Warner Bros. Eyeing Development of Latino Super Hero Movie, ‘Blue Beetle’

Move over, Black Panther, because Latinos are about to get their own superhero movie with the announcement that Warner Bros. and DC Comics is developing a film for the Mexican-American character Blue Beetle.

Producers have tapped Scarface writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer to pen a script to bring Jaime Reyes, a.k.a. the Blue Beetle, to the silver screen, The Wrap reports.

The Blue Beetle was originally created in 1939 by Fox Comics which sold out to Charlton Comics in the 1950s. Charlton’s superhero characters were in turn purchased by DC Comics in 1983. Several white characters originally wore the Blue Beetle suit, but in 2006, DC introduced teenaged Mexican-American character Jaime Reyes, who remains the latest incarnation of Blue Beetle.

In the revamped storyline, Jaime Reyes discovered the powerful Blue Beetle Scarab half buried in the ground, and when he picked it up, the alien mechanism bonded with him. The scarab bestowed a powerful suit of alien armor onto the Mexican-American teen that allows him to call up weapons and shields and gives him super strength, speed, and other capabilities.

The character has been an occasional member of DC’s Teen Titans super team as well as the star of his own comic book series.

If the new film project comes to fruition, it will become DC’s first stand-alone film starring a Hispanic character.

The MPAA notes that Hispanics attend movies 4.5 times a year and buy 24 percent of the nation’s movie tickets.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.