Blue Beetle Director Has One Marvel Actor In Mind For Pending Bane Project

Director Angel Manuel Soto's "Blue Beetle" will give DC fans their first Latino lead superhero and early buzz for the film suggests it's a unique and emotional ride. Telling the story of young Jaime Reyes ("Cobra Kai" star Xolo Maridueña) and his discovery of an ancient artifact that transforms him into the titular superhero, "Blue Beetle" will try to make up for DC's recent run of lackluster efforts. If it can turn things around, Manuel Soto will have done the seemingly impossible with a film that was originally set for a straight-to-streaming release.

Interestingly enough, as Variety reported back in July, when he received the call to meet with Warner Bros., Manuel Soto had a whole pitch ready to go and it wasn't for "Blue Beetle." His idea was to give Batman villain Bane an origin story, in a not dissimilar way to Todd Phillips' "Joker." This take would, as the Puerto Rican-born filmmaker told The Playlist, draw parallels between Bane and "the history of interventionism in Latin America and the Caribbean."

But as he would quickly discover, the studio was intent on steering the conversation in a different direction. Manuel Soto said, "I always thought that there was something interesting in exploring his reality and how a character like [Bane] comes to be ... [but] the conversation was not about that." Instead, Warners offered the director "Blue Beetle," and now the movie is almost upon us. But it seems he hasn't forgotten his dream of a Bane solo outing.

This isn't the first we've heard of a Bane solo movie. "Guardians of the Galaxy" star Dave Bautista previously revealed he too visited the DC offices to pitch such a film with him as the lead. The actor also tweeted before about wanting to play Bane — previously played by Tom Hardy in 2012's "The Dark Knight Rises." Speaking at Justice Con in April of 2021 (via Collider) Bautista confirmed he'd actually tried to make it happen, saying:

"[I] walked in the door and said, 'I want to play Bane.' I'm not kidding. They were a little like 'Whoa, we're not even casting Bane.' I was like 'I don't care, I'm playing him.'"

Even with such persistence, the folks at Warners weren't biting. Bautista had previously tweeted about how he'd "tried his best" to play Bane in Matt Reeves' "The Batman," a plan which also didn't come to fruition. But all may not be lost.

When Manuel Soto went in to pitch Warner Bros. Discovery he had a solid idea of how to depict Bane and his backstory, but he didn't necessarily have anyone in mind for the part. Now, despite being handed "Blue Beetle" and putting his Bane plans on the back burner, it looks as though the filmmaker at least knows who he would cast if he ever gets the green light. As he told Comic Book Movie:

"When I had conceived that idea [of a Bane film] I had no one in mind. But suddenly Dave Bautista came out to say that he wants to do it and I went, 'This is an obvious choice, yes.' And I had the chance to meet him. He saw 'Blue Beetle,' and he loved it and so I said okay if they let me do Bane... you're my Bane."

Dave Bautista has spoken to James Gunn about playing Bane, but for now it seems the project isn't a priority as Gunn and co-head of DC Studios Peter Safran gear up to launch their newly reimagined DCU. As Bautista told Insider in early 2023:

"I have had conversations with James about that but I think the direction he's leaning in, completely rebooting that whole universe, he's starting from scratch and starting younger and fresher and I think you need to do that."

At the time, the 54-year-old seemed to put the whole thing to rest by stating, "I don't think at this point in my career that I can bring justice to Bane anymore." But based on his recent comments, Angel Manuel Soto seems fairly set on having Bautista play the role should he ever get the chance to direct, so there's still a small chance we'll see it happen. In the meantime it seems the director infused "Blue Beetle" with much of what he'd planned for a Bane solo movie, telling The Playlist how he'd taken "what [he] loved about Bane, about the backstory that [he] wanted to explore," and gave it to that movie's villain, Carapax.

The likelihood of him overseeing a Bane solo movie will at least be partly determined by how "Blue Beetle" performs when it releases in theaters on August 18. Originally planned as a direct-to-MAX release, the film was upgraded to a theatrical release by Warner Discovery CEO David Zalsav, who'll be hoping this movie can turn DC's on-screen fortunes around after a dismal run of films that did nothing but prove it is long-past-time to retire the former DCEU/Snyderverse.