Musician Bad Bunny will crossover for his first major film role in a “Spider-Man” spinoff movie for Sony…
Bad Bunny — real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — will go from being a musician to a movie star with a leading role in an upcoming “Spider-Man” spinoff titled “El Muerto.”
News of his casting was announced on Monday at CinemaCon, which is the annual gathering for movie theater owners in Las Vegas where various studios present exclusive footage as well as news and announcements just like this one.
In the comics, El Muerto is actually Juan-Carlos Sanchez, a boy who grew up loving wrestling while he was training under his father to become the next in a long line of El Muertos — masked wrestlers who wore mystical masks that granted them power. When another wrestler named El Dorado attempted to kill Juan-Carlos when he refused to compete against him in order to become the next El Muerto, his father intervened to try and save his son.
Juan-Carlos’ father was killed instead and the boy was given 10 years to train and learn but then he would have to defeat another wrestler and unmask them in order to become El Muerto. He ends up in a wrestling match with Spider-Man, who later helps El Muerto defeat El Dorado to avenge his father’s death.
“It’s amazing. it’s incredible. I love wrestling. I grew up watching it and now I’m a wrestler,” Bad Bunny said after the announcement was made in Las Vegas. “This is why I love this character. I think it’s the perfect role to me, it will be epic.”
Now obviously the Sony universe of “Spider-Man” films is associated with the webslinger in only the vaguest way possible. Through two “Venom” movies and most recently the critically based film “Morbius” starring Jared Leto, Spider-Man has never actually appeared outside of random mentions or a post-credits cameo.
It’s not likely Spider-Man will be showing up in “El Muerto” either but the character will still maintain that connection based on the origin story from the comics.
As for Bad Bunny, he’ll participate in his first major starring role after previously appearing on the Netflix series “Narcos” while also becoming popular from a series of appearances in World Wrestling Entertainment where he took up professional wrestling as a hobby away from his music career.
“El Muerto” is due out in theaters on January 12, 2024.
