Blue Beetle Trailer Teases a New Kind of Origin Story and Lots of DC Easter Eggs

In the trailer, Jaime is fresh out of college and dropped off by his family to ostensibly start a new job through a friend named Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine) at the high-tech Kord Industries. But instead, Jenny gives Jaime a box and begs him to keep it safe – but no matter what, not to open it.

Of course, once he and the family get home, he does open it – and takes out a glowing blue scarab that seems both mechanical and organic. It activates itself and fastens itself to Jaime, sheathing him in an impossible armored suit of some kind, which gives him abilities like flying, creating different high-powered armaments, and producing energy discharges.

The trailer is very clearly in the origin story mold we’ve seen before, but with a sharp color palette and a distinct flavor and point of view that’s filtered through the Reyes family. There’s even an eyebrow-raising moment at the end when, as Jaime compares the Blue Beetle tech to some of Batman’s gear, his uncle Rudy proclaims, “Batman is a fascist.”

In addition to Maridueña and Marquezine, the largely Mexican or Mexican-American cast includes iconic comedian George Lopez as Rudy and legendary actress Adriana Barraza as Nana, along with Elpidia Carrillo, Damián Alcázar, Bellisa Escobedo, and Harvey Guillén.

“One of the things that we really wanted to do with the cast was to be able to be as authentic as we can,” says director Angel Manuel Soto during a Q&A with him and Maridueña after the trailer is shown on the Warner Bros. studio lot.

“We were able to tap into almost three generations,” Soto continues. “Xolo, who was born here, is Mexican-American, as Belissa is, who plays his sister Milagros. Then you have George Lopez, who’s been here for a minute, and Elpidia as well. Then I really wanted to tap into what I consider the best actors from Mexico City, which is Adriana Barraza and Damián Alcázar. So I really wanted to bring all the people I really respect from the movies that I saw growing up in Mexico, that really inspired me to become a filmmaker…They took the film, and they made it theirs.”