Blue Beetle Reportedly Joining James Gunn's DCU

Earlier this year, James Gunn and Peter Safran unveiled their first plans for the DC Universe. In a January press conference, the new DC Studios bosses unveiled the first half of DCU Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters, confirming it'd with Creature Commandos and Superman: Legacy. Only now, it looks like the new cinematic world could be launching much quicker than expected.

With the release of the Blue Beetle trailer Monday, Deadline's Anthony D'Alessandro reported the "word is" that Xolo Marideuña's Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle will be one of the characters included in the new franchise.

Is Blue Beetle in the DC Universe?

During the aforementioned press conference, Gunn confirmed Blue Beetle was "totally disconnected" from any other DC-related property, suggesting it's possible the character would be involved in the franchise moving forward.

"I think that we've gotten lucky with the next four movies, frankly, because we have [Shazam! Fury of the Gods], which leads into Flash, which resets everything, which then goes into Blue Beetle, which is totally disconnected. He can totally be a part of the DCU, goes into [Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom], which leads into Superman, our first big project," Gunn said at the time. "But the one thing that we can promise is that everything from Superman forward, or from our first project forward, will be canon and will be connected. We're using some actors from the past. We're not using other actors from the past, but everything from that moment forward will be connected and consistent."

Blue Beetle is currently set to be released exclusively in theaters on August 18th. The DC Universe, on the other hand, officially kicks off with Creature Commandos, which has yet to set a release date, and Superman: Legacy, which enters theaters July 11, 2025.

What part of Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters excites you most? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter!