With Blue Beetle, Ángel Manuel Soto Shows the Superhero Strength of Latinidad

For Director Ángel Manuel Soto, Blue Beetle is for his younger self.

As a kid growing up in Puerto Rico, Soto didn’t have the opportunity to see an Indiana Jones that looked like him—to see Latinos in heroic spaces of power on the big screen. Through Blue Beetle he set out to change that.

His recent blockbuster not only highlights the truth that the Latino community is no monolith—and that it features everyday moments of superhero strength—it also shows how communities too often seen as ghettos are in fact full of rich, tight-knit relationships that span generations.

Any young Angel Manuel Soto would pay the price of admission to see that story in the theater.