Cobra Kai star in talks to lead DC movie Blue Beetle

Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña is reportedly set to lead the DC movie Blue Beetle, according to The Wrap.

Maridueña will play Jaime Reyes (AKA Blue Beetle), who first appeared in DC Comics in 2006 – although different interactions of the character can be traced all the way back to 1939. Jaime is a teenager who discovers the sacred Blue Beetle scarab in a parking lot. It fuses with him while he sleeps and morphs into a battle suit allowing him to fight crime and travel in space. Blue Beetle also becomes part of the Teen Titans and the Justice League and he will be the first Latinx superhero to appear in a DC movie.

Angel Manuel Soto will direct the movie for HBO Max after helming the 2020 movie Charm City Kings, which starred Meek Mill and Teyonah Parris and was a hit at last year's Sundance Film Festival. He's also set to direct an upcoming Transformers movie. Meanwhile, Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer penned the script – he also previously worked on the new Scarface reboot.

As for Maridueña, he plays Miguel Diaz in Netflix's Karate Kid sequel series Cobra Kai – Miguel is Johnny Lawrence's (William Zabka) first student in the Cobra Kai dojo. He also currently has voice roles in the animated series Cleopatra in Space and Victor and Valentino.

Production on Blue Beetle is set to start early next year. It will be released on HBO Max,  but it doesn't have a release date yet. In the meantime, check out our list of best superhero movies of all time.