Blue Beetle’s stunt team used DC fighting game Injustice 2 as a reference when coordinating the film’s fight scene.
Speaking to Discussing Film, director Ángel Manuel Soto revealed he and the production team were inspired by a handful of video games including Injustice 2 when creating the latest DC entry.
“We used a lot of references like The Raid movies and Gangs of London for the hand-to-hand combat, which Jon Valera, our stunt coordinator, drives very well,” Soto said. “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-fulfilment 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.”
Keeping within the video game theme, Soto also revealed Blue Beetle includes a Final Fantasy 7 reference as Blue Beetle summons Cloud’s Buster Sword. “Why? Because we’re gamers,” Soto said.
“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, [and] 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 premieres on August 18 and appears a little trapped between the end of the DCEU and the beginning of the DCU, which officially kicks off in 2025 with James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy.
Xolo Maridueña stars as Jaime Reyes, a recent college graduate who gains super powers and becomes the Blue Beetle in what’s set to be an “unapologetically Latino” superhero film.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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