Blue Beetle has received the highest Rotten Tomatoes score for a DC movie this year.
New DC co-chair James Gunn has already billed the origin story for superhero Jaime Reyes as a new start for the DCU — one that will fully kick into gear with Gunn's own Superman reboot.
Cobra Kai's Xolo Maridueña is the first lead DC Latino superhero as Jaime, a reluctant hero thrown into an intergalactic conflict by an all-powerful Scarab that chooses him as its next host.
The lower-stakes, family-oriented comedy is a shift away from the multiversal stories of recent DC box office disappointments like Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash, which seems to be one reason why it's resonating with critics thus far.
Blue Beetle has notched a Certified Fresh rating of 79% on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing — quite a cut above The Flash and Shazam 2's underwhelming scores of 64% and 49%, respectively.
The film also ranks well above Black Adam's 39% on Rotten Tomatoes and slightly under The Suicide Squad's 90% approval among critics.
What to Read Next
Digital Spy's own review called Blue Beetle "an entertaining debut for DC's newest superhero" and praised Xolo Maridueña for a spirited lead performance.
"There is a future for Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña's DC superhero and, fortunately, the entertaining Blue Beetle leaves you wanting to see more – even if it can't help suffering from familiar superhero issues," our movies editor Ian Sandwell wrote.
Some other favourable reviews are presented below:
"Blue Beetle is broad and endearingly kid-friendly in its humor. It is also precise in its homages to Mexican culture."
"There's a perkiness that's hard to resist and a base-level competency that's hard not to appreciate, a small beam of blue light in an otherwise dark time for superheroes."
"Quite simply the best DC movie in years, and should be the blueprint for James Gunn as he moves forward with the new DCU."
"Stand down the undertaker: this spirited outlier shows there's life in the old DCEU yet. Over to you, Aquaman 2."
"It's a minor miracle that this film survived the leap from 'throwaway streaming vehicle' to 'bonafide blockbuster release.'"
"Blue Beetle is a film that earns a...grito. As a story, it knows who Jaime is and leans into the character beyond his suit and powers… While some characters have just become a mantle you can change from one person to the next, Jaime Reyes is Blue Beetle."
"A self-contained and smartly crafted film that ranks among the DCEU's very best. Even though, admittedly, that doesn't say nearly as much as it ought to."
However, some others felt that the film failed to buck the recent trend of disappointing DC movies:
"The emotional beats are strenuous yawns, the crashing lack of novelty disguised desperately, but not well. It's dim, and it's dull."
"It's the kind of thing we've all seen way too many times before and felt extra disappointing here because there's a lot in this movie that does feel unique, but then it feels squandered."
Blue Beetle is out now in cinemas.
Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
