‘Blue Beetle’ brings a historic superhero to a more diverse DC Universe

“Blue Beetle,” the first live-action superhero film with a Latino lead starring Xolo Maridueña, hits theaters nationwide Friday.

“Blue Beetle,” the first live-action superhero film with a Latino lead, hits theaters nationwide Friday. It will be an opportunity for superhero and comic book fans to see Palmera City, the new fictional home for the character, come to life. 

The live-action adaptation of the DC Comics character comes as writer and actor strikes are roiling Hollywood, and blockbuster films such as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” are making hundreds of millions at the box office. “Blue Beetle” arguably has something those movies don’t, however: Puerto Rican director Ángel Manuel Soto hopes to bank on core DC fans as well as the Latino community, which experts say he needs to win at the box office.

“Even within a country, there are different communities,” he told NBC News. “And I think that’s the beauty of it in a sense when those specificities draw questions and open conversations that enrich our lives.”

"Blue Beetle."Courtesy of Warner Bros. PicturesWhen Soto signed on to direct “Blue Beetle,” DC Comics had moved the superhero’s hometown from El Paso, Texas, to the fictional Palmera City.

Hometowns are important in telling the origin story of a superhero. Superman has Metropolis and Batman has Gotham, both New York City look-alikes. The Flash has Central City, a Midwestern hub. And even though Blue Beetle, known by day as Jaime Reyes and played by Xolo Maridueña, now hails from a town that resembles Miami, Soto said he still wanted to preserve the values that he found in El Paso.