DC Studios
Blue Beetle’s director reveals Injustice 2, Mega Man, and more video game influences
Ángel Manuel Soto, Blue Beetle’s director, has revealed that they were inspired by several games during the production of the DC film.
Just when we thought The Flash would be the star movie for DC in 2023, Blue Beetle comes in and breaks all expectations, and for now, the critics are already putting it through the roof. Among some of the aspects that they highlight are the action scenes, for which Ángel Manuel Soto, director of the film, has recognized influences not only from other film productions but also from many different video games.
Blue Beetle, packed with references
“I wanted the action and violence to be a little more visceral.”, explained Soto to Discussing Film. “Although I do love the fantastic and magical side of things, this is the beginning of Jaime Reye’s heroic journey and he doesn’t know everything he can do yet. We used a lot of references like The Raid movies and Gangs of London for the hand-to-hand combat, which John Valera, our stunt coordinator, drives very well. We managed to make something that represented that kind of flesh-to-flesh intimacy that can exist in violence. But, at the same time, we play with different alternatives that are fantastic and the wish-fulfillment of a young man. For example, a lot of the combos in Injustice 2, we used them as a reference during fights and with the manifestations of the weapons. Blue Beetle’s blaster was even inspired by Mega Man!”
But those are far from the only references made to videogames of which Soto speaks about, making note of one other legendary title of the gaming industry. “There’s a scene where Jaime says, “Khaji, show me something”, and he pulls out a gun that we chose to look like the ZF-1 gun from The Fifth Element”, says Soto.
He added that “Then we play with that again towards the end when Jaime goes “Anything I want? Okay!” and he busts out Cloud’s sword [from Final Fantasy VII] Why? Because we’re gamers! We were asking ourselves, “Wow, what would I want to create?” I always wanted to have a buster sword like they do in Final Fantasy. To be able to play with those nods, including some from Dragon Ball Z. Play with a lot of other references that I’m not going to spoil – it was super good fun. I felt like I was twelve again!”
Blue Beetle opens this coming Friday the 18th in movie theaters around the world.