As it turns out, DC Studios has just dropped a new official final trailer for their upcoming Blue Beetle film. Honestly, I hadn’t been expecting much from this film before watching that trailer. I thought it was just going to be yet another dull film about superheroes fighting supervillains day in, day out. With likely a whole bunch of fridging (defined as killing a minor character to torment or torture the main character) to “develop” the main character a bit. Because you know, traumatized people make the best superheroes, right?

But now after watching that Blue Beetle trailer, it actually looks like a superhero film I want to watch for a change. Mostly because it ended up giving me a case of the feels. Don’t believe me? Then why not check out that final trailer below, and see the surprisingly heartwarming story for yourself?

Blue Beetle: Not Your Typical Superhero Film?

I swear, his powerset is like if Iron Man and Green Lantern did the fusion dance together.

DC Studios, the Safran Company, and (of course) Warner Bros. Pictures are proud to unveil this official final trailer for Blue Beetle on YouTube. Said trailer shows off the typical amount of action and explosion you would expect from a superhero film, which includes this upcoming DC superhero film by Angel Manuel Soto (Charm City Kings). However, as you watch more of this trailer, you start to notice that things seem a bit different in this film.

Yes, the trailer shows off a lot of action and explosions, as you would expect from any other superhero film. Those things are something you would expect from a movie about a super-powered person fighting evil. However, Blue Beetle differs from other superhero films in that the main character Jaime Reyes (played by Xolo Maridueña) has a large family that he obviously cares for very much. Most superheroes start out with either a love interest plus maybe a parental figure. That is, if said superhero doesn’t start out an orphan (I’m looking at you, Bruce Wayne/Batman).

This final trailer though shows that Jaime has not only a mother and father, but also a younger sister, uncle, and even a grandparent in the form of his Nana. Not only that, but in a refreshing turn of events: it looks like the story isn’t going to fridge any of Jaime’s family to “develop” his character. Not when Jaime is literally roaring in guns blazing as the Blue Beetle to protect them. Honestly, that alone looks like a great thing. Not only does this film double down on the heartwarming aspects in that way, but it also avoids a lot of the problems with the aforementioned fridging. Marvel Cinematic Universe, I’m looking at you.

The Problem with Most Superhero Films: Fridging

Blue Beetle
Does this look like the kind of movie that would fridge major characters? I don’t think so.

You see, the problem with most superhero films is that they think the only way to develop a main character is to kill off their love interest, family, friends, etc.. Basically: anyone the main character is close to in order to…I don’t know, build their character or something like that. This particular trope is called “fridging” (or as TV Tropes calls it: Stuffed into the Fridge), and it’s a big sign of some very lazy writing.

Develop the main character over the course of an entire story arc to make their character development meaningful? Who has time for that? Just have the villain chop up the main character’s girlfriend/boyfriend (usually the former, unfortunately) and stuff them into the fridge for the main character to find. It’ll totally be a great way to give the main character some “development”, and not a cheap bit of writing that completely devalues the life of the character being fridged.

Alas, many superhero films are guilty of this. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become notorious for gleefully abusing this trope, and not in a good way. Avengers: Endgame is practically the poster child of this fridging. Fans would recall that the story fridged Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson) pretty hard, and in an almost darkly comedic way. All apparently to develop the Avengers, but mostly Hawkeye. It didn’t help that it seemed like Endgame‘s writers were aware of how bad it looked, and so performed an emergency character development of Black Widow at the beginning of the film just to make her fridging less painful. News flash: it didn’t work. It’s all the more obvious when Tony Stark/Iron Man (played by Robert Downey Jr.) gets a lavish funeral, while Black Widow got a one-off note that she died from a few Avengers.

Blue Beetle: Release Details

Blue Beetle theatrical poster.
Let’s hope that trailer doesn’t disappoint us.

Fortunately, it won’t be long before we see if this superhero film lives up to its trailer. At the end of that final trailer, Blue Beetle reveals that it will make its debut in theaters on August 18, 2023. Unfortunately, tickets aren’t on sale yet as of this writing. You can however check out Fandango to see when they will be available.

For more on DC, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.

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