Bad Bunny is el Muerto! Puerto Rican rapper Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known by his stage name Bad Bunny, has been cast as the newest character in Sony’s slate of Marvel superheroes – he will lead the standalone film El Muerto. 

The casting announcement was made at CinemaCon this week, and marks the first time a Latino actor has headlined a live-action Marvel film.

Known as Juan-Carlos Estrada Sanchez in the comics, El Muerto is a wrestler whose powers (including superstrength) are handed down by ancestry in the form of a mask. Sony brass have hinted that Bad Bunny will play an antihero on the verge of inheriting his father’s power; the singer-actor has also dabbled in professional wrestling, which makes him particularly well-suited to the lead role.

The decision to centre on el Muerto may surprise some fans, given that he is a fairly minor Spider-Man-related character – but then again so is Madame Web, another character getting their own feature. Deadline has also reported that it was Bad Bunny himself who mined the Spider-Man library for Latin characters that would suit him, and it was him who brought the idea to the studio.

Other upcoming Sony Marvel projects include the Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney-led Madame Web, which releases July 7th, 2023, and Kraven the Hunter starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, which is due to hit cinemas January 13th, 2023.

Bad Bunny will next be seen opposite Brad Pitt in the action thriller Bullet Train, which releases later this year.