YMMV / Blue Beetle (2023)

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • It's generally assumed by everyone in-story that the reason Victoria Kord was passed over for inheritance of her father's company is because of sexism. However, the audience never directly sees the actual inheritance or ever gets to meet Kord Sr. in person and every piece of information about him comes from rather biased sources, making it possible that he may have given his company to Ted because Victoria was a complete psychopath.
  • What was Victoria's plan for mass production? She intend to sell the suits just to the American government so as to strengthen their resolve against foreign enemies—be it obvious or perceived—and receive healthy compensation for it or did she intend to sell it to every bidder in the world she could in order to financially benefit off of even higher sales and the demand that would come from even more advanced versions that would follow? Given the indication that she's likely not against warmongering through the destruction caused during Vietnam, it would indicate Victoria is very likely the latter as opposed to the former—and neither makes her sympathetic as her interest either way is the massive profit she makes from it all.
• Catharsis Factor: Carapax dragging Victoria away as his suit malfunctions and then explodes and destroys the whole lab, especially after she was so cruel to so many different people; viciously had Jaime tortured and indirectly caused Alberto's fatal heart attack too, is incredibly karmic and therapeutic.
• Cliché Storm: One of the more common criticisms of the film is that it follows the Superhero Origin story to a tee, which for some can feel very "been there, done that". The Latino representation is the one major difference that gives the film a unique flair, with the general consensus being that the film's best stuff is the scenes centered around the interactions of the Reyes family.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • The trailer seems to imply that the film takes a number of influences from Toku. This, combined with the reveal that the suit is a practical effect, has won over many fans of said Tokusatsu, especially since the trailer dropped on Kamen Rider's 52nd Anniversary. And then there's Kamen Rider Gotchard debuting two weeks after Blue Beetle, who is colored blue and has an insect-motif.
  • Fans of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse are equally excited over this movie as they both involve Latino bug-themed heroes^note Aside from the titular Blue Beetle and Miles Morales Spider-Man, Oscar Isaac is Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099 with movies dropping this year. Phil Lord even tweeted a fan art of Jaime and Miles giving each other a fist-bump. It also helps on a historical level that Jaime and Miles are Legacy Characters of Steve Ditko creations.
• Genius Bonus: Viewers familiar with the School of the Americas' infamous reputation will know just what kind of bad news Ignacio Carapax is based on the fact that he is stated to be a graduate from there.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • One video skit filmed by RDCworld1 makes fun of how badly Warner Bros. has been botching their superhero movies for the prior decade, yet takes a moment to surmise that DC hopes Blue Beetle will be their breakout star the way Spider-Man was for Marvel. At the time, Blue Beetle rivaling Spider-Man was treated as the idea of an out-of-touch studio executive. Then the first trailer for Blue Beetle was released to great acclaim. On top of that, both superheroes now have a Friendly Fandoms deal going on; plenty of Spider-Man fans would love to see Blue Beetle succeed at the box office.
  • There were many people who compared Blue Beetle to a Kamen Rider. Cut to Kamen Rider Gotchard, who is a blue-colored, bug-themed^note though a grasshopper instead of a beetle Kamen Rider debuting two weeks after Blue Beetle.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Fans are excited to see Jaime getting his theatrical debut, along with the Latino representation—as well as Xolo Maridueña himself in a major staring role as well.
  • Some fans became curious when it was revealed that George Lopez was part of the cast.
  • Bruna Marquezine's prominent participation was the subject of much excitement among Brazilian audiences, as it was the star's first role abroad in a mainstream film.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Batman is a fascist!" ^ExplanationIn the first trailer, Jaime compares his situation of being a hi-tech hero to Batman, prompting his uncle to yell out the line. It got to the point where the cast and crew joked in interviews about Batfans and other people taking the line too seriously instead of as joking Self-Deprecation from DC, plus in context Uncle Rudy is a bit of a kook and conspiracy-nut.
  • Blue Beetle Burger ^ExplanationA tweet would create a fake ad for a Blue Beetle Burger at Burger King similar to the actual promotional deal the fast food restaurant would have with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. This would quickly catch on with fans, to the point where some believed that it was actually real.
  • #BlueBeetleBattalion ^Explanation A Fan Community Nickname created to pretend that Warner Brothers-Discovery was hyping up Blue Beetle more than they actually were as a means to lambast the film's Invisible Advertising
  • "Blue Beetle, this August 18, Only in Theaters": ^ExplanationSpanish-speaking fans have taken to editing and posting memes where the punchline is replaced with the aforementioned phrase in Spanish (Blue Beetle, 18 de Agosto, Solo en Cines) in order to mock just how little Warner themselves seem to care and try to help advertise the movie with varying degrees of seriousness.
  • Martian Manhunter cameo ^ExplanationMany viewers noticed that there was an open pack of Oreos in Ted Kord's room shown in the film's mid-credits scene. Given that they're Martian Manhunter's Trademark Favorite Food, fans have jokingly claimed that they were there to indicate that he was secretly in the movie.
• Moral Event Horizon: Victoria Kord crosses the line from "villain" to "irredeemable" when she orders her minions to open fire on Jaime's innocent and defenseless family in order to provoke him into a fight and subsequently causes Alberto to die from cardiac arrest.
• Narm Charm: The Tokusatsu stylings has gotten some flack from detractors for looking similar to Power Rangers. This just led to overlapping Tokusatsu and superhero fans countering by asking what exactly the problem is, as some people feel that Blue Beetle being acknowledged as a Super Sentai or Kamen Rider style Henshin Hero is either long overdue or a stroke of tonal genius. Plus the pose with the BFS is pretty cool.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The moment where the Scarab first bonds to Jaime could easily be the top contender for the most traumatic moment in the DCEU. First it clamps onto his face Alien-style, then it gets under his clothes, changing shape and erupting out of his back as a set of human-sized insect limbs. Said limbs pin Jaime to the ceiling while he's slowly enveloped in black grime that burns his clothes off, all the while his family can only look on in horror. There's also how Uncle Rudy tries to get the scarab off and gets electrocuted before flinging to the other side of the kitchen.
  • When Carapax seemingly killed Uncle Rudy (he survives this) as Jaime watches in horror during the final battle, he becomes so furious to the point where Jaime uses all his power to gain the upper hand and defeat Carapax, fuelled by rage and grief after all the latter’s actions inflicted on his family and hellbent on revenge. Even when Jaime was about to kill Carapax out of extreme anger and fury is rather intense and perhaps terrifying, so much so that it terrifies Carapax.
• Older Than They Think: The "Batman is a fascist" line may remind some folks of a Batman parody on Saturday Night Live, where it was heavily implied that Batman had been targeting minorities. Frank Miller's take on Batman in The Dark Knight Returns was also accused of being a fascist by critics.
• Spiritual Successor: In many ways, the film could be viewed as this to Ant-Man:
  • Both focus on an insect-themed Legacy Hero.
  • The previous bearer of the superhero identity is given an Age Lift and said to have been active decades earlier (Hank Pym in the 1960's and Ted Kord in the 1990's).
  • The adult daughter of the previous insect-themed superhero is a major supporting character and love interest for the lead (Hope Van Dyne/Jenny Kord).
  • One of the previous legacy heroes has vanished mysteriously (Janet Van Dyne/Ted Kord).
  • The previous superhero's company has fallen under the control of a Corrupt Corporate Executive with personal ties to the family (Darren Cross/Victoria Kord), who has reverse-engineered the hero's technology in order to mass-produce battle suits for military use (Yellowjacket/OMAC).
  • And finally, both films have a Mexican comic relief character who drives a Cool Car with a "La Cucaracha" novelty horn (Luis/Uncle Rudy).
• Watched It for the Representation: The Latin American Spanish dub was made available in the USA for Latino-American audiences, obviously counting on this trope, in addition to much being said about the protagonist being a rare example of a Latino superhero protagonist in a big-budget film.

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