ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - BLUE BEETLE Review - The NEW Iron Man Launches a Cinematic Universe

Episode Date: August 21, 2023

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Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. My family, that's what makes me strong. Hey, welcome back to Screen Crush. I'm Ryan Erie, and I want to talk to you about the new Iron Man, the Blue Beetle. Now, whether or not you have seen this movie, and judging by the box office, a lot of you have not seen it, James Gunn has hinted that Blue Beetle will be the first movie of his new, soft reboot of the DC Universe of Films.

A fantastic film about a kid who's a kid who's a... marvelous part of the DCU. So I'm going to give you my spoiler-free thoughts on the movie and the state of the DCU. Now, a little bit later, I'm going to be joined by Screencrush's own Colton Ogburn and Brianna McClarty to get their opinions. But first, before we get rolling here, I want to let you know that we have relaunched our merch store with these super cool Doug, Super Soldier T-shirts and mugs, and we are so excited to bring you awesome stuff every week. Check it out, link below. So first, here's my take on the Blue Beetle. This is one of the best superhero movies of 2023. I would put it just behind Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Like, I can see why

James Gunn saw this movie and said yes, this is a film that I can build a cinematic universe around. Like on a technical level, the visual effects are sharp, they're clear, and they're kept to a minimum. After recent VFX shit shows like The Flash and Quantummania, a superhero film that saves the VFX for important moments is a breadth of fresh air. I also love the synthesizer heavy score composed by the hacks and cloak. Also, the movie gets brilliant performances from its entire cast, it's funny, Susan Sarandon chews up scenery really well, but mostly I love that this movie is giving us a kind of superhero movie we have not seen before. See, this is where I think the trailers in the marketing really failed this film. They made it seem like a pretty

typical superhero film with an origin story. It's called the Scareb. And like a looming threat. We are going to change the world with the power of the Scaram. Blah, blah, blah. Nothing wrong with all those tropes, but you know, we've seen them before. But where the movie really excels is that it subverts a lot of those same tropes by putting Jaime's family in the foreground. Usually, superheroes don't have families, or if they do, they're just like one or two people, or they're orphans, or they have an evil uncle or something like that. But this film is steeped in Mexican-American culture, with tight bonds and large families being a mainstay of that same culture. So early in the movie, the villain tells Jaime that his family is his weakness, and then the

movie proves that they're his strength. So I'll compare this movie to say Spider-Man because the heroes are similar. Like Jaime, Peter Parker is in school. He's also awkward, but he keeps his powers a secret. This is because Peter's powers are a metaphor for puberty. I mean, he learns to explore his new powers alone in his room. Yeah, big change. Whereas, Jaime's origin happens in full view of his entire family. His family are his partners in this movie. Everything he does in the movie is for them and for his community.

We've just never seen a superhero movie that puts family first, and it was really fun and exhilarating, especially all the stuff with Nana. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. It's amazing. See, most superhero movies cut out the family because they could potentially, like, weigh down the narrative with too many characters. But in this movie, family becomes its strength, just like it does for Jaime. There is an incredibly touching moment in this film, after Jaime gets his powers when George Lopez's character, Uncle Rudy, says not to call the cops because they would ask

for documents of the family. Like, it's a tiny moment that actually hits very close to home for thousands of people, with so many families every day facing the threat of being split apart by men with guns. There's also a sequence in this movie that is brutal and hits that particular nerve so well. I saw the first showing of the movie with a large crowd of Hispanic Americans, which was awesome. The crowd laughed at jokes that I did not get and had to look up later, and during that one particular scene I just talked about like they were dead quiet. It's a very emotional scene. This movie's not only funny, but it really gets you in the heart. This is also the first superhero film headlined by a Latino hero, played by Cobra Kai Sholo Meraduena.

You know, this guy. It's not lame-ass karate. It's cobra Kai. So the character's Mexican-American heritage is also an important part of the film. Just like the history of Black Americans was key to Black Panthers. although the racial subtext is a lot more subtle in Blue Beetle. The villain, Victoria Cord, is trying to steal the powers of the alien Scarab Beetle, while she's also using the alien immigrants around her.

All of the Hispanic people in her life are servants, henchmen, employees. So the Scarab chooses to bomb with Jaime because they're both types of aliens who are threatened in a scary new world. Now, this movie's probably going to bomb, despite being very, very good. It is projected to have a $30 million opening weekend against a $120 million budget. Now, I think that eventually people will come around to it, it's going to do well in streaming, the movie will make its money back.

And if Blue Beetle appears in the movie's Superman Legacy, then his next movie is going to be a massive hit. Wait, what do you mean? What's Superman Legacy? Okay, good question. So, just to get some of you up to speed, D.C. has been trying to form their own answer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for years. It got off to a pretty strong start with the Zack Snyder films and Wonder Woman, but then Warner Brothers re-edited the Justice League to make it into a lighthearted flop. And ever since then, every DC movie has been at war with other DC movies. The franchise is tonally inconsistent, with warlords like the Rock. vying for control of the franchise. But then James Gunn was hired to become the new Kevin Feigey for the

studio, relaunching the franchise with a Superman revival called Superman Legacy. As they're preparing to make that film, he has been left with a variety of finished DC films to release, most of which have bombed. Now, these movies have flopped for a variety of reasons. Some of them were bad. Some of them starred extremely problematic people as their leads. But I think mostly the movies bombed because people felt like they didn't matter. Like, unfortunately, when it comes to comic book movies now, it's not enough to make a good movie. You have to also make the movie feel like it's a must-see event. Like if you don't see Blue Beetle, you won't understand the next Batman movie. And that's one thought that I had. If they could have just squeezed in a DC cameo to get some buzz around this, I think the movie could have really taken off. Now there is a mid-credit scene, which like if you know comics, you know, sets up like a lot of exciting stories. But if, say, the new Superman, David Cornenswet would have shown up. Then people would have gone to see their first look at the new Superman. Like I was very surprised Peacemaker didn't show up for a cameo. He is part of Jaime's origin of the comics. and the Peacemaker TV show is one of James Gunn's best Warner Brothers creations. I mean, given all that, I guess they could have just kept Henry Cavill in the Superman role

and then used him for all these post-credit scenes, but, you know, we can't really judge the recasting until we see the younger Superman story that James Gunn is telling with his movie. Now, when James Gunn announced the first projects for the DCU, he said that they wanted to use the big legacy character, Superman Batman Wonder Woman, to prop up the lesser-known heroes. And this is what Marvel Studios has done. They made Captain America into a household name,

so Falcon and the Winter Soldier could get spinoffs. Gunn has also announced a booster gold TV show, and that character in the second Blue Beetle worry team in the comics. So maybe he's also thinking that there's team-up potential for them in this new universe. But I do think that with a movie this good, DC should have waited just a few months to release it. Like, wait until the strikes are resolved. By the way, pay your writers and actors a fair wage.

Wait until the strikes are resolved. Then have one of your new stars film a cameo for the movie instead of like dumping this wonderful film into the August black hole. But James Gunn did imply that Blue Beal, was the start of his new DCU. So now the question is, is this movie a worthy start to a new cinematic universe? Is this movie a good Iron Man for the DCU?

Wait, are you saying this movie is as good as Iron Man? No, it's not better than Iron Man, but Iron Man also reinvented the genre. It gave us a hero who was really an anti-hero, a drunk playboy who had to learn how to be a hero, a guy who was too vain to even keep his identity a secret. I am Iron Man. In the same way, Blue Beetle reinvents tropes of the superhero genre

and makes me excited for what's next in this series. series. But it also does a great job of establishing that there are already heroes in this universe. For one thing, there are DC Easter eggs like a Lex Corps tower, and Jaime is also the third blue beetle after Dan Garrett and Ted Cored, just like in the comics. And heroes like Superman Flash and Batman get name dropped. Uncle Rudy even calls Batman a fascist. It's great fun. He's not wrong. He turned Gotham into a police state. Well, you know, you're not wrong, although I do have a t-shirt of you that proves that you like to dress up as that particular fascist and it's for sell on our merch store. You promise not to reveal that information? But in addition to those

name drops in this movie, the film also establishes a universe where there have been superheroes around for decades, where there is like vaguely futuristic hologram technology. It's a universe that feels super, it feels lived in, where we don't need to see like every superhero's origin story all over again. It's a small film. It's a slow start into this new universe, but it introduces so many different threads and aspects that can be revisited later on. Just like Iron Man, this tells a small story about like one character and the people around him, but it has the potential to grow and grow, to involve people from space, other aliens like The Reach, the Thanagarian's, the Green Lanterns. I love that this movie is filled with so much potential and I really hope it doesn't get like consigned to the dustbin of superhero movies.

James Gunn, if you're watching, please keep this movie of the DCU. But that's just my thoughts. I am thrilled to be joined here with two of my favorite people in the world. We have Screencrush's own Colton Ogburn and Brianna McClarty. So guys, you heard my thoughts on the movie and the state of the DCU and whether or not this film could become like a new Iron Man for this new universe. but I want to talk about like the movie first and if it was an actual good movie because everything starts with that.

Colton, what did you think? You've gone on the record several times as saying, just make good movies and it's that simple. Did Blue Beetle do it for you? Do we got a good movie on our hands? Yeah, I had a lot of fun with it. My expectations were low,

so that may have had something to do with it. But I thought it was a lot of fun. I loved the culture that we got to see in the movie that I'm sure we'll talk about. I loved just this fresh, new, that it had. It didn't feel like bogged down with like the toxicity of the DCEU or anything like that. It just felt fresh. I loved the ensemble cast. You know, the movie's called Blue Beetle, but, and this isn't a criticism, Blue Beetle didn't really feel like the main character.

The main character really felt like this ensemble cast to me. But yeah, I overall enjoyed it. You know, apart from The Flash, I'm usually kind of critical of DC films. for the most part, but Blue Beetle was surprisingly good. Brianna, how about you? What are your thoughts? I actually really, really liked it. And I was nervous because I haven't been a huge fan of most of the DC-EU, but especially the last two projects were not my favorite. So I was super nervous going in, but I really enjoyed it. It was just a very solid superhero movie. It allowed itself to be fun. It allowed itself to be very funny, and you could tell that everyone who was working on it was really

enjoying it. And that really elevated it for me, even though I didn't think it necessarily did anything super inventive. And also, obviously, the culture, I'm Latino American. So, like, I wanted to ask you because I mentioned earlier, when I was in the theater, I saw it with a lot of Hispanic people who were laughing at things I didn't get. So, like, what, what, what, specifically about the culture, like, appealed to you in this movie? Well, I think, like, the overall theme of family, like when family is so important to Latino culture and especially like with the multi-generational household which I loved with the grandmother. The grandmother might have been my favorite character especially towards the end. You could definitely see

her when she takes her braids down you could picture her in the 1950s you know yeah taking down some regime some colonial regime in her youth you know exactly and like that entire turn and I thought that was a really cool way to sort of weave in history with the movie without it having this it wasn't necessarily the like main point of the movie but having that little thing was so much fun um i honestly thought also like this was a heavier part of the movie but with the school of the americas and also the documentation issues i thought that was like they were smaller parts of the movie but just made the movie feel so much more grounded so i wrote down a few things that i have questions about

why did nana pull a lemon out of her back okay so lemons are kind of like a cure-all for any nausea or like any nausea or sort of nausea-related issue. So if you say you're nauseous about anything, you're getting a lemon. Like my mom's first thing, like, if I feel bad, she's like, have a lemon. If I'm like, I can't get rid of this headache, she's like, go smell a lemon. It'll, like, cure everything. Literally to smell it. And also my mom salts them.

So that was sort of like growing up anytime I felt sick, anytime I just didn't feel right, she'd like have a lemon. And she carries lemon lime salt, like with her own flights and stuff. This vapor rub also got a huge laugh in the theater. Yeah, it's another girl. If you don't feel good, especially if you pass out or you just feel lightheaded, fix vapor rub, it's coming out. It's like, you will smell it.

It took me right back to my childhood. I saw someone who wasn't Latina, and she was, like, so confused, and I was, like, dying, laughing. I, like, called my mom afterwards, and I was like, they really, they kind of read us. I'm not going to lie. So what is it about this movie do you think differentiates itself from what we've seen before.

For me, I think it was the fact that, well, Shazam was sort of a different movie because it does feel tonally pretty different from The Flash in Black Adam. Shazam, I honestly just thought, didn't have great writing. Like, from just like a very basic script point, it just, the writing felt almost like AI written in a lot of ways.

It didn't really have anything that felt very genuine. Black Adam in the Flash for me felt, unnecessarily serious at points and dark at points in a way that for me didn't really land, especially because I just think I wasn't super invested in a lot of the characters anyway. So to sort of like start with characters I wasn't super invested in and then immediately sort of like heavier, it didn't really work for me. That's always kind of been my problem with the DCU in a lot of ways. This movie, I think like one of the funniest scenes in this movie and I think one of the reasons

this maybe really worked for me is when he's first turning into. to Blue Beetle and everyone is freaking out and they have it from like that first person perspective and he's watching all of his family scream. And that's a very real reaction. Like if I saw that, I would also start screaming. But it's also really funny from like if you're watching it, it's hilarious. And just allowing itself to be sort of like take itself less seriously and be funny and just have a good time with it, letting him be like a 22 year old who's going to say stupid stuff or can't make a move with the girl or gets like even sort of like doesn't really know what's going on with the family and has just been kind of doing his own thing. I just think

all of those things for me, you could just tell that it came from a more genuine place to me. Yeah, and I feel like a lot of movies in cinematic universes, right? Like the first few DCEU films had a tone that was dictated by the Man of Steel, by Zach Snyder's overall tone. And the same thing with Marvel films. You know, like once they realized Iron Man was a bigger hit than the Incredible Hulk, all the movies that followed the template of Iron Man. Whereas this movie seemed very unburdened by that, maybe because the studio didn't feel the need to get involved because it was originally going to be put on streaming. I don't know why or when in the process they made that change. But basically, when you're putting out a Blue Beetle movie and your budget's

only $100 million, I think you get less interference and it lets people have a more creative voice. Colton, did you see a lot of aspects of that in this movie where it felt like unburdened by world building? Yeah, it definitely felt unburdened by, like you said, studio interference probably. And studio interference is a good thing sometimes, like when you're building a cinematic universe, it's necessary. But when you have a cinematic universe, you also risk studio interference to the degree that you have too many cooks in the kitchen, I guess.

And that's definitely been a problem that D.C. has had. Another burden that this movie didn't seem to have that other D.C. films do is a lot of D.C. characters are godlike. That's kind of the difference between D.C. and Marvel. A lot of our D.C. heroes are godlike. Blue Beetle, like Spider-Man, really, was a very human story. I mean, yeah, he has superpowers. But there were stakes. There was heart. There was loss. Like, with his f***. They didn't have a good financial situation. You could feel the human stakes and you're able to relate to his character, whereas sometimes it can be harder to relate to a guy that can run at the speed of light or Superman can lift buildings. Blue Beetle, despite having this new suit and new powers, you're able to relate to him, especially because it's an origin story. And with origin stories, it's typically easier for you to relate with the character because you, along with the main character, are learning about this new world. But yeah, I think that it definitely benefited from not having too much involvement from all of these outside hands, but also not the burden of having to connect with like this big overall story, an overall story that was failing at the time. Because while this film will go into the DCU, it was made as a DCEU film. So I think it's definitely going to benefit from not having too many ties to the overall story because now if it's successful,

or is received well, it can naturally migrate into this new universe without having like any contradictions or anything like that. I think that even if this movie doesn't like do well financially, even if it breaks even, James Gunn will bring it into his new DCU. Because one, it basically could have been a James Gun movie. I mean, there's an afterlife scene, you know, like Rocket and Lila and Guardians 3. It had a lot of heart, had a lot of humor. There was the scene where he starts to make out with the girl, he gets interrupted, he has to cover up his crotch when he gets up. We know James Gunn lives that kind of humor. But just in the whole, I think exactly what you said. Like it, it name-checked a few superheroes, but it left it wide open. We all like the movie, right?

So I'm sure we all want to see sequels and see the same creative team come intact. But Brianna, as far as like world building of a new universe, right, what we're starting with here, with James Gunn's DCU is a world where superheroes have existed for a while. There's an older Batman, whose son becomes Robin. And then we're introducing this movie, which is telling us that Ted Cord was the original Blue Beetle. I'm going to guess by his fashion choices in the 90s. There's a lot of like track suits that seem very 90s to me. Do you think, Brianna, that we're better off with this universe that's lived in? Or would you rather see Blue Beetle be the first film of like a brand new universe where like characters, the big three are in their like 20s

and learning how to get by? I actually really like the lived in universe in a weird way because we've had like almost a decade of superhero movies at this point. It sort of feels like we live in a universe where like superheroes exist. So I think it's more fun to sort of go into a universe that already kind of has its rules laid out and you can, you pick it up as you're watching instead of just starting completely from scratch. Also because we are so far along in the MCU and that's not. being completely restarted anytime soon. Doing the ground work, like, is a, it takes a lot. And even from a viewer to sort of, when you go in really at the ground level,

when superheroes are just starting, it's just so much work to get all of the rules established and who's there versus if we just kind of accept that, like, oh, there's been superheroes, we're good with that, we're moving with that. I think it's just easier and I think it's more fun. Colton, how about you? Would you rather seen a hard reboot with, like, the Batman? or something being the first film or are you comfortable with like

because another weird thing is like peacemaker is going to be in this universe which opens up all these weird questions about okay well was the suicide squad totally in this universe like is that technically the first DCU film if you're a continuity guy this can get confusing what are your thoughts on how well this will incorporate

well James Gunn has said that he had that interesting quote that said Blue Beetle is the first character of the DCU but that Superman legacy is the first movie of the DCU. And I think I know what he...

Slipier than a politician, that guy. It's like he talked about the flash like it was the first movie, but it's not. It just starts the... What is going on? I think I know what he means. Superman Legacy is the first movie that is being produced

as a DCU movie. He's actually involved with a production. Blue Beetle, if it sucked, if when he walks in to Warner Bros. or the DC studios or whatever, said, show me Blue Beetle, and it was just a dumpster fire, it would not be the first movie of the DCU.

This movie was made as a DC-EU movie, but he saw the movie, I'm assuming, and said, wow, this is great. I like this character. I like this actor. I want him in my universe. Maybe we can take this little part out or change this here,

and it'll work just fine. So I don't think the original intention was for it to be the first movie of the DCU. it just kind of worked out that way and to your point about the Flash I think it was great but others didn't and it performed horribly It's fine, it's okay, yeah

I mean, it'll make its money back eventually Yeah, and of course there's the Ezra drama and all of that I think had this situation been different for the Flash, the Flash could have had the opportunity to be a part of the DCU We could have seen the Flash reboot his universe and it be the DCU universe

but James Gunn and all his wisdom decided against that. It was probably a good decision. Blue Beetle, on the other hand, it's able to do that and work. You know, one thing that's really a shame, and I mentioned this earlier, I just want to circle back at your thoughts on it, is, you know, ever since, I want to say ever since Thor's Hammer popped up at the end of Iron Man, too, right? Even more so than the Nick Fury cameo or the Robert Down Jr. cameo on Incredible Hawk. But that Thor Hammer really told us, okay, well, here's the next thing coming. You know what I mean? Um, specifically. It It wasn't something ambiguous like Nick Fury talking about the Avengers.

And now, you know, we all hang out through the post credits to see what the setup is. And this movie gave a great setup for another Blue Beetle movie, right? Ted Cord, spoiler alert, Ted Cord's alive. Ted Cord's probably in space. The creator of the suit in the comics is this alien race called The Reach. And they're like, they were at war with the Guardians, the Green Lanterns, for so long that basically the two sides had to divvy up the universe into halves, you know. So he could be on Oa, which is the planet of the Guardians of the universe who controlled the green lanterns, or he could be on Thanagascar and setting up a Hawkman, Thanagarian Civil War, or Mars, with John and Johns.

There's like a hundred things if you're a DC fan, that post-credit scene could set up, but it's not going to do anything to get, you know, people butts in the seats for the next movie or see this. Like, whereas had Batman shown up, had one of the big three shown up, it would have been so invigorating, you know? I kind of, I said earlier, I think they should have sat on this movie for a little bit. Like, what's the Russian releasing it? What do you think, Brianna? I mean, would you have rather... Do you think that the movie needed that little extra spice,

or is it good as is? I think the movie is good as is. I'm glad they didn't bring anyone else into it because I think that... I do think... I think that's where people feel more kind of superhero fatigue, in my opinion, is sort of where there's just a lot of cameos dropped in

that aren't necessary. But I do agree with you that they should have sat on it for a while. And I think part of that for me is with the writer strike and the actor strike, it's just gonna be a long time before we see any more DCU content or a lot more DCU content. It's gonna be delayed. And I think this movie is a good movie,

and I think it's, you know, it's a small, a small solid place to start, but when it's not gonna be followed with things very quickly, I think it's, I think it really runs a risk of getting lost and people just kind of forgetting about it, even if it sort of ties in. And I think that's going to hurt the momentum of the kind of rebuted DCU.

Yeah, I agree. And also, I wonder if there's also just something refreshing about this, about not necessarily not setting up the next movie, but the MCU has gotten so, it was getting complicated before we introduced the multiverse. And, you know, Colton, you've been on multiple videos here with us talking about how people can't seem to get over the fact there's a giant statue sticking out of the,

ocean. There's just so many different plates been in there at the same time. It was kind of refreshing just to have this one story and this one guy. And Brianna, to your point, I love when you said that we've had superhero movies for so long, it feels like we just live in the same universe. So there's things like when George Lopez said, Batman's a fascist, which mirrors like all of the think pieces about the dark night that we put out in the years following that movie. So in that way, it's almost like we are living in the same universe. as these characters, and it's almost kind of nice to just go watch a movie, right?

Colton, what do you think about that? Are you looking forward to a DCU unfettered by larger story? Yeah, I think that this movie, it would have been a horrible mistake to put in a post-credit scene with, I think, Batman or Superman or definitely any old post-credit scene that tease some DC-EU continuation.

The DC universe has to regain the trust of the audience. We have seen post-credit scenes like with Henry Cavill and Black Adams, stuff like that. They're just so empty now. And the MCU is not doing a great job with post-credit scenes either. They're teasing stuff that no one cares about and then they don't even bother to follow up on it. So I think that the DC or James Gunn or whoever's call it was, I think it was a correct decision not to have anything other than perhaps a tease for a Blue Beetle sequel. Okay, last question for both of you first.

Brianna is this movie? it have the legs to be a new Iron Man? In terms of being a character like Iron Man, I would say no, because I think they're very different characters. I would say this is actually a lot more like a new Spider-Man instead of a new Iron Man. Because Iron Man, one of the reasons that I think he was like specifically a really good start to the universe is because he is so rich. And so that just like opens a ton of doors on what he can do. Like he's able to build an Avengers compound or an Avengers tower. This character is a lot smaller. He can't do all of those things, but he can be like

be like a very kind of like almost like a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man except to a friendly neighborhood Blue Beetle and he's just going to run around El Pamero and have fun and I think I really like that but I can't say he's like the new Iron Man it just feels too different for me. Is he a character then that you would be excited to see other DC characters cross over with that's part of the fun of Iron Man okay absolutely okay cold what about you do we have a new Iron Man on our hands I think the comparison of Iron Man in Blue Beetle is that that's a great parallel because really Iron Man before the MCU, I would argue he was what a B-list, C-list maybe type of hero.

If you read comics, you knew him. Or maybe if you watched the cartoons as a kid, you might know about Iron Man. But really, he was just a not well-known character. The same for Blue Beetle to probably an even larger extent. Nobody knows who Blue Beetle is. So if your question is, does he like Iron Man have the, potential to become a character that everyone knows Blue Beetle. I mean, we'll just have to see.

It depends on the success, really, of the DCU and the Blue Beetle franchise as a whole. But sure, I would say that he has the potential to do so, yeah. Okay. Well, guys, that's our thoughts. Colton, where can the people find you? You can find me, unfortunately, on Twitter at Colton Ogburn or X or whatever it's called, and you can find me here on Screen Crush. Brianna, where can the people find you?

You can find me on Instagram or TikTok at Brianna T. McClarty, and then I'm also here working behind the scenes, writing and editing. And it's a really big thrill to have both of you on because I'm the face of Screencrush, but there are so many people behind the scenes who make this work, and you two are two of the people who absolutely make that magic happen. And we want to hear from all of you. Let us know your thoughts on Blue Beetle down in the comments below, or you can add any of us on those various social media projects we have linked below.

And if it's your first time here, hey, welcome to the channel. Please subscribe, smash that bell for alerts. For Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Erie.