‘Blue Beetle’ director explains the film’s post-credits scene setting up sequel bait

After a record-setting run of Greta Gerwig’s feminist feature coloring the theaters pink for a month, DC’s latest superhero flick Blue Beetle has painted everything blue with a modest $25.4 million opening. Following five years in development, Angel Manuel Soto‘s Blue Beetle opened on Aug. 18, 2023, with widely positive reviews, being hailed as the best DC movie since Wonder Woman.

While a lot of credit goes to the film’s heart-warming themes depicting close-knit family values and strong representation of Latino culture, Blue Beetle does not leave any stone unturned in jam-packing the story with action, easter eggs, and at the end, leaving the audience with a sequel bait.

In an interview with ComicBook, director Angel Manuel Soto sat down to explain the current hot topic surrounding the film: the post-credits scene featuring a mysterious voice saying “hello” from another world. For anyone slightly familiar with DC Comics, it’s clear that the voice is of Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle who possessed the Scarab before the mantle passed on to Jaime Reyes. But what exactly did the scene signify?

Jaime Reyes’ meeting with Bruna Marquezine’s Jenny Kord (the daughter of Ted Kord) in the movie sets him up on his new adventure as the third Blue Beetle. But as Jenny tells Jaime, her father went missing a long time ago, and was presumed dead. However, Ted connecting with Jaime, Jennifer, and Rudy through his Beetle Nest base in the post-credits scene alters everything, and confirms that he is not dead after all. “The whole movie Ted Kord is in it without being in it,” as Soto puts it.

In the big sequence, when the connection degrades into static, we can hear a male voice coming from one of the computer screens: “Hello, hello! Oh my God, it’s working. Whoever turned on my computer, get a message to my daughter Jenny Kord. Tell her I love her and I’m alive.” Soto revealed that “while we don’t know where he’s at or why he sent that message, we know that he’s gonna be somewhere in the future.”

Explaining his intentions further on making the big reveal, Soto revealed that the team “wanted to give some closure” to the character. And unsurprisingly, that closure has opened a lot of doors for the future of Blue Beetle in the DCU:

“That closure comes with the fact that Ted Kord did not die, he disappeared. While we don’t know where he’s at or why he sent that message, we know that he’s gonna be somewhere in the future, whether it is by himself or with Booster Gold… whether he’s trapped in a second sector of the universe or not… and he’s gonna be mentoring or rescue… everything is open.”

For the uninitiated, Booster Gold, also known as Michael Carter, is a time-traveling superhero from the 25th Century who also happens to be Blue Beetle’s best friend and frequent sidekick in the comics. It’s interesting to note that in the comics, Booster Gold and Jaime Reyes have traveled across time to save Ted Kord. James Gunn and Peter Safran may carry on with this potential plot line in the future, possibly in a DCU sequel, as Soto stated:

“Everything is open to what James and Peter want to do. But the beautiful thing is that there’s hope for Jaime Reyes, there’s more adventures to come.”

So, Soto has seemingly set up some sequel bait with the post-credits scene, and we’re all for it. While there’s still no official confirmation whether a sequel to Blue Beetle will be greenlit, or if it’s even being considered, everyone would love to see the former Blue Beetle and our new-found hero fight the next villain together.