Bad Bunny reacts to being cast as the new Sony's Spider-Man Universe character El Muerto for the recently announced solo movie. Created by Peter David and Roger Cruz, El Muerto was first introduced in the comics with 2006's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man No. 6 as a villain for Spider-Man who is imbued with superhuman abilities thanks to his mysterious mask that has been passed down through generations in his family. El Muerto was forced to wrestle Spider-Man in the hopes of appeasing his family's oppressor El Dorado and nearly succeeded in unmasking the hero, though is narrowly defeated by Spider-Man's stingers and works with the webslinger to defeat El Dorado when he comes to kill El Muerto in the hospital after.
El Muerto would largely remain absent from the comics in the years since, but has drawn enough interest from Sony Pictures to develop a film around the character set within their Sony's Spider-Man Universe. The film was announced at this year's CinemaCon panel when Bad Bunny made a surprise appearance on stage to reveal his casting and Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group President Sanford Panitch confirming that it is set for a January 2024 release. With development currently underway on El Muerto, the man at the center of it is reacting to joining the SSU.
In a recent interview with Apple Music, Bad Bunny opened up about being cast as the new Sony's Spider-Man Universe character El Muerto. The musician-turned-actor expressed his excitement at joining the burgeoning comic book franchise, feeling "proud" to be the first "main Latino character" and teasing an "epic" film to come. See what Bunny said below:
"Sometimes, I can’t believe it yet, but it’s the result of my work. The way I am, the way I work, I’m so proud, very happy about this character, this opportunity to be the first Latino. It’s not about 'I'm gonna be the first Latino making a role,' it's gonna be about the first Latino main character, that's the important thing. So it's something huge, and it will be epic. I know that the people are gonna be proud about my work."
Bad Bunny's casting as El Muerto comes as the two-time Grammy winner has begun expanding his resume to other fields, including joining the WWE in 2021 and making his acting debut with F9: The Fast Saga and Narcos: Mexico season 3 the same year. He was reportedly cast as the new SSU character after impressing Sony executives with his performance in the Brad Pitt-led action thriller Bullet Train, with the studio being eager to quickly put him on to another high-profile project and landing on El Muerto. The film's announcement was made alongside confirmation that Venom 3 was in development with Tom Hardy likely to return as the titular antihero.
As he notes, Bad Bunny's El Muerto film would mark the first Latin superhero in either of Marvel's major franchises to get their own project, but does come at a time in which Marvel Studios is expanding their diversity with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The recently released Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness introduced the LGBTQ+ character America Chavez to the fold while Hawkeye marked the debut of Maya Lopez/Echo, a deaf Native American hero, making El Muerto's upcoming film a promising step forward in Sony's own efforts. Only time will tell what's to come from Bad Bunny's SSU debut as development continues on El Muerto leading up to its January 12, 2024 release.
Source: Apple Music
