Blue Beetle reportedly returns: Xolo Maridueña lined up for Superman: Man of Tomorrow

Blue Beetle may be headed back to the big screen sooner than expected. Multiple reports say Xolo Maridueña is set to return as Jaime Reyes in the Superman follow-up, Man of Tomorrow, which is currently eyeing July 9, 2027. If that holds, it would finally make good on James Gunn’s 2023 promise that Blue Beetle would be the first DCU character.

If Maridueña does turn up, it’s one of the clearest signs so far that Gunn and Peter Safran are starting to link this new DCU across movies and animation. The strategy seems pretty plain: keep the 2023 Blue Beetle movie loosely connected to canon, hang on to Maridueña and the central idea, and leave the old DCEU baggage where it is. Early chatter also has Hawkgirl and Green Lantern characters showing up alongside David Corenswet’s Superman, so the real question is whether Blue Beetle, a lead people liked for his younger energy and Latino representation, gets to matter or just ends up as set dressing.

If you were hoping Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime Reyes would survive Blue Beetle’s $130.8 million worldwide box-office miss against a reported $100 million-plus budget, this is worth watching.

Man of Tomorrow is still said to be targeting July 9, 2027. Blue Beetle, meanwhile, seems to have found a stronger audience on streaming, landing as HBO Max’s most-watched film launch in the U.S. most-watched film launch in the U.S. Maridueña is also expected to voice Jaime Reyes in an animated DCU series.