The Spider-Man movie universe continues to grow at Sony as yet another spinoff from the comic book stories of the web-slinger is being made into a movie. Somewhat following in the footsteps of the Kraven the Hunter movie, Bad Bunny will be taking on an anti-hero character by the name of El Muerto.
Unable to tape into the MCU directly, Sony has made a strategy of making movies that center around Spider-Man, without actually having the character in any of its movies. The most recent instance of this that hit theaters was Morbius, though that obviously showed that the approach hasn't always been all that successful. A more successful way of approaching going around Spider-Man while still capitalizing on his name and popularity is the two Venom movies that have been released by Sony. What's clear with this latest film is that the company is going all-in on trying to capture the anti-hero movie market.
El Muerto will be the next phase of this strategy as it was announced at Cinema Con that the movie centered around a super-powered wrestler is coming to theaters in January of 2024. When the movie does arrive, the expanded Spider-Man universe and Marvel will be getting its first Latino superhero lead. Bad Bunny will take on the role in his first ever Marvel movie.
In the comics, El Muerto is a super-powered wrestler who has had their mask and abilities passed down through generations of family members. In order to wear the mask and use his powers, new El Muertos would need to prove themselves against the powerful, El Dorado. Juan-Carlos Estrada Sanchez the version of the character that Bad Bunny will be playing was one of these chosen descendants, but he was unable to fight El Dorado when his father Marcus Estrada presented him. As a result, Marcus sacrificed himself to save his son.
El Muerto was given 10 years to come back and try and prove that he had what it took to actually fight El Dorado. During that period of time, the character cross paths with Spider-Man a number of different times. Much like Venom in the comics, sometimes he was a kind of partner to webhead, and sometimes he was an adversary.
The El Muerto movie was just part of the big announcements for Sony during Cinemacon. The company also shed light on its future plans for the Spider-Verse films and the fact that it will indeed put out a third Venom flick
The so far untitled El Muerto movie is hitting theaters in January of 2024.
Source: IGN