Key Takeaways
Xolo Maridueña will reprise Jaime Reyes / Blue Beetle in James Gunn’s Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow, marking the character’s first appearance in the rebooted DC Universe. The film is in production and is due in cinemas on 9 July 2027.
- Maridueña first played Blue Beetle in the 2023 solo film, the first Latino superhero to lead a standalone DC picture.
- David Corenswet returns as Superman, with Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor and Lars Eidinger as the villain Brainiac.
- James Gunn writes and directs; he had previously called Blue Beetle “the first DCU character”.
Is Xolo Maridueña in ‘Man of Tomorrow’?
Yes. Xolo Maridueña is confirmed to reprise his Blue Beetle role in Man of Tomorrow, as first reported by Variety’s Jazz Tangcay and echoed by Deadline. He originally played Jaime Reyes, a recent college graduate who inherits superpowers when an alien scarab latches onto him, in 2023’s Blue Beetle, directed by Ángel Manuel Soto.
The significance is that Blue Beetle now makes the jump into the rebooted DC Universe intact. When James Gunn overhauled DC’s film slate, the fate of legacy DCEU characters was an open question. Gunn had already flagged where Jaime sat in the new continuity, telling Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast: “The first DCU character, for sure, Blue Beetle, and the first full DCU movie is ‘Superman.’” This casting delivers on that, putting Maridueña’s hero on screen alongside the new Superman for the first time.
It also honours a commitment DC Studios made early. Back in 2023, Gunn and co-chief Peter Safran signalled they intended to keep Maridueña in the role for the foreseeable future. Safran told Variety at the time that he was most impressed by the actor’s range across “both the comedic and the emotional material”, calling Blue Beetle a “star-making performance”.
What is ‘Man of Tomorrow’ about?
Man of Tomorrow is a sequel to 2025’s Superman, written and directed by James Gunn and currently in production. David Corenswet returns as Superman, with the story forcing him to team up with his adversary Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) to face a larger threat: the super-intelligent antagonist Brainiac, played by Lars Eidinger.
Blue Beetle joins a crowded ensemble for the new DC Universe’s expanding roster. For anyone who caught Maridueña’s solo outing, this is confirmation that Jaime survives the shift from the old continuity into Gunn’s rebuilt one — no small thing given how many DCEU faces did not make the crossing. Gunn’s broader reboot has had a bumpier stretch elsewhere; the studio has been weighing what its early results mean for the wider slate, a debate we covered around Supergirl’s box office and what it signals for the DCU.
When does ‘Man of Tomorrow’ release?
Man of Tomorrow is due in cinemas on 9 July 2027, the date confirmed by Variety and carried across trade and entertainment coverage. That is the global theatrical date; no UAE-specific listing has been announced beyond that window.
For a franchise film of this scale, the interest is in the crossover itself. This is the first time Maridueña’s Blue Beetle shares the screen with the new Superman, and it firmly establishes that Gunn’s DCU is building continuity rather than starting entirely from scratch. Maridueña, for his part, sounded ready in 2023: “If we get to do another one, I’m so ready — and shit, I’ll put on another 20 pounds and get even bigger.” He is getting that chance.
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