Warning: The following contains spoilers for Blue Beetle, now playing in theaters
Ángel Manuel Soto has plans in mind for a Jaime Reyes/Ted Kord mentorship, should Blue Beetle return to the DCU.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Soto teased the possibilities raised by Blue Beetle‘s mid-credits scene, which revealed that Jenny Kord’s presumed-dead father and former Blue Beetle is still alive. “We really wanted to find a way to bring Ted Kord back. It’d not only be a part of the family drama that we’ve explored in the movie, but canonically, it’s also something very special,” he said. Soto also expressed interest in paring Jaime up with DC superhero and longtime Blue Beetle ally Booster Gold down the line, pointing out, “when James Gunn and Peter Safran came into power, they already promised the whole idea of exploring Booster Gold, and it helped us to keep the idea that Ted Kord is still alive.”
Though frequently referenced by Blue Beetle characters like Jenny (Bruna Marquezine) and his embittered sister Victoria (Susan Sarandon), Ted Kord’s ultimate fate is never discovered by Jaime or his family. The mid-credits, however, saw Ted transmit a message through his secret laboratory computer in hopes of reaching Jenny, albeit without revealing his current whereabouts. The identity of this location, Soto remarked, depends on, “the success of the film. The movie has to perform in the eyes of the studio. So, in my mind, if the movie can perform, there’s more adventures to come for Jaime Reyes, and Ted Kord is a part of that setup.”
In terms of financial success, Blue Beetle‘s results have been mixed. Despite surpassing Barbie‘s domestic box office record, Blue Beetle only made $43 million across its opening weekend, less than half of its $104 million budget. Regardless, reviews have been positive, with critics giving the movie a 76% Rotten Tomatoes score at the time of this article’s release — plus a higher 92% audience score — and praising Xolo Maridueña’s lead performance as Jaime. Prior to Soto’s film, the character’s lone live-action appearance was in Smallville, along with regular supporting roles in cartoons like Young Justice and Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
Should Kord return, Soto has expressed interest in casting Ted Lasso‘s Jason Sudeikis as the elder Blue Beetle. In the meantime, the filmmaker will direct The Wrecking Crew, an upcoming “buddy action movie” co-starring Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista, who previously worked together on Apple TV+’s See and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune.
Blue Beetle is now in theaters.
Source: THR