Blue Beetle is the latest DC superhero movie, but have no fear.

This movie is separate from the recent shaky DC Cinematic Universe offerings and essentially entirely standalone at this point. It also is a fun film to introduce a comic character new to the film world, letting a whole new group of people both discover the character of Blue Beetle who are more likely to want to see the movie than if it was another entry in a universe. 

This film begins with Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña), coming home from college to his hometown of Palmera City, a city divided into a high-end technological near-utopia run by a tech company named Kord Industries and a poorer outskirts known as the Edge Keys, where Jaime and his family lives. Upon arrival he is greeted by his family: his father Alberto Reyes (Damián Alcázar), mother Rocio Reyes (Elpidia Carillo), his sister Milagro Reyes (Belissa Escobedo), his grandma, aka Nana Reyes (Adriana Barraza) and his uncle Rudy Reyes (George Lopez). 

During a brief lunch with his family, he learns his family has been going through tough times while he was at college he wasn’t aware of: they’re at risk of eviction, his father’s shop isn’t doing well and his father hasn’t been able to work because he recently had a heart attack.

This sparks Jaime to be determined to help them out by getting a big fancy job to provide for them. But that doesn’t go as planned, Jaime joins Milagro as part of a cleaning crew for a big mansion owned by the Kord family. While working, Jaime overhears an argument between Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) and her niece Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine). Jaime intervenes in the argument before it gets too nasty, which gets him and his sister fired from the job but introduces him to Jenny, who says he can come by Kord Industries to get a new job tomorrow. 

So he does, but while he’s there Jenny isn’t exactly free to talk about his job. Instead, she is stealing a piece of alien technology that looks like a Blue Scarab. Facing discovery by the guards, she entrusts Jaime with it so she doesn’t get caught.

After he takes it home, he ignores Jenny’s advice to not touch it, causing the Scarab to come alive and attach itself to Jaime’s spine, replacing his clothes with a technological armor, thus becoming the Blue Beetle. 

In this suit Jaime hears the sentient voice of the suit, which is named Khaji-Da (Becky G.) The voice informs Jaime that the suit is able to fly, protect him from harm and allows him to create any weapon he can imagine. Now stuck with this suit, Jaime and his family try to find a way to get it off him, taking Jaime on a road of conflict that leads him to foes like Conrad Carapax (Raoul Trujillo) an ex-military half-machine soldier working for Victoria. He is armed with the O.M.A.C or One Man Army Core, a suit of armor based off of data Kord Industries gained from the Scarab.

Jaime also learns of Ted Kord, Jenny’s father, who went missing when she was little, who was a brilliant scientist who tried to move Kord Industries into a different direction before he disappeared and Victoria took over. Ted has many more secrets to be discovered as Jaime and Jenny continue on their quest. 

Blue Beetle feels like a back-to-form superhero origin story, in a very good way. Self-contained, emotional and family-driven: Jaime’s family sticks with him during the film and help him in his battle. The film has some thrilling action scenes, a great practical costume for Jaime and a fun soundtrack to accompany all of this to come together for a fun and classic superhero story. 

It isn’t without issues of course; while Jaime’s suit looks great, some other CGI models don’t look as good. Victoria is quite far from an interesting villain for the film and at times it can be a little too campy even for a film that mostly has the right levels of superhero camp. But despite all that, this film is still pretty fun and certainly one I’d recommend to all superhero fans, both longtime ones who are tired of extended universes, and new fans looking for a new hero to connect with.

See Blue Beetle in theaters now.