Blue Beetle Vs. The Beetle in: "Beetle Battle Two!"

 

Every box office forecast I have seen for Blue Beetle indicates that it expected to be another DC movie dud.  The trailers look ok, I'm not sure why the movie isn't clicking with people.  Perhaps Warner Bros should not have announced a whole rebooted DCU before they were done releasing all the movies from the previous iteration.  James Gunn has indicated that Blue Beetle will be showing up in the new DCU even though his movie is not necessarily connected.  Yeah, I don't really get that either, maybe that's why it hasn't moved the needle.

The Beetle tangled with the Ted Kord Blue Beetle back in STF #2611...

Blue Beetle and Ghost Rider in: "Cousins in the Crosshairs!"

 

With all of the recent project cancellations from the Warner Bros/Discovery merger, many have been worried about the upcoming Blue Beetle movie.  Fortunately, it seems to be safe so far, which is good news.  The set photos were so impressive that I can only imagine how the finished project will look.

The Reyes Cousins first appeared together back in STF #2826...

Blue Beetles and The Beatles

 

looking back at the career of The Beatles, it surprises me that they were together as a band for only just about a decade.  It feels like it should be more, given their impact on rock & roll music.  Maybe that's because their sound evolved with each new album.  Their constant innovation had to be an inspiration to bands that followed.

Spider-Man and Blue Beetle in: "Triumph of the Time-Killers!"

 

It's good to know that animators are currently hard at work producing the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, one of the greatest comic book movies ever made.  I look forward to seeing Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of 2099, getting into the mix as well as whatever other variants they plan to include.  I just hope that the live action third Marvel Spider-Man movie doesn't steal its thunder too much, as that movie seems to be intent on opening up a spider-verse of its own.

Ghost Rider and Blue Beetle

Marvel's Agents of Shield has never really grabbed me, and I continue to watch it out of habit and my like of actress Ming Na Wen (glad to see her show up in The Mandalorian!)  One exception is when the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider was added to the mix for half a season.  I really enjoyed the story line and the effects were impressive for TV.  It's too bad he didn't stay around, we'll see if he shows up again in the final season.  I heard that he would be getting his own Hulu series, but that deal may have gone away with all of the recent Marvel TV cancellations.

Thanks to Jeremy De Shetler for suggesting this pairing!

Blue Beetle Vs. Venom

What a weird movie Venom is.  The usually nuanced Tom Hardy was hamming it up pretty strongly - I'm still wondering how they thought that scene with the lobster tank was a good idea.  Some of the action sequences were fun, but the overall production seemed a little off to me.  Venom looked pretty cool though, even if he was missing his spider symbol.  I can't say it's a bad film, I was entertained.  It was just... weird.

Iron Beetle and Daredevil

If you are curious about the new heroic identities that these two are using, Jaime Reyes got his new armor in in STF #386, and Matt Murdock received his power ring in STF #1960... Bob Greenwade, a Patron of this blog, suggested I put them together for a story. I've been meaning to put Krakoa on Oa, and this seemed to me to be the perfect place to do so.  Who says this isn't the swingin' STF age of serving up scintillating suggested situations?

Scarlet Witch and Blue Beetle

Marvel has finally announced projects for the upcoming Disney Streaming Service,  with series starring Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch and Tom Hiddleston as Loki.  I was surprised to hear the news, as these were not two characters that I expected to get the spotlight.  My preference would be to have The Vision join Scarlet Witch, but even if he somehow does get resurrected in the movies, the cost to create his visual might be too much for a TV budget.  It will be interesting to hear more about these shows as they are further developed.

Blue Beetle and War Machine

Like many, I did not like it when Blue Beetle Ted Kord was killed off, even if I did like his replacement.  I am glad that DC eventually came to their senses and brought Kord back, as a mentor to the younger Beetle.  It looks like similar things are happening with Ray Palmer sharing the Atom Identity with Ryan Choi.

Jaime Reyes first entered Tony Stark's armory in STF #386...

Blue Beetle and The Fantastic Four

I really liked the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle when he was first introduced - I only had one complaint:  Was it really necessary to kill off Ted Kord in order to introduce him?  Fortunately, with DC Rebirth, the situation has been rectified.  The new Blue Beetle series will feature both Jaime and Ted in action together.  I don't know if Ted will be suiting up or only serving in mentor capacity, but it is a huge step in the right direction.  I really like artist Scott Kolins' redesign of the Blue Beetle armor as well as the Beetle Bug.

Spider-Man and The Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes)

There have been lots of rumors floating around concerning Sony and Marvel Studios trying to come to some sort of partnership with the rights to Spider-Man, allowing Marvel to feature the Web-Slinger in their movies.  While it would be cool to finally see Spider-Man's adventures as presented by his home studio, I am not sure another instant franchise reboot would be a hit so soon.  Maybe Spidey needs a cooling down period first, appearing as a guest star one or two times before headlining his own film once more.  One thing is for sure, we don't need to see the origin again!

One of the most common requests I get is to show a tutorial on how a cover is created.  I did that once during my MS Paint days, back in 2011.  I use Photoshop now, and I'll be presenting an all-new step-by-step tutorial as just one of the special features included in The STF 1000th Issue Spectacular, coming up in two short days! Don't miss it!

Blue Beetle and Invincible

It was nice to see Jaime Reyes get such a sizable role in the animated Young Justice series.  I thought that his costume looked cool in the comics, and worked even better in motion.  Let's hope we get to see a live action version one of these days - that isn't as clunky as the one featured on that episode of Smallville.

Blue Beetle and Iron Man

Well, the summer movie season has officially kicked off in style with Iron Man 3.  I found the movie to be a big improvement over the second installment, although the first is still my favorite in the trilogy.  I really enjoyed the dialogue and the way the film focused on Tony Stark this time around, who has had to share screen time with lots of other colorful characters in his last two film outings.  The action was very inventive as well, with three major sequences and a lot of cool new gadgets.  Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley seemed to be having a great time in their villainous roles, and they provided some of the more surprising moments. Supporting characters Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts get a little more to do this time around, and  Jon Favreau and Gwyneth Paltrow give solid performances.  The movie is not perfect - it has a slow first half hour of build up and just not enough of Iron Man in costume.  I figured with the head's up display view of the helmet, it wouldn't be an issue, but the movie finds a way to keep Tony out of the suit for much of the running time.  I wish that Rhodey had been a little better utilized as well, Don Cheadle does a lot with what he is given, but the character comes out looking like a bit of a chump. Still, those are small nitpicks and should not dissuade you from checking out Marvel's latest cinematic outing.  It's very interesting where they leave the characters and I am intrigued to see where they go next.

The Thing and Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes)

I was among the many Ted Kord fans that was not happy when the Blue Beetle was killed off to kick off a DC Comics crossover. Despite that, I decided to give his replacement, Jaime Reyes, a chance and I have to admit that I do like the character quite a bit. I really loved the look of the new Beetle armor that Cully Hamner designed - it really makes him stand out among the rest of their heroes - and Jaime was written with an appealing personality. I even got a kick out of his appearances on the Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon (not so much the recent Smallville appearance - the armor was way too clunky). This new Blue Beetle is definitely a welcome new presence in the DCU. That said, there was no reason he could not have been introduced while still keeping Ted Kord alive as well!