damián Alcázar, who is well known to American moviegoers for playing Lord Sopespian in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, but he more recently appeared in the previously mentioned Gina Rodriguez-led action movie, Miss Bala. That being said, Alcázar’s biggest claim to fame is, arguably, starring in the Netflix series Narcos as Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela – a role he also reprised in the spin-off, Narcos: Mexico.
Susan Sarandon (Victoria Kord)
Originally, Sharon Stone was cast in Blue Beetle as a new, villainous, character who, according to CBR, recently made her DC Comics debut named Victoria Kord – who shares a last name with the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord – before Susan Sarandon assumed the role. The actor, who broke out as Janet in 1975’s quintessential horror comedy musical, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, has been nominated for five Academy Awards – for Atlantic City, Thelma & Louise, Lorenozo’s Oil, The Client, and Dead Man Walking – the last of which finally earned her the statuette in 1996. While this new DC flick is Sarandon’s first superhero movie, it is not her first comic book character role, having voiced Black Widow on the dramatic podcast, Marvel’s Wastelanders.
Raoul Max Trujillo (Carapax)
Yet another Mayans M.C. veteran on the Blue Beetle cast is Raoul Max Trujillo, who will play a new version of Conrad Carapax – a minor archaeological rival to Dan Garrett, the first Blue Beetle, who became a supervillain called the Indestructible Man after his mind was transferred into a robotic body. Trujillo previously contributed to superhero fiction when he voiced Namor on the early 2000s animated series, Avengers: United They Stand, but is better known as Zero World in 2006’s Apocalypto, Lockspur from the third installment of the Riddick franchise, and Rafael in Sicario and its prequel, Day of the Soldado.
Becky G (Khaji-Da)
In June 2023, THR reported that Becky G had joined the Blue Beetle cast as Khaji-Da – a disembodied voice that controls the Scarab attached to Jaime. While best known as the Grammy-nominated pop singer behind hits like “Shower” and “Becky from the Block,” she has also earned a reputation for acting in with a guest spot on Empire, as well as playing the Yellow Ranger (and the franchise’s first LGBTQIA+ character) in 2017’s Power Rangers, and starring opposite Machine Gun Kelly in Good Mourning, to name a few.
See the Blue Beetle cast in action when the adventurous, coming-of-age 2023 movie comes out on August 18th.
