During a recent interview with Empire magazine, actor Tenoch Huerta confirmed that his character in the upcoming sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is, in fact, a mutant, a detail that stays true to the comic books.
Considered “Marvel’s first mutant” in the comics, the anti-hero Namor the Sub-Mariner is the product of a human father and an Atlantean mother. In the film version, Namor is the ruler of a fictional Mayan underwater civilization known as Talocan. “You can take Atlantis from Greek myth, or you can adapt from a real culture,” Huerta said.
Now that Namor has joined Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) as a mutant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, let’s keep the Latine mutants coming. Which other Latine mutants would you like to see in the MCU in the future?
Maybe filmmakers will give Dr. Cecilia Reyes another chance to play on the big stage. The character was portrayed by actress Alice Braga (Queen of the South) in 2020’s The New Mutants but didn’t make a big splash, mainly due to the whitewashing of her character. In the comics, Cecilia is an Afro-Latina trauma surgeon and has the power to protect herself by placing a force field (or “psioplasmic bio-field”) around her body.
There’s also a gay mutant named Julio Richter, also known as Rictor, who would be a welcome addition to the MCU. He could manipulate and create seismic energy. And in the comic book X-Factor (Vol. 3) #45, Rictor and a fellow mutant share the first on-panel same-sex kiss between two mainstream male superheroes in Marvel history. Actor Jason Genao (On My Block) played a younger version of the character in the 2017 film Logan.
Finally, there’s Angelo Espinosa, who is better known by his mutant name, Skin. In the comics, Angelo was born in South Central Los Angeles, where he was involved in a drive-by shooting. The stress of the incident caused him to tap into his superhuman powers, which included his skin taking on extra elasticity and more resistance to physical injury. With his additional skin, Angelo can also shapeshift his face and body. Now, imagine that on the big screen?
This all sounds like a solid start to forming an all-Latine mutant superhero team if you ask us.