There was a time, not so long ago, where making a superhero film was a license to print money.

Times have changed however, with a definite shift away by audiences, that have been reflected in, by their admittedly impressive high numbers compared to most films, poor box office returns.

So much so that both Marvel and DC are revising their plans for their mutual superhero universes, in the hope of saving them.

With DC now in the hands of superhero-meister James Gunn, after his stint holding up the MCU, this film is one of the last from the old regime to be released and marks the debut appearance of DC character Jaime Reyes.

Having graduated from college in pre-law, Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) returns to his family in his hometown of Palmera City.

It should be a time of celebration, but his family have some bad news – the rent on their home has trebled so they’re going to have to move out. Incensed by this news, Jaime swears to do all he can to save the family home, and if that means finding any old job to get some money in, so be it.

It just so happens that his sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo) can get him a job doing general maintenance with the Kord family, one of the richest in the land. It goes well until he interjects between Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) and her niece Jenny (Bruna Marquezine) in an argument, which ends up with him being quickly dismissed.

To thank him, Jenny says she may have a job for him, so he should get in touch, which he does, when he turns up at the family’s business HQ.

Again he seems to have caught at an inopportune moment, when she quickly passes him a fast food container and tells him to hold onto with his life and not look inside, just as the building is being put into lockdown. Jaime agrees and swiftly makes his way out of trouble.

When he gets home and tells his family what happened, they obviously encourage him to open the box, and see what all the fuss was about. In it is a blue metal scarab, that looks innocent enough, but little do they know that all their lives are about to change, especially Jamie’s, as his career path is about to go in a most remarkable direction.

So let’s get the maths out the way: the film was made for a reasonable $104 million, but unfortunately it only made just shy of $130 million back. Although that seems on paper at least, like a win, but in the DCU, it’s not good. So much so that it holds the current record for being the lowest-grossing film in the DCU.

And yes, those numbers hurt, but they aren’t a true reflection of what takes place on screen, which is, in truth, one of the better films from DC in recent years.

Although Puerto Rican director Angel Manuel Soto doesn’t have the most extensive CV, he brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm to this superhero’s origin tale.

It has a few things in its favour, with the main one being that the character isn’t exactly a household name, so his origin story won’t be as familiar as, say, Spider-Man’s, that most will know straight out of the womb being imprinted in their brains, being that well known. It’s refreshing to not only know who the Blue Beetle is, but yes, fun to know how he became this superhero.

Another one of the film’s strength is its roots in Mexican culture, as well as the strong family bonds that exist. Thankfully they don’t come across as just being Mexican for the sake of it, instead being well defined and interesting characters on their own, which only makes their family ties even stronger on screen.

It also doesn’t do any harm that the casting is top notch, from Maridueña down, allowing you to care for all the members of his family and what happens to them.

And with a solid origin story in place, it allows Soto to be fairly creative behind his camera in creating his neon-lit world, set against an impressive soundtrack, supplied by Bobby Krlic AKA The Haxan Cloak.

The result is a hugely entertaining superhero adventure, which very much stands on its own six, blue beetled feet without relying on any other DC lore, which manages to be both entertaining as well as pull on the old heartstrings at times.

There are a number of reasons that can be attributed to its box office failings, including the fact the cast couldn’t promote the film on release due to the actor’s strike, as well as a tangible fatigue from audiences for the recent superhero output, hence re-boots of more familiar characters left, right and sky high centre.

That shouldn’t put you off however, as Blue Beetle is a creative tour-de-force that is head, cape and shoulders above a lot of the distinctly average superhero releases of late. It’s a relief that Gunn appears to think the same, as he has already stated that Maridueña will be returning as the character, in some capacity; which probably means a cameo in another film, with his own sequel unlikely, although certainly welcome if it did indeed happen down the line, which both cast and crew definitely deserve.

If you were one of the many to steer clear of it on its theatrical release, Blue Beetle certainly deserves your re-consideration, with is bold look and feel and strong family narrative with a rich Mexican flavour, it’s a welcome addition to both the DCU and superhero genre as a whole.