‘It wasn’t initially him’: A ‘Blue Beetle’ scene-stealer wasn’t even part of the original casting conversation

With Blue Beetle having just barely recouped its production budget at the time of writing, it’s going to take a miracle for Ángel Manuel Soto’s superhero film to get the box office return it deserves. Nevertheless, he and everyone involved else should be patting themselves on the back for a genuine job well done; a luxury that hasn’t been as commonplace in the superhero genre as we would like it to be these days.

And an extra firm pat on said back should go to one George Lopez, whose gut-busting turn as Rudy, the uncle of Xolo Maridueña’s protagonist, injected the film with a level of heart comparable to the star of the show himself.

It’s baffling to think, then, that there’s multiple realities out there where Lopez wasn’t roped in for one of the DC Extended Universe’s high points; a move that no doubt caused Blue Beetle‘s variants to suffer. In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Blue Beetle concept artist Phil Boutte revealed that the team was originally aiming for a skinnier actor to take on the role of Rudy; an endeavor that was quickly dashed upon Lopez bringing his decisive mojo into the mix.

Actually one of the things that was a surprise for us was George Lopez. Lopez, they had him in mind, but it wasn’t initially him. It was going to be somebody that was skinnier and wiry. And then George came in, and then Mayes was doing the fittings with him and everything and going back and forth and they were finding his character. Those elements strangely still worked and it was just hilarious.

Each member of the Reyes family may arguably be worthy of their own spinoff, but the sheer charisma that Lopez brought to Rudy established him as one of the film’s most kinetic heartbeats, and we’re infinitely thankful that Boutte and company stuck with him.

Blue Beetle is currently playing in theaters.