Xolo Maridueña is coming back as Blue Beetle in James Gunn’s DCU, but exactly what that comeback looks like is hard to pin down.
The actor recently opened up about getting the call from James Gunn, confirming that Jaime Reyes has a future at DC Studios. But when the conversation turned specifically to wearing the Blue Beetle suit again in Man of Tomorrow, Maridueña suddenly got very careful with his words.
Maridueña had no idea Gunn was about to bring him back into the DC fold when the filmmaker contacted him while he was traveling in Japan.
“I was in Japan with my friends; nobody knew anything,” Maridueña told Variety. “And I just see, like the Bat-phone, my phone rings [and it’s] James Gunn.
“All my friends look at me, and I had to leave the room. I came back, and I was like, ‘Off the record, don’t tell anyone, but we’re coming back,’ and I’m so excited for people to see where Blue Beetle ends up.”
That certainly sounds like Jaime Reyes is sticking around. Things got more interesting, though, when Maridueña was asked what it felt like to put the Blue Beetle costume back on.
“I mean, I don’t even know. I haven’t yet. What do you mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m not too sure what you mean by that,” he said.
Maridueña could simply be dodging a question he isn’t allowed to answer. It’s also possible that Blue Beetle’s next DCU appearance won’t involve the superhero suit. For now, Maridueña isn’t giving fans a clear answer.
The actor also talked about the unpredictable nature of his career and how grateful he is that Gunn and DC Studios found a place for Blue Beetle moving forward.
“There’s never a guarantee with anything, bro,” he said. “I mean, you know this, stuff flips on a dime, and I know that it’s not always like a merit-based system. So there’s so much that’s out of my control, but I am just the most humbled of James and the greater DC team for folding us in, Indiana Jones style.”
Maridueña’s return is particularly interesting because Blue Beetle arrived before Gunn’s new DCU officially kicked off. While the movie itself came from the previous era of DC films, Gunn has kept Maridueña around as Jaime Reyes, giving the character another shot within the new continuity.
As for Man of Tomorrow, it recently wrapped shooting. David Corenswet returns as Superman alongside Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. The story will see Superman and Lex forced to team up against Brainiac, which should make for a fun and uncomfortable alliance.
Milly Alcock, Nathan Fillion, and Isabela Merced are also part of the film, bringing Supergirl, Guy Gardner, and Hawkgirl back into the mix.
Where Blue Beetle fits into all of this remains unclear. Maridueña knows Jaime Reyes is coming back, but his comments leave plenty of room for questions about when, where, and whether we’ll actually see him suit up in Man of Tomorrow.
