Blue Beetle Star Xolo Maridueña May Have Just Joined the MCU

The collapse of the DCEU has opened up many opportunities for actors who worked with DC to jump ship to Marvel Cinematic Universe. We recently saw this play out with Henry Cavill having a small cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine, where he played one of Wolverine's many variants shown in the film. While DC head James Gunn previously said Blue Beetle is canon to his new universe, and that means star Xolo Maridueña would be returning, that could be difficult if the latest rumor surrounding Maridueña and the Nova series is true.

As of right now, there's not a lot of information available about Nova other than the fact it's in development for Marvel. Instead of a feature-length film, it's a show set to debut on Disney+. On top of that, Maridueña's name is now listed on the Production List. There's been no official word about whether Maridueña has been cast, but he's about to have a lot more time on his schedule with the end of Cobra Kai and the reboot of the DCEU. Actors have had roles in both the DCEU and MCU before, but this would be the first time somebody had a starring role in both.

Although Blue Beetle flopped at the box office, there were a lot of circumstances that led to that fate. The biggest one was a looming reboot of the universe, so there was little to no reason to be invested in future DCEU releases after James Gunn took over. Gunn confirmed Blue Beetle would make the leap over to his universe, but we still have many questions about how that could play out. Maridueña said as recently as February 2024 at the Saturn Awards that he expects to see his character again.

I know we’ll see Blue Beetle again, whether it comes in the form of Blue Beetle 2 or wherever," he said. "It’s been really great to work alongside James [Gunn] and Peter [Safran], who have graciously folded us into their new universe even though it wasn’t part of what they came up with. It’s an honor. Now, where Blue Beetle heads in the future? I don’t know. But I can confidently say that we will see him soon."

How Will Blue Beetle Move Forward?

Blue Beetle director Angel Manuel Soto reiterated that this character is part of both the old universe and the new. Characters like Amanda Waller and Peacemaker are coming back for Gunn's universe played by the same actors, so Blue Beetle could work out the same way.

“We are part of the universe, we are part of the world, we are part of the plans that they have been creating for the future installments of the DCU,” Soto said. “But we are not tied to all the films from the past. Yes, our movie lives in the world where superheroes exist. But that doesn’t mean that a certain event, or certain alliance, or certain things from the past dictate where our film is going.”

If Maridueña is cast in Nova in a starring role, the ease of moving forward becomes harder. James Gunn has already revealed a long list of projects for his universe, the latest being an animated film starring two Robins, and there isn't a live-action Blue Beetle project among them. This leaves the door open to Gunn moving on without having to address anything and, having not really committed one way or another, he could go in any direction. If Maridueña ends up taking a role in Nova, that decision becomes a lot simpler for DC Studios.