Posted in: Movies, Warner Bros | Tagged: blue beetle, dc studios, Op ed, warner bros discovery

Blue Beetle Brings the Mystery Back to Cinematic Worldbuilding

Blue Beetle is the first superhero movie of 2023, and maybe even longer, to get the concept of cinematic worldbuilding right.

It has been a weird year for superhero movies in that most of them haven't been very good, and the reason that most haven't been very good is more or less the same. There have been two exceptions this year on the big screen, and one of them only gets partial credit. The one that gets the most credit is, without a double, Blue Beetle. This is the first superhero movie in a long time that has figured out how to do cinematic worldbuilding right. However, to talk about why Blue Beetle's cinematic worldbuilding works, we must throw up a SPOILER WARNING. So, if you haven't seen this film yet, you should go see it; it's a good, solid comic book movie with some real heart and makes the right choices. If you have seen the movie, keep reading beyond this image, and let's talk about worldbuilding.

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Blue Beetle Keeps Its Worldbuilding Minimal

If you read the review of Blue Beetle, we highlighted that the film remembers how to do worldbuilding correctly when it feels like both Marvel and DC have forgotten the best way to go about it. While director Angel Manuel Soto has noted that there are a ton of Easter Eggs scattered throughout the movie, if you are someone who isn't terminally online, there are three that will grab your attention. One of them is a line that has been featured in the marketing in which Uncle Rudy calls Batman a fascist. The second big incident of worldbuilding comes from a conversation after Jenny reveals that her father, Ted, was the Blue Beetle. During that conversation, it is mentioned that Blue Beetle is to Palmera City what The Flash is to Central City or Superman is to Metropolis. The third thing that is pretty obvious on the first watch is at the beginning of the film, Jaime wears a hoodie that says Gotham Law on it. Others are hidden in there but are of the "blink and miss it" variety.

That is the right way to do this. But the thing that most other superhero movies are doing now is putting the cinematic universe horse before the cart. They are all so eager to introduce the next big thing that they dedicate massive chunks of the runtime to dropping hints and introducing new characters.

One film that almost got it right this year but still fell short in this area was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The moments where Vol. 3 felt like it was being dragged down, and the moments that felt entirely perfunctory were all about Adam Warlock. He was a character who needed to be there for future stories, but unfortunately, everything he did weighed down the genuinely heartfelt story around him. He stuck out like a golden thumb. The Flash stumbled so far it might have created its own spaghetti noodle of a universe, and neither it nor Shazam! Fury of the Gods could escape from teasing and trying to psyche us up for things to come.

Blue Beetle didn't do any of that. We learned about Ted Kord, and we saw his suit. We saw the other suit, which serious fans will know belonged to Dan Garrett, but casual fans will notice and go, "Huh, was there a Blue Beetle before Ted? Interesting." However, none of that is lingered on, and it's never the film's focus. Ted is only the focus in the sense that his gadgets become the arsenal that the Reyes family and Jenny use to save Jaime. We see all the cool stuff, and fans get to see the ship, but it all works in the story. It has a place and isn't shoved in for pointless worldbuilding or a distracting easter egg.

Then, Blue Beetle does exactly what you expect it to do with its post-credits scene: in the film, it is established that Ted Kord is dead, but in the post-credits scene, it's revealed that he isn't. That is all you need to set up a sequel, and none of that sequel setup was shoved into the film. The easter eggs and references exist in one-off lines and references that the movie calls attention to. It's going back to the days of Iron Man 2 and the map that hinted at Wakanda and Talokan in 2010, long before we saw either of those places in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's there if you see it, and it adds something once you find it, but it is never distracting or the focus of the movie itself.

Superhero movies and television shows are so focused on becoming the next big franchise, and they are planned so far in advance they spend almost no time in the present. There is a reason some of the best films recently have been origin stories because that seems to be the only time DC and Marvel can still get this right. Once their hero becomes aware and joins the greater cinematic universe, their film isn't about them anymore; it's about the universe, and the characters and story suffer every single time. Blue Beetle was a welcome return to cinematic worldbuilding done right, and we can hope studios start to relearn what the definition of "teasing" actually is–because right now, their version of "tease" is broken, and it is breaking their movies.

Blue Beetle: Summary, Cast List, Release Date

Only in Theaters August 18 From Warner Bros. Pictures comes the feature film Blue Beetle, marking the DC Super Hero's first time on the big screen. The film, directed by Angel Manuel Soto, stars Xolo Maridueña in the title role as well as his alter ego, Jaime Reyes. Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it. As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the Super Hero BLUE BEETLE.

Starring alongside Maridueña ("Cobra Kai") are Adriana Barraza ("Rambo: Last Blood," "Thor"), Damían Alcázar ("Narcos," "Narcos: Mexico"), Elpidia Carrillo ("Mayans M.C.," the "Predator" films), Bruna Marquezine ("Maldivas," "God Save the King"), Raoul Max Trujillo (the "Sicario" films, "Mayans M.C."), with Oscar winner Susan Sarandon ("Monarch," "Dead Man Walking"), and George Lopez (the "Rio and "Smurf" franchises). The film also stars Belissa Escobedo ("American Horror Stories," "Hocus Pocus 2") and Harvey Guillén ("What We Do in the Shadows"). Soto ("Charm City Kings," "The Farm") directs from a screenplay by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer ("Miss Bala"), based on characters from DC. John Rickard and Zev Foreman are producing, with Walter Hamada, Galen Vaisman, and Garrett Grant serving as executive producers. A Warner Bros. Pictures Presentation, a Safran Company Production, Blue Beetle, soars into theaters only internationally beginning August 2023 and in North America August 18, 2023. It will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.

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