Blue Beetle Won't Be Another Superhero Movie About Saving The World

Back when Warner Bros. was handing out Batman movies to Christopher Nolan, the studio was seemingly on to something. Initially plotting its own course away from the shared universe model of Marvel, Warners then suddenly started trying to emulate their rival to (mostly) disastrous effect.

There were brief moments of lucidity among the Warner execs, like when they greenlit Todd Phillips' "Joker" and Matt Reeves' "The Batman." But rather than recognizing that giving visionary filmmakers the chance to do something interesting with DC characters was the way to go, the studio still pushed ahead with establishing a shared universe, most recently scrapping the ill-fated DCEU in favor of building a new version to be led by new DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran.

Unfortunately, winding down the DCEU in preparation for Gunn's vision has thus far proven not only awkward but outright detrimental to Warner and DC's standing. Both "Black Adam" and "Shazam: Fury of the Gods" produced underwhelming box office results, and the troubles continued right up to "The Flash," which proved to be a box office disaster of superheroic proportions, tainting the legacy of Michael Keaton's Batman in the process — just like I said it would.

Needless to say, there's some concern over the two pre-Gunn movies left to release this year. Those movies, "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" and "Blue Beetle," look to be in serious trouble, and will likely struggle to overcome the issues that have plagued all other recent DC films. But, if you want to take a more positive approach, you might focus on the fact that "Blue Beetle" seems to be somewhat of an outlier among the other blockbuster offerings, promising to tell a more grounded story that avoids many of the clichés that now dominate superhero storytelling.

Superheroes save the world. That's what they do. Alongside capes and laser vision, there's pretty much no other trope that's more synonymous with superhero storytelling. But as you might expect given the oversaturation of superhero movies in recent years, even this most fundamental element of comic book narratives is starting to get old. It hasn't been helped by the fact that these movies have made saving the world seem like a relatively routine thing. Then there's 2013's "Man of Steel," which kicked off the trend of heroes absolutely decimating entire cities in the pursuit of rescuing the planet from whatever existential threat it's facing. All of this has resulted in a general undermining of the impact of saving-the-world narratives.

Marvel, for instance, is facing the consequences of saturating the market with sub-par action blockbusters and half-baked streaming shows, which have brought us to the point where the answer to whether we have way too much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is basically overdetermined. And you might think a movie from the DCEU era is the last thing that could turn things around. But there's a minuscule glimmer of hope when it comes to "Blue Beetle."

Director Angel Manuel Soto is hoping that his tale of college grad Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) becoming the titular superhero will reinvigorate the genre somewhat, especially since the story of "Blue Beetle" is on a smaller scale than other superhero movies. Considering the overabundance of spectacle-obsessed, word-in-peril comic book blockbusters we've been inundated with of late, that sounds like it could certainly be refreshing. And it could, in fact, be the main reason why "Blue Beetle" succeeds where other superhero movies have repeatedly failed.

A report from MovieMaker details how the story of "Blue Beetle" is "grounded in everyday issues" and focuses on Jaime Reyes returning to his family home in the fictional Palmera City, and, as the official synopsis puts it, finding that "home is not quite as he left it." The resulting narrative will, as the "Blue Beetle" trailer suggests, supply the requisite action you'd expect from a comic book movie, but will also make these "everyday issues" as big a part of the film.

But there's more to it than that. The action itself will be in service of a story that has lower (read: less world-threatening) stakes than your standard superhero outing. As star Xolo Maridueña explained:

"We aren't dealing with an alien invasion that's going to take over the whole world, or a monster that's going to destroy the city. ... This is a movie about issues that not only Jaime faces, but the whole Reyes family, and greater Palmera City. All of us can relate to their struggle."

Angel Manuel Soto backed up that explanation by adding, "We want to invite people into Jaime's experience, into the Reyes' family home and their environment." Which all sounds like it could either make for a truly unique superhero big-screen experience, or prove to be perfectly suited for the streaming treatment that Warner Bros. originally had planned for "Blue Beetle." Considering the "Blue Beetle" filmmakers have sequel plans, we hope the box office returns prove to be worth it, but we'll have to wait to find out exactly how things play out when the film debuts in theaters on August 18, 2023.