Blue Beetle star Xolo Maridueña is well-prepped for his debut in the DCEU.
His time on Cobra Kai, which recently released its fourth season on Netflix, helped Maridueña to prepare for his upcoming entry into DC’s universe of heroes. He explained to Variety how his background on the popular Netflix series helped him become superhero-ready and teased fans with a few details about the 2023 film.
Blue Beetle will follow Jaime Reyes, a Mexican-American teenager who adopted the Blue Beetle mantle after discovering the original scarab suit and fusing with it. In the DC Comics canon, he takes on the title of Blue Beetle and joins the Teen Titans, using the scarab suit’s abilities to assist him in various ways.
Jamie is technically the third iteration of the Blue Beetle but quickly became one of the most popular. How the character will be approached in the DCEU has yet to be determined, but Maridueña provided a few teasing details about the upcoming role in his interview with Variety.
Noting that, in joining the DCEU, he will be in the “hands of people who are the best at what they do,” Maridueña spoke highly of his upcoming role in Blue Beetle.
“This is really gonna be a stepping stone in my life,” he said, emphasizing that his time on Cobra Kai has prepped him for some of the more physically taxing aspects of portraying a superhero on screen. “The opportunity at Cobra Kai has really blessed me; I can do stunts, we can do crazy stuff. Adding this new level of green screen and suits and CGI and all of this will add a whole new crazy level to it that I’m so excited for.”
Maridueña also dug into how Jamie’s heritage as a Mexican-American will translate to the screen in Blue Beetle, noting that the film aims to emphasize that “the Latino experience is not a monolith.”
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all story. Whether you speak zero Spanish or are fluent, you’re not more Latino than someone else,” he said.
In the interview, Maridueña seemed to indicate that some Spanish will be spoken in Blue Beetle, but not so much as to leave non-Spanish speakers in the dark.
“The familial togetherness is what makes us Latino, and the fact that we’re gonna ride for each other, that’s what makes us Latino, not this language,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong; there’s gonna be Spanish in the movie. We’re gonna speak Spanish; it’s gonna be how it feels at home, but Spanish isn’t the only reason for that.”
Blue Beetle is headed to theaters on Aug. 18, 2023.