Blue Beetle Plot Summary
Featuring a predominantly Latino cast with Cobra Kai star Xolo Mariduena at the forefront, this is a brilliant superhero debut for the actor and the world the film creates.
Blue Beetle follows Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena), a law student who returns home to the house he grew up in to learn that his family is struggling. We follow him and his comedic sidekick sister, Milargo (Melissa Escobedo), as they work a housekeeping job for billionaire supervillain Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon).
He soon finds himself in possession of an ancient relic that is in the shape of a beetle. The beetle chooses him as his host and supplies him with a suit to fight crime and be the protector of his family.
What is the Scarab in Blue Beetle?
The plot point that turns its main protagonist, Jaime Reyes, into the Blue Beetle is an ancient scarab that latches onto a host of its choosing, thus giving that person a near-indestructible suit, incredible fighting skills, and the ability to create a weapon just by using their imagination. Blue Beetle does not really give us any details on its origins, so it potentially leaves more things open down the road.
The scarab falls into the hands of Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon). She’s the sister of the founder of Kord Industries, a billion-dollar company that specializes in making weapons. Her deceased brother, Ted, was very aware of scarab and made weapons that often mimicked what it could do to someone. She’s power-hungry and the film’s main villain.
How does Jaime become the Blue Beetle?
Jaime Reyes is down on his luck as a college graduate who returns home to learn his family is losing everything. He takes up a job as a house cleaner for Victoria Kord and is immediately fired on his first day due to eavesdropping. He overhears an argument between Victoria and her niece, Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine).
Jenny offers him a new job, but he must come by Korg Headquarters. It is there that Jenny ends up passing the scarab onto Jaime. He takes it home, unaware of its powers. The scarab fuses itself onto Jaime, thus making him the Blue Beetle.
This then makes Jaime, Jenny, and the rest of the Reyes family targets of Victoria’s wrath as she pursues them, trying to kidnap Jaime and defuse the scarab from him. In doing so though, this will kill Jaime. In the middle of this crossfire, Jaime’s father is killed by Kord Industries, thus sending Jaime on a path of vengeance.
Does Jaime get his revenge?
Jaime is kidnapped by Victoria and her main henchman, Conrad (Raoul Trujillo). She fails at defusing Jaime and the scarab, prompting Conrad and Blue Beetle to fight one another.
In a climactic moment of the fight, when the Beetle has his opponent down for the kill, he is told to stop by the voice of the suit he wears. He doesn’t kill anyone, which is what makes Jaime a hero. Jaime lets Conrad go because his suit scans the memories Conrad has, and he learns the pain and suffering he has gone through. It’s a bit of an unmotivated moment, but somewhat passable as well.
Conrad knows he’s defeated and decides to self-detonate in the suit and kill Victoria with him as he becomes self-aware of the evil she has committed against him.
How does Blue Beetle end?
The film wraps up after this battle, with Jenny taking over Kord Industries and dismantling the weapon production side of the company. She rebuilds the home of Jaime’s family that was destroyed in a gun fight, and her and Jaime share an intimate moment in the film’s final moments.
But in the Blue Beetle’s post-credit scene we are taken back to the secret Blue Beetle headquarters. This is a place discovered earlier in the film that shows us that there are others who have been chosen by the scarab. A computer turns on, and through a fuzzy screen, we hear a voice saying that Jenny’s father, who was once a Blue Beetle, is still alive.
If Blue Beetle gets a sequel, who knows what this means for Jaime?
Read More: Blue Beetle Movie Review