'Blue Beetle' Fight Scenes Pulled Directly From Beloved Video Game

The buzz for the upcoming Blue Beetle continues to grow as early positive critic reviews have tempered a “superhero fatigued” fanbase. Especially after the subpar DC character releases of Black Adam and Shazam: Fury of the Gods. The director, Ángel Manuel Soto, has been candid about his experience with the movie. He even admitted at one point that Blue Beetle was not even his first choice to direct. He has now divulged that a critically acclaimed video game inspired the movie’s epic fight sequences.

Blue Beetle has carried a lot of pressure as being one of the first introductions to the new DC Universe or DCU. Cobra Kai star, Xolo Maridueña, will play the hero Jaime Reyes, the Studio’s first Latino superhero lead. The story centers around a Mexican-American teenager who bonds with an ancient alien parasite called the Scarab. The fusion with this sentient artifact allows him to summon extraterrestrial armor that grants him super strength, durability, speed, flight, shape-shifting and launch energy blasts. A classic tale as old as time.

The lore of this character is so fantastical that Soto knew the action sequences needed to do the hero justice. Maybe more accurately, the director wanted to bring an “injustice” to his movie. Soto confessed that because this story is the ultimate wish-fulfillment of a young man, he envisioned it as a video game. He continued to elaborate that they used multiple fight combos and “super move” from the hit video game, Injustice 2.

The indie filmmaker stated that coincidentally, Blue Beetle was one of his favorite characters to fight as in the DC fighting game. Soto disclosed that his combos were “pretty F*****g awesome“. They were so cinematic that he had his production team pull moves from the game to use in the film.

Soto is a self-proclaimed gaming nerd that confessed that he was looking for an opportunity to recreate Mega Man‘s blaster and the buster sword from Final Fantasy in some form as well. This new detail will certainly galvanize the fanbase even more as many fans of DC have played the Injustice games. Hopefully, the inspiration from NetherRealm Studios’ 2017 game will lead to creative and captivating action, which is sorely needed after the lackluster results from its superhero predecessors.

Blue Beetle is set be released this Friday, August 18, 2023.