In a Marvel first, Sony adds a Latino lead to the spider-verse in a brand new upcoming Spiderman movie.
Sony Pictures has announced its next project. Coming in January 2024, is the next instalment of the spider-verse adjacent movies – Spider Man spinoff “El Muerto”. It is set to star musician Bad Bunny AKA Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio as the title character. This casting makes Ocasio the first-ever Latino actor to be the lead in a live-action Marvel film and marks a major achievement for the global Latin community.
Who is Bad Bunny?
Bad Bunny (stage name) is a Puerto Rican trap and reggaeton artist and is considered to be the best trap artist of this current generation.
He has also done some acting in a few films such as Bullet Train (2022), Fast and the furious 9 (2021) and the TV Show Narcos: Mexico. He has also composed the soundtrack for the movie My Spy (2020). Bad Bunny is also known to be a huge wrestling fan, made his debut on WWE Royal Rumble (2021) and has socialized with WWE superstars Rhonda Rousy, Goldberg and Ric Flair.
What is “El Muerto'” About?
El Muerto follows the anti-hero protagonist Juan-Carlos Estrada Sanchez. He comes from a long line of men who hand down a mantle (mask). This results in the protagonist assuming the identity and superhuman power of El Muerto. Juan-Carlos’ reluctance to take up this responsibility becomes a factor in the death of his father and is essential to his character’s development.
El Muerto only has a handful of comic book appearances that don’t have many major outcomes and He has crossed paths with Spider-Man when he vowed to unmask him. The two eventually left things on good terms after defeating El Muerto’s nemesis, El Dorado.
A Fresh Perspective
Considering the lack of source material, Marvel fans have a lot to say about the upcoming feature. After Sony’s Morbius fail, there is speculation about using a relatively unknown actor on the big screen. However, this choice may result in a new and more current tone. Maybe it can bring a fresh character to the iconic character-dominated Marvel Universe.
Fans are sceptical, however. The comments left under the announcement post on Sony pictures Instagram show the fan’s reactions:
I love the SPUML (Sony Pictures Universe of Money Laundering)! – @aggressivedorking
You have thousands of Spider-Man related characters and you chose the one with only two appearances (from the same story arc) in the whole Marvel Comics history. Nice. – @MCU_101
NO PLEASE – @spiderman.col
Who in the fuckity fuck asked for this movie.- @spideyfan27
