The star of Blue Beetle has reportedly confirmed that Marvel’s Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani has officially been cast as Booster Gold in James Gunn’s new cinematic DCU.
RELATED RUMOR: Marvel’s ‘Eternals’ Star Kumail Nanjiani To Star As Race-Swapped Booster Gold In James Gunn’s DC Cinematic Universe
As previously reported, word of Nanjiani’s casting as a race-swapped version of the glory-hogging hero was first raised on July 12th by pop-culture news outlet Nexuspoint News, who themselves had purportedly learned the information from their own insider source.
“We have exclusively learned that Kumail Nanjiani has landed the role of Booster Gold in the DC Universe,” said the outlet. “Nanjiani is currently set to portray the character in the upcoming DC Studios’ series, Booster Gold, one of the upcoming entries of the highly anticipated DCU”.
Now, a little under three weeks after Nexuspoint News’ initial scoop, Nanjiani’s casting has reportedly been confirmed by none other than Blue Beetle star Xolo Maridueña.
Asked about the rumor by The Cosmic Circus‘ Drew Reed during a Cobra Kai meet-and-greet at the 2024 GalaxyCon Raleigh, the Jamie Reyes actor purportedly not only confirmed to the reporter that Nanjiani had been cast as Booster Gold, but also that he himself was excited for the prospect of a possible Blue & Gold DCU team-up.
As seen in his debut in 1986’s Booster Gold Vol. 1 #1, Booster Gold was originally conceived by creator Dan Jurgens as a blonde haired white man.
In light of Nanjiani’s Pakistani ethnicity, his casting as Gunn’s version of History’s Greatest Hero represents yet another instance of Hollywood superhero race-swapping.
Notably, Nanjiani’s casting as Booster Gold will the second such time that the DC hero has been race-swapped for a live-action outing.
Making his debut in the series conclusion of The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow, the Arrowverse’s incarnation of Booster was portrayed by none other than Scrubs Donald Faison.
At current, neither Gunn, his DC Studios co-head Peter Safran, nor Nanjiani himself have publicly commented on Maridueña’s confirmation.
Further, no word has been mentioned of whether Nanjiani’s Booster Gold will make his debut in his aforementioned solo series or in another DCU project.
As described by Gunn during the series’ initial announcement, “Booster Gold is one of comic’s really popular cult heroes. He is a fascinating guy. He’s a loser from the future who uses future technology to come back to present day and become a superhero so that people will love him. It is basically the superhero story of imposter syndrome on an HBO Max series.”
Meanhwile, Maridueña is set to both reprise his role as the bug-themed hero and bring him into the DCU in the recently-announced-but-currently-release-date-less Blue Beetle animated series.