If you’re a superhero fan, does the name El Muerto ring a bell? Probably not, as the character has only ever appeared twice in the pages of Marvel Comics, but in April, it was announced that rapper and Bullet Train actor Bad Bunny will star in an El Muerto movie set in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Now that entry in the lineup of upcoming superhero movies has taken a big step forward by hiring its director and writer.
Per The Wrap, Desierto’s Jonás Cuarón has been tapped to helm Bad Bunny, while Miss Bala’s Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer will pen the script. This will be Dunnet-Alcocer’s second time working within the superhero genre, as he also wrote the upcoming DC movie Blue Beetle. With a director and writer now on board with the lead actor, El Muerto moves closer to finally kicking off production, with the goal being to deliver the fifth entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe at the start of 2024.
El Muerto will be the first Marvel movie to star a Latino character, as well as Bad Bunny’s first time leading his own movie. Although the Grammy-winning rapper, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, had a minor role in F9, he made his first big cinematic splash earlier this year in Bullet Train, which saw his character, Wolf, and Brad Pitt’s Ladybug getting into a memorable fight. In addition to El Muerto providing him the opportunity to show off his superhero chops, Bad Bunny is also appearing opposite Camila Mendes and O’Shea Jackson Jr. in American Sole.
Introduced in 2006’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #6, El Muerto, a.k.a. Juan-Carlos Estrada Sanchez, was a luchador who accepted the El Muerto mantle after his father died in a battle with El Dorado, who disrupted the ritual necessary for Juan-Carlos to obtain his birthright. Afforded an extra 10 years to train, Juan-Carlos needed to defeat and unmask a masked hero, and he chose Spider-Man as his target. However, eventually the superpowered luchador and Web-Slinger joined forces to defeat El Dorado.
Needless to say that because El Muerto has, once again, literally only shown up in two comic book issues so far, it’s safe to say that Jonás Cuarón and Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer will have a lot of free rein with adapting the character for the big screen. Plus, although this franchise is called Sony’s Spider-Man universe, just like with the Venom movies and Morbius, it’s doubtful that any incarnation of the Webbed Wonder will pop up in El Muerto. Other forthcoming movies in the franchise include Kraven the Hunter, Madame Web and Venom 3.
El Muerto opens in theaters on January 12, 2024. but if you’re wondering what’s coming sooner on the cinematic horizon, read through our 2022 release schedule and 2023 release schedule.
