Blue Beetle movie length: How long is Blue Beetle?

The DC universe isn’t done giving us new superheroes to fawn over, even with the recent shakeups in creative direction and leadership. After the disappointing releases of Black Adam, Shazam 2, and The Flash, next up will be Blue Beetle, directed by Angel Manuel Soto and starring Xolo Mariduena as the titular Blue Beetle, Bruna Marquezine, George Lopez, and Susan Sarandon as the villain Victoria Kord. 

Although it was made before the relatively recent takeover of James Gunn as creative head for the DC film properties going forward, it is confirmed to be helping to set up the rest of the rebooted DC universe, where we’ll see our revamped Superman and the other DC superhero reboots we are patiently waiting for news on. So, in other words, it may not be part of the new NEW DC universe, but it will play a big part in getting it kicked off.

Incredibly, this will be the first mainstream superhero film to have primarily Latino actors in the lead roles – something the actors involved are very proud of in lieu of their limited ability to promote the film due to the ongoing actor’s strike. Also, the film was originally going to forego a theatrical release and be sent directly into people’s homes via HBO Max, but greater minds prevailed as the owners of DC decided to recommit to releasing theatrical features. Hopefully this film will be a turnaround for the studio, as the previously aforementioned Shazam 2 and The Flash didn’t bode well for the box office – word of mouth is Blue Beetle is superior in quality, though, and may just be the thing the DCEU needs to find its footing once again.

Blue Beetle is remarkably one of the DCEU’s shortest entrants into their film universe

Taking place in the fictional Palmera City, Blue Beetle tells the story of Jaime Reyes, who returns home after graduating college and finds himself directionless in life. He comes across an ancient alien relic called The Scarab, which grants him incredible powers and a souped up super-suit that can create any type of weapon Jaime can imagine. Soon, nefarious forces led by Sarandon’s Victoria Kord try to separate The Scarab from its new host, and Jaime has to do all he can to protect his newfound superpowers and, more importantly, the people that he loves.

Clocking in relatively long two hours and seven minutes, the film is remarkably one of the DCEU’s shortest entrants into their film universe. Beaten out by Batman V Superman, which clocked in at two hours and thirty two minutes, it’s shorter runtime (for the DCEU, at least) will hopefully foretell a more compact story that really packs in the punches without making you feel like you’re getting bored by the end of the film.

Blue Beetle should be a worthy film to usher in the new iteration of the DC Extended Universe – the buzz surrounding the film is edging towards the positive side, and with the diversity in the cast it hopefully will usher in an era of new faces leading the big screen’s superhero movies. Let’s also hope it gets James Gunn’s era as leader of the DCEU off on the right foot so that we can look forward to the films to come, even if they almost test our patience with their extended running times.

Blue Beetle flies into movie theaters Aug. 18.