Bad Bunny Fronting ‘El Muerto’ As Marvel’s First Latino Lead Actor

Sony Pictures just announced that Bad Bunny will be joining Marvel as its first Latino lead in the newly-announced movie El Muerto playing the eponymous superpowered wrestler. The character El Muerto has made a couple of appearances in Spider-Man comics, and his story involves living up to his family line of wrestlers that pass their powers down by defeating their nemesis El Dorado.

“It’s amazing, it’s incredible. I love wrestling, I grew up watching it and now I’m a wrestler,” Bad Bunny said after coming on stage during Sony’s announcement of the news at Las Vegas convention CinemaCon Monday night. “This is why I love this character. I think it’s the perfect role for me, it will be epic.”

Sony’s Motion Picture Group president referred to the casting of the Puerto Rican artist, named Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio as “perfect casting,” and also said, “We think audiences are going to be excited by where these Marvel characters are headed.” Bad Bunny has both wrestling and acting experience, with a recent recurring role in Narcos: Mexico under his belt, and a few WWE credits including a recent appearance at the 2022 Royal Rumble.

It hasn’t been confirmed whether Spidey will be swinging in as a side character for this film, or if Bad Bunny is getting the Venom or Morbius treatment where the web-slinging hero will be nowhere to be found outside of post-credits references. Spiderman and El Muerto joined forces in the comics after meeting at a wrestling match where Spiderman got a taste of the wrestler’s super strength and high-stamina powers.

Spider-Man is an interesting superhero for these studios because his rights are shared by Sony Pictures, Marvel Studios, and their parent company Disney, leading to several interconnected franchises for Spidey being developed all at once. While El Muerto will reportedly be coming to us in 2024, Sony has slated two more Spiderman spin-offs for release in 2023: The first being Kraven The Hunter starring Aaron Taylor Johnson in January and then Madame Web starring Dakota Johnson.

Check out an entertaining Royal Rumble clip where Bad Bunny gets slammed by Brock Lesner. Maybe after his Marvel training, the artist will demand a rematch.