Image courtesy of Ana Maria Santana

In the movie, Jaime Reyes is the third Blue Beetle.

Released in theaters on August 18th, Blue Beetle follows the DC comics of Jaime Reyes, a Mexican-American college graduate from Palmera City reuniting with his family. Upon his return, Jaime learns that his family is in debt to Kord Industries, a large multibillion-dollar corporation specializing in providing weaponry and technological defense for Palmera City. Jaime, desperate to help his family earn money, starts looking for a job and accepts an offer to work at Kord Industries. There, he encounters a biotechnological scarab by the name of Khaji-Da, and accidentally bonds with it.

To unbind himself from the scarab, he teams up with Jenny Kord and his uncle, Rudy Reyes. While dealing with the scarab, he has to fight Victoria Kord and Ignacio Carapax, who want the scarab’s technology for their own gain. After his father, Alberto Reyes’s death, and Victoria Kord’s attempt to get him killed for the scarab, he regains his trust and learns to accept Khaji-Da as part of him, allowing him to fight Kord Industries to save his family. Jaime Reyes is now the third Blue Beetle, following Ted Kord and Dan Garrett’s legacy.

Blue Beetle has been widely known and admired among DC fans for being the first superhero with a Latino/Hispanic background. There are many moments viewers of similar backgrounds relate to, especially when the Reyes family is united despite their struggles. In an interview, Savannah Gomez (12), was asked how she related to that representation.

 “The movie represented the value of how important family is in a Hispanic household, and it’s the same with my family. Like in the movie, my family is also really close… and [we help] each other a lot, even if fighting with each other is a struggle.”

Family, as shown through Blue Beetle, is anyone who can support you and stick with you throughout your happiness and struggles. In an interview, Mrs. Espinosa, a chemistry teacher, was asked how she felt the movie represented family.

“I think how they showed how tight the family was, how they were very close to each other, how they all had each other’s backs, how the grandmother still lived with the mom and dad, and everyone was still under one roof, including the uncle, that shows the importance of family.”  

This is shown as the Reyes family helps Jaime, encourages him to keep fighting, and sticks with him. They encouraged him to find new solutions and even went to save him when needed.