DC Comics has one of the best catalogs of villains in all of fictional history, only a fraction of which has ever made it to the screen. As superheroes enjoy their newfound stardom, their antagonists must join them and take to the big screen. Blue Beetle,specifically Jaime Reyes, is getting a full-fledged feature film. Recently moved from HBO Max to the big screen, the movie is set to be directed byCharm City Kingsdirector Angel Manuel Soto.Xolo Maridueña, best knownas Miguel Diaz inCobra Kai, is set to take on the role of the alien-enhanced superhero.
Blue Beetle has popped up on TV and in an animated movie or two, but this will be his first live-action film appearance. Many fans know him best as the Caped Crusader’s sidekick in the animated seriesBatman: The Brave and the Bold. He’s also known to featurealongside the Teen Titans, like inTeen Titans: The Judas Contract. Fans are thrilled to see Reyes finally warrant something more substantial, and he has faced off against plenty of interesting antagonists.
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La Dama
If Jaime Reyes has a single nemesis, Amparo Cardenas is probably the best possible candidate. Amparo is a complex figure, mainly because there are two primary versions with drastically different stories. BeforeFlashpoint, La Dama was an immensely powerful and well-connected drug lord in Texas. She is the aunt of Jaime’s friend Brenda, and through her, both hero and villain are well aware ofeach other’s secret identities.
As a gang leader, she’s the type of villain who isn’t much of a threat in person but can engineer tremendous danger across the city of El Paso. AfterFlashpoint, however, she became much more powerful. Also known as Lady Styx, La Dama appears to be a being older than time and capable of godlike feats of magic. She’s a tyrant capable of destroying or unmaking everything she encounters. Her primary goal isn’t to defeat Blue Beetle, but to recruit him, seemingly for her amusement. Either version of La Dama would be a thrilling enemy for Blue Beetle’s first solo outing.
Doctor Polaris
DC’s answer to Magneto doesn’t share the prestige, nor the narrative weight, but he is a common adversary of Blue Beetle. John Nichol, the second Doctor Polaris, is a grifter and illicit businessman who discovers the first man to wear the mantle’s teachings. Nichol develops control over magnetism, which he uses to murder his way to the top of the corporate ladder before becoming a costumed supervillain.
Doctor Polaris works with a handful of other villains, always towards his own financial gain. He sells dangerous technology to gangs, kills his own evil peers, and constantly betrays anyone who happens to be nearby.He’s likeMad Men’sPete Campbell granted power far beyond his station. Doctor Polaris is powerful and easily engenders hatred, he’d make a great slimy bad guy for Blue Beetle.
The Masked Marauder
Thoughlittle is known about theBlue Beetlefilm, it can be safely assumed that Jaime Reyes' predecessor Ted Kord, and his company Kord industries, will be important to the plot. With that in mind, a villain who holds a grudge against Kord, but later transfers it to Reyes, might be perfect for the film. Count von Steuben was defeated by the Blue Beetle sometime in the past and spent years of his life dedicated to rising to a high enough station to exact his revenge.
Unfortunately for him, Ted Kord was killed in the meantime, so Steuben decides to pass that vengeance on to Jaime Reyes. As The Masked Marauder, Steuben hires a small army of Kord’s obscure enemies to defeat Blue Beetle. James Gunn has gotten a ton of great contentout of minor DC characters, the idea of a militia of unknowns being Reyes' first opponent is very interesting.
Black Beetle
The comic book version of this character is a bit too complex for a single film, so he’ll need some major changes to land. TheDCEU is getting into time travel, so a villain whose entire plan rests on that concept might not be a terrible idea. Black Beetle was a villain in disguise who convinced the first and third Blue Beetle to go back in time and save Ted Kord.
It was later revealed that he was just an enemy of Jaime who wanted to prevent him from getting the Blue Beetle mantle. This plan is unsuccessful, but there’s no reason to adapt the full plot of the character. A version of Jaime with the same powers and an ax to grind would be a simple and classic nemesis for a first film.
Brother Eye
Perhaps a bit too big for a first film, Brother Eye and the OMACs are among the most substantial threats Blue Beetle ever faced. Originally designed byBatman to spy onhis fellow superheroes, this monument to paranoia went wrong. The surveillance satellite released beings called OMACs, which held the goal of eliminating everyone with superpowers on Earth.
Blue Beetle is crucial to Batman’s efforts to destroy what he created. Though this might be more of a team-up villain, starting this new hero’s film off with a bang could cement him in the franchise.
