Highlights
- Warner Bros. decided to go with a Latino DC superhero movie (Blue Beetle) instead of a Latino supervillain origin film, indicating their aim to take DC in a lighter direction.
- The upcoming Blue Beetle film represents the remnants of the previous regime at WB before the Discovery merger, and it is predicted to be another financial failure for the company.
- Director Angel Manuel Soto originally pitched a Bane-origin movie, but WB recommended Blue Beetle instead, potentially due to the desire to move away from the Snyderverse. WB's reluctance to embrace darker and operatic elements in DC adaptations may have damaged the brand.
After the billion-dollar success of Joker, it is no wonder that Blue Beetle director Angel Manuel Soto originally wanted to direct a Latino DC supervillain origin movie for a classic Batman foe. However, Warner Bros. had plans of its own, which ultimately amounted to the first Latino DC superhero instead.
Similar to Shazam!: Fury of the Gods and The Flash, Blue Beetle represents what’s leftover of the prior regime at WB before the Discovery merger that pushed Walter Hamada out of the company in place of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. James Gunn announcing his DCU reboot might have contributed to the poor box office of these films, which continues with Blue Beetle tracking to be another financial failure for WBD. In the wake of this news, Soto thinks back on what could have been.
Blue Beetle might have come at the cost of a Bane origin movie, which Soto pitched after receiving a call from WB about directing a DC film when the studio was steering the DCEU away from the Snyderverse. Reported by Den of Geeks, WB countered Soto's pitch for Bane by recommending Blue Beetle, a Latino superhero that the studio had been “developing for a couple of years.” Similarly, director Todd Phillips expressed that Hamada “didn't get it,” in reference to Joker, but unlike Bane, by making the Joker budget only $60 million, the film was able to scrape by for development.
Hamada was also in charge when Blue Beetle was in development, so it is assumed that he was the one to decide that Soto should pivot from Bane to Blue Beetle. It is unknown what kind of Bane movie this could’ve been, but presumably one that would’ve been set in the DCEU, or even an Elseworlds DC movie like Joker with an R rating. Although Bane had previously been done twice before (Batman and Robin, The Dark Knight Rises), the character’s Latino origin was not present in either version, unlike the accurate portrayal of the character in the Batman: Arkham Origins video game.
Like what Bane is speculated to have been, the Snyderverse and Elseworld DC represent the operatic and bombastic side of DC, which some may describe as "dark." They were clearly defined with what they were, such as the Snyderverse (Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, Zack Snyder's Justice League) telling an overarching story with spinoffs, and the latter being self-contained stories (Joker, The Batman), as opposed to the soft reboot under Hamada that was without direction.
Some may argue that WB's reluctance to not embrace DC in these ways has damaged the brand, at least as far as the on-screen adaptations are concerned, others might say the damage was caused by not moving in a different direction sooner. Now, Gunn is rebooting again, but this time, WBD aims to bring his signature style that was successful with Marvel to DC, but hopefully not like the original controversial attempt with Joss Whedon and Justice League. Judging by what has been revealed of the DCU so far, there may not be room for a Bane origin film, either, but that doesn't mean the character can't still make an appearance.
Blue Beetle is set to premiere on August 18th, 2023.
Source: Den of Geeks