Reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny will soon become a superhero. The Latin Grammy winner has been cast to play El Muerto in a standalone Marvel movie for Sony Pictures. El Muerto is linked to the Spider-Man comics.
According to Deadline, the news broke Monday during a Sony panel at Cinemacon where Bad Bunny made a surprise appearance at the Las Vegas convention.
The character El Muerto first debuted in the 2006 comic book Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #6. Written by Peter David and illustrated by Roger Cruz, El Muerto is a super-powered luchador whose real name is Juan-Carlos Sanchez. Although he is only seen in a couple of comics, he is best known for fighting Spider-Man at a charity event where he nearly unmasks the popular webslinger. During the fight, El Muerto is stung by Spidey with a paralyzing poison and later tag teams with him to fight a villain known as Dorado.
“Sometimes, we get lucky with perfect casting,” said Sanford Panitch, President of Sony Motion Picture Group, at Cinemacon. “We think audiences are going to be excited by where these marvel characters are headed.”
Along with his career in the music industry, Bad Bunny is a huge fan of professional wrestling, so the role seems to be something that he is definitely going to have fun doing. He’s already shown that he can hold his own inside the ring during his appearances over the last couple of years fighting at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) events like WrestleMania and the Royal Rumble.
Scheduled to be released on January 12, 2024, El Muerto would be the first time a Latine superhero headlines his own Marvel film. Bad Bunny will make his feature film debut this summer in Bullet Train.