Trauma fuels superheroes.
What would have become of Bruce Wayne if his parents weren’t violently murdered before his eyes as a child? Perhaps he would have been just another rich womanizer instead of being a rich womanizer slash vigilante for justice, Batmanning around Gotham.
Spider-Man, the Flash, Black Widow, Storm, Daredevil and countless others have their Big Tragedy that drives their thirst for justice, or in some cases, vengeance.
From “El Chapulín Colorado” to “Sabado Gigante,” here’s a short list of TV and movie references featured in “Blue Beetle.”
No hero becomes super because they accidentally bought a case of Diet Pepsi instead of Diet Coke (though that can feel like a small tragedy). It’s natural then to assume that “Blue Beetle,” the latest in a long string of superhero movies, would also provide a devastating backstory, not just because that’s standard, but because trauma is intrinsic to the Latino experience (according to 98% of movies and series that revolve around us).
Imagine my surprise when I didn’t find that to be the case.
Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, “Blue Beetle” stars Xolo Maridueña as Jaime Reyes, a floppy-haired (now requisite of all young heroes) recent grad who returns home to the fictional, Miami-esque Palmera City with a pre-law degree and aspirations to pull his family out of poverty.
Jaime meets the mega-rich beauty Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), an idealist billionaire who inherited a board seat at the evil Kord Industries from her late father. She is trying to stop her ruthless aunt, Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), from pillaging the global south’s natural resources in order to find a powerful scarab that will help her turn people into war machines.
In an unfortunate meeting that involves his sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo) pooping in Victoria’s bathroom, Jaime loses his service job. Feeling bad, Jenny offers him a position at Kord. Jaime immediately jumps at the chance to work at Palmera City’s No. 1 purveyor of community displacement, and heads into Kord headquarters for a meeting with Jenny, only to end up in possession of a stolen ancient alien scarab that fuses itself into his body and consciousness and imbues him with incredible, sentient strength.
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He becomes the Blue Beetle, and along with Jenny and his loving, boisterous family, Jaime fights to save himself from Victoria and her superhuman minion Carapax (Raoul Trujillo) who are hellbent on killing Jaime so as to steal the scarab off his literal back.
As you can imagine, a lot of things explode in the process.
“Blue Beetle” has no choice but to carry the larger weight of representation. It is, after all, the first live-action, Latino-led superhero movie. It’s a dangerous place to be; that added concern to represent an expansive culture fully can be a burden that negatively affects storytelling and turns Latinos into caricatures.
I walked into my AMC of choice a little worried, especially because the trauma inherent to all superheroes is also inherent to pretty much all Latinx films and series. We’re apparently a sad, tragic lot, and we are regularly reminded of it.
“Blue Beetle” could have easily been the type of trauma porn we’re usually served, but the movie never stewed in the circumstances of the Reyes family, even when they’re facing the loss of their home and family business, and, yes, (spoiler alert!) the heartbreaking death of one of their members. In fact, the family serves a larger purpose in the film, leaning on other cultural motifs: resilience and togetherness.
Being authentic and intentional was top of mind for Soto, and it showed.
At any point in which the Reyes family is faced with adversity (and there’s plenty of it), patriarch Alberto (Damián Alcázar) smiles and assures everyone everything is going to be alright. He is there as the guiding optimism that keeps Jaime and the rest of the family going and banding together against Kord’s assaults.
It is because of her son that Nana Reyes (Adriana Barraza) reveals her past as a revolucionaria, dropping her trenzas, brandishing a weapon with ease and screaming “abajo a los imperialistas!” while unloading clips on Kord soldiers. She deftly tells her family after a gut-wrenching death that crying must wait; first they have to save Jaime from Kord’s clutches.
Milagro and matriarch Rocio (Elpidia Carrillo) are also there, flying getaway aircraft and battling soldiers in combat. And you simply cannot overlook conspiracy theorist and janky tech master Rudy (George Lopez, who, full disclosure, employs me as a writer on “Lopez v. Lopez”), who storms in on a Toyota Tacoma emblazoned with a “Puro Sonora” decal and becomes the technical linchpin of the operation.
So often, the family of the hero is a side note — the catalyst for the character’s own journey, but never a fully realized part of it. When loved ones die, it can energize those they left behind to live with a greater, more meaningful purpose.
In “Blue Beetle,” both in life and death, Jaime’s family is a necessary, fully embedded part of his heroic journey, each with their own strengths and skill sets. Jaime could not have been successful without them and so they all, in a way, turned the singular Blue Beetle into a family enterprise.
Life gets hard, especially when you’re being hunted down by a malicious corporation. But as a unit, the Reyes family is unshakable and unstoppable.
While the many Latin American pop culture references peppered throughout the movie — from Rudy overriding Kord’s security with an episode of “El Chapulín Colorado” to the soundtrack that includes Soda Stereo, Chalino Sanchez and Luis Miguel — gave it the authenticity and familiarity audiences enjoy, it was the Reyes’ family dynamic that felt truest to me. Their constant clowning of Jaime as he morphs into Blue Beetle, and their relentless dedication to each other made me think of my own family, bringing me full laughs and multiple cries.
Even in the hardest of times, that’s who you rely on, and that, like Jaime, is what gives you power.
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