“I came in with that idea”: Blue Beetle Director Originally Wanted to Introduce Latino Batman Villain in Robert Pattinson’s Batverse That Was Turned Down by WB
DC’s Blue Beetle is the first of its kind. A Latino-led live-action film in the mainstream, it is an attempt to answer the growing call for diversity in the superhero genre. Director Angel Manuel Soto revealed in an interview that before getting offered to direct Blue Beetle, he had an idea to make a movie in Matt Reeves’ Batverse.
Soto had pitched the idea of making a movie on Bane. Bane is a Latino supervillain from the Batman comics. And Soto was very excited to develop a movie based on him. But, his idea was met with some resistance from Warner Brothers Studios.
Blue Beetle Director’s Failed Attempt at a Latino Supervillain Movie
In the ever-evaluating world of comic book adaptations, the need to bring new-old ideas is necessary. Blue Beetle director Angel Manuel Soto tried doing just that. When he was called in at Warner Bros. for a meeting, he pitched a film on Batman supervillain Bane.
Bane first appeared in the DC comics in 1993, he has both exceptional strength and intelligence. Bane is credited as being the only villain to have “broken the bat”, as he had defeated the caped crusader both physically and mentally. Bane’s origin story is extremely tragic, he had a white father and a Latin mother making him special from a diverse point of view.
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When it comes to live-acting the character, Bane has previously been played by Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight trilogy. Soto wanted to create a movie on Bane’s storyline in Matt Reeves‘s Batman universe. But his ideas didn’t come to fruition as Warner Bros. executive had other plans.
Soto talked about his vision to develop a film with Bane as the focal point in an interview:
“I got a call from Galen Vaisman, one of the executives at DC, and for a general meeting, you have to be prepared if they ask you what you want to do. And I’ve always wanted to explore the origin story of Bane. It’s super intriguing, especially where he comes from and the different topics that could be explored if we take into consideration that maybe he’s the hero of his own story. So it was very interesting to be able to talk about situations that have affected the Caribbean and Latin America for centuries through the character of Bane.”
The Blue Beetle director’s ideas were quickly shut down at WB because he was offered Blue Beetle right away.
“So I came in with that idea,” Soto continued. “But that was Matt Reeves’ universe with The Batman, and I don’t know what’s going to happen now with this new regime. But that was my main attempt, and Galen was like, ‘Okay, that’s a good idea, but we wanted to pitch you something.’ And that’s when he introduced the idea of Blue Beetle.”
This is how Angel Manuel Soto ended up directing Blue Beetle.
Angel Manuel Soto’s Apprehension for Blue Beetle
Soto shared that he had reservations for Blue Beetle. Being an all-Latin cast, there were big things at stake and he was unsure if he wanted to do that and that he could do justice to it. Hollywood does have a history of misrepresenting various ethnicities and social concepts for the sake of inclusivity.
Luckily, he was satisfied with the concept when he found out the scriptwriter for the film Gareth Dunnet-Alcoce, originates from Queretaro, Mexico. The Puerto Rican director said that he was impressed with the authenticity of the Latin culture the script portrayed. It was only after reading the script, Soto was confident in making Blue Beetle.
Blue Beetle releases on August 18, 2023, in theatres near and far.
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Source: The Hollywood Reporter
