DC’s 2023 got off to a rocky start with Shazam! Fury of the Gods, but fans are still hopeful that Marvel’s Distinguished Competition can turn it around with its next three cinematic offerings for this year. Folks have been particularly clinging to this June’s The Flash as the franchise’s last hope to redeem itself prior to James Gunn’s upcoming universal reboot, but actually, it looks like another movie is outpacing even the Scarlet Speedster to become the most-hyped DC flick of the next few months.
Earlier this week, we were treated to our first trailer for Blue Beetle, which promised to be an epic blend of Spider-Man, Power Rangers, and an obscure Mark Hamill cult classic. Despite being a film that, let’s be honest, wasn’t really on folks’ radars beforehand, Blue Beetle is now one of the summer’s most eagerly awaited movies. Even more so than The Flash, in fact, going by the numbers.
As was pointed out on the r/DC_Cinematic subreddit, Blue Beetle‘s trailer surpassed The Flash‘s total likes in just one day. As of the timing of this screenshot, the former flick had accrued 245k likes from YouTube users while the Ezra Miller vehicle was lagging behind at 241k.
It’s worth pointing out that, at the time of writing, Blue Beetle has earned itself more views than The Flash‘s trailer, not just likes. If you contrast and compare the figures from the official DC YouTube channel, you’ll see BB‘s trailer is sitting at 9.7 million while The Flash‘s is at 7.1 million. Remember, The Flash also failed to become the most-watched trailer of Super Bowl Sunday, as it lost that honor to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Hardcore DC fans might be fizzing with delight at the prospect of Michael Keaton’s imminent return under Batman’s cowl, but it looks like general audiences might be more amped to meet a brand-new superhero in the form of Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime Reyes. We’ll find out if these YouTube stats translate to box-office business come Aug. 18.