Warner Bros. and DC’s upcoming Blue Beetle film is set to release in theatres in the summer of 2023.
Earlier the superhero film was meant to release on streaming service HBO Max, but on Thursday, the filmmakers announced that it will get a theatrical release on 18 August 2023.
Blue Beetle is the first DC film to feature a Latino superhero. Directed by Angel Manuel Soto, Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer will pen the screenplay and Xolo Maridueña (Cobra Kai) will star as the titular hero Blue Beetle/Jaime Reyes.
Warner Bros. has also announced the release date for other films. The Last Train in New York is slated to release in theatres on 21 April 2023, followed by the animated Wizard of Oz spinoff film Toto on 2 February 2024. KIMI is set to premiere on HBO Max on 10 February 2022, followed by Moonshot on 24 March 2022.
Blue Beetle was earlier featured in live-action by Jaren Brandt Bartlett in the tenth and final season of Smallville. The superhero character has also appeared in animated series like Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Young Justice, as well as in some animated films like Justice League vs. Teen Titans and Teen Titans: The Judas Contract.
The original Blue Beetle was created by Fox Comics and later owned by Charlton Comics. The first Beetle was Dan Garret, who initially gained superpowers from a special vitamin, which was later changed to gaining powers from a sacred scarab. The second Blue Beetle, created by Charlton and later taken over by DC Comics, was the successor to Dan Garrett known as Ted Kord. Kord jumped to the DC Comics universe during the Crisis on Infinite Earths alongside a number of other Charlton Comics characters.
Blue Beetle is set to release in theaters on 18 August 2023.