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Blue Beetle Battalion, Xolo Mariduena

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‘Blue Beetle Battalion’: Xolo Mariduena addresses actors strike & reacts to fans promoting his DCU film, Here’s how stans are helping through memes

‘Blue Beetle Battalion’: Xolo Mariduena addresses actors strike & reacts to fans promoting his DCU film, Here’s how stans are helping through memes

DCU fans’ quirky marketing for Blue Beetle has not gone unnoticed by the film’s titular star Xolo Mariduena. The first title from DC Studios has been severely lacking promotions for its upcoming August release. Sadly, with Actors Strike in motion, the cast will not be engaging in press junkets or making an appearance at the red carpet premiere but the Cobra Kai star hopes fans will continue their promo efforts while acknowledging the hashtag Blue Beetle Battalion.

The internet has taken it upon itself to engage in a meta-irony style marketing for the scarab-wielding DC Comics superhero with Morbius sweep-type memes being circulated around social media. Though unlike the Sony Marvel film’s trend, which was more of a mockery – Xolo Mariduena stans appear to be in favor of its success.

Mariduena shared a video via his Instagram addressing his followers regarding the SAG-AFTRA strike, “SAG striking in solidarity with the writers,” he said. “Because of that reason, I won’t be able to promote the movie”

After sharing his gratitude for his fellow co-stars Susan Sarandon, George Lopez, Raoul Max Trujillo, Bruna Marquezine and Angel Manuel Soto to name a few – Xolo directed his message to the supporters and name drops Blue Beetle Battalion, “Y’all are killing it, I won’t be able to promote this movie but you can”. he added. Readers can check it out below.

 

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A post shared by Xolo Maridueña (@xolo_mariduena)

While Warner Bros. released the final trailer for the scarab morphing superhero earlier this week, the film has still struggled to appear on cinephile’s radar. Furthermore, the announcement of Gunn’s three new DCU additions for Superman: Legacy happening on the same day overshadowed Blue Beetle.

Warner Bros. has also been criticized for prioritizing Barbie’s marketing over the DC Studios feature. The studio’s pile of debt is being pointed out as the reason behind the lack of promotions for the DCU title, especially after suffering a $200 million loss from The Flash‘s box office failure.

Fortunately, DCU stans are opting for a satirical viral marketing strategy by sharing edited images of Blue themed burgers similar to Spider-Verse 2‘s campaign, scarab featuring merch, Barbie variant Pink Beetle and some even going as far as editing in Beetle alongside Deadpool and Wolverine.

Blue Beetle fans use fake viral marketing campaign tactics to promote during SAG strike

Even so, the general cinema-going audiences aren’t usually engaged with the Pop Culture developments on Twitter. So it remains to be seen if the standalone feature can be a box-office success. With a $100 million production budget – Blue Beetle requires at least $200M to break even.

Blue Beetle will arrive in theaters on August 18.

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