Is Scoot McNairy Playing Blue Beetle in Batman v Superman?

There's been a gush of new Batman v Superman photos and information in the past few days, causing tons of Internet buzz. That buzz will obviously increase in the next week or so as San Diego Comic-Con enters the fray with Warner Bros set to send shockwaves through the online comic forums. But with all this new information, we seem to be forgetting a small, forgotten mystery from many months ago:

Just Who is Scoot McNairy Playing?

When he was first spotted wearing bright green socks, speculation ran rampant. Metallo. Flash. Nightwing. Jimmy Olsen. With The Flash already cast (at least one of them), Metallo said to be the planned villain for Man of Steel's sequel (so not Batman v Superman), Nightwing owning both legs, and Jimmy Olsen's gender switch to Jenny Olsen in Man of Steel, each idea was shot down one by one. But one role that was never suggested was Blue Beetle. Blue Beetle is one of the many heroes that fans have been campaigning to appear on screen for years. His brief introduction of Smallville rallied fans for a step up somewhere else, an effort which has since died down. But let's go over the facts why he's probably Blue Beetle (Ted Kord or Jaime Reyes - I don't care):

Zack Snyder's Interested in Adding Him

Zack Snyder appears to be the head of the DCCU, at least up until now, meaning he gets to call a lot of the shots. He decided when the Aquaman photo went up, he plays a strong role in casting, and will be directing at least 4 upcoming DC movies, while probably producing most of them. While defending Aquaman in a radio interview, Snyder was asked what minor league characters in DC's upcoming big name movies. His response?

"As we add to the Justice League we bring in some of the more obscure, like Blue Beetle or something"

Let's not forget that Zack Snyder likes to tease audiences. A lot. In this same interview (about Aquaman), he said casting news was coming soon, and 6 days later, we had confirmation that Jason Momoa would wield the Trident of Atlantis.

Scoot McNairy Teases a "New" Role

In his exact words:

Man, I would love to spend hours with you about it but I don’t know if you’d see me in another movie if I did.

With that sole sentence, we can glean that he is at least of some importance, probably a superhero (assuming that other movie is a Justice League film). He went on to talk about the challenges of bringing this mysterious comic-book character to life.

It’s definitely 100% a character I’ve never played and I can’t speak too freely on it, but yeah, getting into that thing was definitely something I had to wrap my head around emotionally in order to play that character. But with that being said, I had a lot of fun doing it when I was in the process of shooting on it — my head was in a different place but I’m really excited to see how it turns out and what they do with it and see the film.

Well, Blue Beetle has only been on screen once before, not played by Scoot McNairy, it is a character you have to wrap your head around (possibly living scarab attaches itself to you, transforming you into a big, coloured insect).

The DCCU Needs Him For the Future

If you agree with my previous article about the DCCU and sequels (and why they don't need them), then you understand that DC needs entertaining, fresh new characters for to advance in its film plans. You'll get exactly that with Blue Beetle, but you'll get twice as much (or three times, if you count his ego) with Booster Gold. Both have appeared in Smallville in small roles but neither have made got onto the silver screen yet. The two are an amazing pair, constantly making quips at each other while getting the job done. Now, for Booster Gold to enter the picture, it's almost 100% sure that this Blue Beetle has to be Ted Kord and not Jaime Reyes. Given that Scoot McNairy is not so young anymore, it makes sense that he's Ted and not Jaime.

Why Only Green Socks?

Given his semi-formal attire, we can assume that Mr. McNairy's mysterious character is at work. I do, however, find it difficult to imagine Jimmy Olsen (the kid with the plaid button downs, khakis, and hoodies) is wearing this to walk around and take photos. It is the right(ish) outfit for a . . . CEO? Perhaps the CEO of Kord Enterprises? Bruce Wayne's building was damaged in Metropolis, but he wasn't in it. What if Ted's did too, but he was in it resulting in his damaged legs (if that's what the CGI is for).