Like most superhero movies, Blue Beetle (2023, Angel Manuel Solo), involves a mythical city (think New York crossed with Seoul, but in Latin America), superpowers, a world on the edge, plus some kind of alien origin story for the beetle at least. Unlike most superhero movies, Blue Beetle emphasises the strength of family, over everything else, and has a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour which makes it more entertaining than most films of this ilk. By not taking itself too seriously, it can actually touch on some serious themes, such as the problems immigrants face. Jamie Reyes (Xolo Maridueña), well-known to millions of kids and adults due to his star role in the hit Netflix series Cobra Kai (2018 –), returns to his hometown having graduated, only to find his family home is being seized. After cadging a job with his sister, the funny Milagro Reyes (Belissa Escobedo), as a cleaner to one of the richest families on the planet, he blows the job when he intervenes after seeing Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) kicking off at the beautiful Brazilian Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine).

But, we learn good can come from bad, because after being sacked, the next day he turns up at Jenny Kord’s office looking for a job. Jenny at that moment is smuggling out the blue beetle which is being developed as military weapon by the Kord company. Jenny disagrees with this misuse of this mystical tech. Taking the beetle home, under strict instructions not to have a look, goofball Uncle Rudy Reyes (George Lopez) and the rest of Jamie’s family just cannot resist a peek. Who could? This beetle latches onto Jamie’s spine, and chooses him, fusing with him. Eventually, we enter Jenny’s old family home, and learn that her father had also been a Blue Beetle. If you don’t know the comics, you won’t know that this Blue Beatle had three incarnations going back to the 1930s. Jenny is desperate to stop the wicked Victoria who is hell bent on selling armaments left, right, and centre. Even Victoria’s assistant, an old military man eventually has the revelation that it is your family that keeps you strong. Compared to your family, what is your job? This is the message to all the adults in the audience, and a strong one.

The film in many ways reverses the clichéd R.D. Laing take that it is our family that creates our ‘madness’; or the poet Philip Larkin’s view, ‘fuck you up’. Blue Beetle is far more straightforward than most superhero movies, such as the contemporary Spiderman spin-offs, that are very multiverse and meta. Simultaneously, it draws self-referentially and fully on all their myths, including that of trauma and PTSD from Iron Man (2008 –, Shane Black, Jon Favreau) with a touch of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, incorporating tropes from old school high-tech films, such as RoboCop (Paul Verhoeven, 1997). Plus, the soundtrack has more than a touch of a Vangelis influence about it in its dark tones, especially Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982). After the disgraceful behaviour of Donald Trump and ongoing awfulness of Suella Braverman, refreshingly Blue Beetle makes the immigrants the heroes. It also makes old people heroic which is a great touch given contemporary culture worships youth. Late in the film, it is revealed that Nana Reyes (Adriana Barraza) is an old revolutionary and only through Nana’s military skills do they survive. The closing of the heart due to former suffering, perhaps never facing PTSD, an inability to accept family love or choosing something else instead, like work and money or power, plus the hatred of the underdog, are all the real enemies here. In this sense, this film is a new take on an old theme, and through comedy and special effects examines themes that are to the fore today without being too moralistic.