The following contains spoilers for Blue Beetle, now playing in theaters.
The charming Blue Beetle is not the box office smash Warner Bros. Discovery may have wanted, but it's also not its worst performer of 2023. The movie is technically the first of the new DC Universe under the guidance of James Gunn and Peter Safran. Yet, it's also a movie that seems to love superhero movies. Yet, while the former Blue Beetle's Bug Ship shows up, it's not a Watchmen reference, but the other way around.
One reason superhero movies get a lot of flack from disaffected individuals is because of the archetypal nature of their stories. The origin story, discovering their powers, rejecting "the call," and so on are all necessary steps along the hero's journey. However, Blue Beetle leans into this with both explicit references to the all-new, all-mysterious DCU to scenes and scenarios that "rhyme" (in the George Lucas sense) with other films in the genre. In fact, savvy viewers may see the Bug Ship flying out of the sky to attack a complex that is, among other things, a prison and think of the 2006 movie by Zack Snyder. In that film, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre bust Rorschach out of prison in his Owlship. However, the Bug Ship, technically, came first. It and Blue Beetle, at least the Ted Kord version of the character, was the direct inspiration for Nite Owl in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen graphic novel.
Is the Bug Ship a Reference to Watchmen?
Unlike a lot of the recent films based on DC Comics, with F-bombs and adult humor, Blue Beetle is a movie for kids. In fact, regardless of its ultimate box office take, Blue Beetle will be a hit with kids discovering superheroes for the first time for years to come. There are elements in Jamie Reyes's story that hearken back to even non-DC films like Iron Man or Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Still, Watchmen is the precise opposite of a comic book story for kids. It doesn't seem like something the filmmakers would consciously include. Yet, it's also undeniable the shots of the Bug Ship's arrival at the Pago Island base evoke the Owlship coming to rescue Rorschach from prison.
What might make the similarities accidental is the Blue Beetle's relationship to Nite Owl. When crafting the story of Watchmen, then-DC Comics hotshot Alan Moore wanted to use established characters for his story. DC had just purchased the rights to the Charlton Comics characters like the Question, Captain Atom and, of course, Blue Beetle. DC editors, however, wanted to introduce this roster of characters into their actual canon. So, they couldn't have Moore deconstruct them in the way he wanted. So, he just created his own versions. Peacemaker became The Comedian. The Question, known for his featureless face, became Rorschach. And Ted Kord's Blue Beetle became Nite Owl, complete with a bug-eyed ship of his own.
Jaime Reyes' is DC Comics' first original Blue Beetle, though the film pays tribute to his predecessors. There is Ted Kord, who is the most iconic version of the character. Then there is the first Blue Beetle -- whose blue and red suit appeared in the Beetle Cave -- named Dan Garrett. Originally, he got his powers from a "Vitamin 2X," which DC later retconned as Jaime's scarab. The Bug Ship was all Ted Kord, however, and it looks like it flew off the comics pages and into the film. This accuracy to Blue Beetle's origins may have, inadvertently, seemed like a reference to Snyder's Watchmen because he got to the big screen first.
Watchmen's Owlship and Blue Beetle's Bug Ship Work Differently
The strongest element suggesting an intentional Watchmen Easter egg is the Bug Ship appears flying to Pago Island to stage a prison break. In the Snyder film, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre spend a little personal time on the ship, then decide to "spring Rorschach" from prison. Yet, unlike the two Moore and Gibbons originals, the Reyes clan doesn't immediately jump out of the ship to engage in meticulously choreographed fights. Rather, they use the ship like an assault vehicle to get far enough into the facility to rescue Jaime, who had been captured by the villainous Victoria Kord. Also, rather than just a prison, Pago Island is the headquarters and main laboratory for their OMAC project.
The Bug Ship itself works differently than the Owlship, as well. In fact, the way it moves on the ground is more reminiscent of Batman's vehicle in the two versions of Justice League than anything from Watchmen. Still, with a movie as chock full of DC Comics lore, Easter eggs and references to the overall superhero genre, it's hard to believe what similarities exist went unnoticed. So, while the comparison of the Bug Ship and the Owlship was inevitable, the production designers at least leaned into it instead of running away from it. So, if the imagery intentionally evoked the Owlship, it becomes an ouroboros of references and inspiration. Blue Beetle is responsible for the creation of Nite Owl. Because his story hit movies first, fans of these characters who've only seen the movies will think the Bug Ship is evocative of Watchmen.
Intentional or merely a result of circumstance, it's good that Blue Beetle contains so many references to other superhero movies. The worldbuilding done with mentions of the Flash, Superman, Batman and an almost-cameo by Green Lantern is almost secondary to the way Blue Beetle fits into superhero movie archetypes. Even though it's been nearly a quarter-century since the beginning of the age of big-screen superheroes, Blue Beetle is an archetypal story for Latine kids. And just like T'Challa, Diana Prince, Carol Danvers and other heroes who directly reflect historically underrepresented audiences, Blue Beetle is not a movie "we've seen a hundred times." Sure, it shares elements with the wider genre, coincidentally and via homage. Jaime Reyes's story is his own, just the same, and the kids who most relate to him will forever appreciate that.
Blue Beetle is currently playing in theaters worldwide.