Angel Manuel Soto thinks 'Blue Beetle' has had a "positive impact"' on young viewers.
The 40-year-old director is at the helm of the DC Comics movie which stars Xolo Maridueña as the first Latino superhero and recalled at one of the screenings of the film, a young boy came up to him in tears after seeing himself represented on screen.
He told ScreenRant: " I think in one screening that we showed up, we saw a couple of kids, but this one kid, gave me a hug and started crying. Because he never thought that he was ever going to see, not only his community represented that way, but also family members that reminded him of his own family. It felt like he saw his family and he saw them the way he sees them as heroes in his life. it gave him an energy that there is hope in the future to see more stories like this."
Angel is now hoping that his action film will do something to the "collective psyche" of audiences after offering them something he didn't see himself during his formative years.
He added: "For me, that meant a lot and also seeing all the young kids on social media dressing up with the mask, with the suit and react to the trailers. I grew up watching heroes, but I never saw a hero that looked like me, that spoke like me, that had a family like mine and what that would do in the future to the collective psyche, I think is very positive. That, for me was, like, 'Oh my God!' that type of level of impact on a young kid is in their formative years is very positive.
