Warner Bros. Reportedly Developing A Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle Feature
by Erik Amaya
Blue Beetle may finally make his way to a live action film.
The Wrap reports Warner Bros. Pictures is actively developing a Blue Beetle feature centered on the Jaime Reyes version of the character created by Keith Giffen, John Rogers, and Cully Hamner in 2006. The character’s hero identity goes back to the Golden Age, first appearing in Mystery Men #1 as Dan Garret, who first obtained his powers from a special vitamin — a la Hourman — but soon saw his source of power revised to a sacred scarab. He was created by Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski under the Eisner and Iger studio pseudonym “Charles Nicholas” and some sources claim Will Eisner, as the studio principal, scripted Dan Garret’s first appearance.
First published by Fox Comics, Blue Beetle would become the property of Charlton Comics and, later, DC Comics. In the 1960s, Charlton revamped the character as Ted Kord, an inventor and student of Garret’s who took over the mantle when Garret died. But instead of using the scarab, Ted depended on his gift of invention to help him beat evildoers. This version of the character crossed over into the mainstream DC Universe following 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths and became a mainstay in Giffen’s Justice League International; where he formed a closed friendship with Booster Gold. He was also the inspiration for Watchmen‘s Night Owl.
But when Ted was killed in the 2005 lead up to Infinite Crisis, Jaime Reyes debuted and soon found himself in possession of Garret’s sacred scarab — which turned out to be an alien exosuit capable of manufacturing fantastic devices on the fly. Well, at least in some versions as DC continuity became quite flexible at this point.
The Jaime version of Blue Beetle was featured constantly on the animated Batman: The Brave & The Bold and appeared in an episode of Smallville. The overall Blue Beetle concept has been held in reserve by Warner Bros. Pictures for quite some time, altering Arrow‘s plans to feature Ted Kord in its third season; replacing him with a Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) who suddenly had striking similarities to Ted. The character continues to appear on Legends of Tomorrow.
Scarface double remake writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer will adapt the concept and, hopefully, Jaime will be DC’s first major Latinx superhero to hit the big screen.
