Superhero movies have been making some progress towards diversification in the last decade or so, with the like of Black Panther. Now Warner Bros. and DC are looking to introduce the first proper Latino lead character in their movie universe, developing an adaptation of the comics run featuring Jaime Reyes as the Blue Beetle.
Originally created by artist Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski and writer Will Eisner for Fox Comics' Mystery Men Comics in 1939, the character was introduced as Dan Garret, a vigilante who fought crime using powers gained from chemical compound Vitamin 2-X, though that origin was later retconned to an archeologist with a suit and abilities derived from the alien Khaji Da scarab living weapon. He was succeeded by tech whizz Ted Kord, first appearing in Charlton Comics (which bought Fox and was itself later taken over by DC).
The Jaime Reyes version, a creation of Keith Giffen, John Rogers and Cully Hamner for 2006's Infinite Crisis issue 5, spawned a titular title two months later in May of that year. In his story, Reyes discovered the Blue Beetle scarab on the way home from school with two of his best friends Paco and Brenda, half-buried in a disused lot. Reyes took the scarab home, curious as to what it might be. That night, the scarab came alive, and grafted itself to the base of Jaime’s spine, and provided him with a suit of extraterrestrial armor which can be modified to enhance his speed and strength, as well as to create weapons, wings and shields.
Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, one of the writers who has worked on the latest Scarface for Universal and the Miss Bala remake coming from Sony, has been hired to write the script. Somewhere, Suicide Squad's El Diablo is burning with fury that he didn't get his shot at the first solo slot.
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