The Blue Beetle is making a comeback in Man of Tomorrow, with Xolo Maridueña returning to reprise the character after his last appearance in the eponymous 2023 film.
Variety broke the news on July 14, confirming Maridueña’s return to the DC flick. Man of Tomorrow is currently in production, directed by James Gunn, with a scheduled release date of July 9, 2027.
While we’re still quite a ways out from seeing the Blue Beetle interact with Kal-El and crew, this news comes as a bit of a surprise, considering how badly the first Blue Beetle film tanked at the worldwide box office — not to mention, it released right in the middle of the shaky transition between Snyder’s and Gunn’s respective DCUs.
Blue Beetle brought in only $130.8 million against a $104 – $125 million budget and garnered mixed reviews on release. We scored the superhero flick 7/10, praising the film for setting itself apart from the already “bloated” genre and lauding Maridueña’s performance as Jaime Reyes, while admitting its third act and “genre cliches” prevented it from progressing from good to great.
Reyes isn’t the only character from the rebooted DC universe making a comeback in Man of Tomorrow: Milly Alcock’s Supergirl is also confirmed to play a “big role” in the movie, as told by James Gunn in June 2026.
“I’ve liked a lot of the iterations of Supergirl. Helen Slater was great, all of them really have been great versions. But I do think that this Supergirl is apart because she’s not so much like Superman,” Gunn explained, speaking about the 2026 Supergirl film.
“She’s very, very different from her cousin, which puts them at odds, which is a big part of this movie [Supergirl]. And then an even bigger part of Man of Tomorrow, which we’re filming now,” he added.
More news from DC is expected to be revealed at San Diego Comic-Con 2026.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.
