Given the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and more, it's not shocking to know that Sony is looking to keep expanding its Marvel-linked universe. The studio used its CinemaCon presentation on Monday evening to announce that award-winning musician Bad Bunny (real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) will play the character of El Muerto in a new movie.
El Muerto debuted in a 2006 issue of ‘Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’, written by Peter David, and illustrated by Roger Cruz. The character, real name Juan Carlos, was a super powered wrestler who originally fought Spider-Man in a charity wrestling where he nearly unmasked the hero before being stung by Spider-Man, with a paralyzing poison. After being saved from the hospital by the web-spinner when Muerto’s oppressor El Dorado came to claim the wrestler’s life, the two would team up to defeat Dorado.
No further details were announced, but Sony is looking to get this one moving quickly to accommodate the Puerto Rican rapper's schedule. He impressed studio types with his role in Bullet Train (of which director David Leitch brought the first reel to the Con) and he pushed for the role of El Muerto.
It would mark the first Latin superhero lead in a Sony Marvel movie, so it's another step forward for the Sony universe.
In other Spider-news, Phil Lord and Chris Miller showed up with 15 minutes of Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse footage. Though unfinished, the impressive scenes showed Hailee Steinfeld's Spider-Gwen and Miguel O'Hara (Oscar Isaac) battling villains on Earth 65 alongside a pregnant Jessica Drew (Issa Rae).
Also announced? The fact that the second sequel is now known as Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse, which will be out in 2024.
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse will be in cinemas on 2 June 2023.