Blue Beetle Kicks Capitalist Ass

The anti-imperial, revolutionary superhero film nobody talks about.

Yeah, superhero films are a bit overblown. Sure, I like them as much as the next geek, but I think we can all agree that they’ve lost their luster. When Iron Man came out all those years ago, it really broke the idea of what was possible when it came to telling comic book tales on the big screen. Nothing had ever quite done what it did, and, honestly, not much has captured that raw sense of magic in the following years.

So I found myself considerably surprised when I watched Blue Beetle (2023) and found a diamond in the proverbial rough — a diamond that absolutely nobody I know has been talking about.

The story follows a young man from an immigrant family (played by Xolo Mariduena of Cobra Kai fame) trying to save that family’s home from the designs of a corporate buyout of his neighborhood. Through sheer happenstance, he finds himself wrapped up in a megacorporation scion’s dark machinations, and becomes the accidental caretaker of a powerful force for good.

The film is unabashedly straightforward — you can predict the plot outcome from a mile away. And yet, the plot of “young superhero metes out justice” is just one facet of this little gem. For the real tale told is one of perseverance in the face…