Reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny will star in the new Spider-Man spin-off “El Muerto,” becoming the first Latino lead in a Marvel live-action superhero movie, according to Sony Pictures. Sanford Panitch, president of Sony Motion Picture Group, made the announcement at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Monday. 

“Sometimes we get lucky with the perfect casting, and I think that’s what we’ve got here,” Panitch said, according to Entertainment Tonight.

Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is an avid wrestling fan and will play El Muerto, a hero wrestler, in the upcoming movie. The Puerto Rican artist appeared in Wrestlemania last year and named a song after wrestling icon Booker T in his “El Último Tour Del Mundo” album. 

At Monday’s CinemaCon, he told the crowd that playing El Muerto will be “epic.” 

“I love wrestling, I’m a pro wrestler, I don’t know if you know,” the two-time Grammy winner said, according to ET. “This is why I love this character. I think it’s the perfect role, to me.” 

The movie is set to debut in theaters on January 12, 2024, according to Sony Pictures. 

El Muerto is a super-powered wrestler who fought Spider-Man in a charity match and nearly unmasked the webbed hero, Comicbook reports. They later teamed up to defeat El Muerto’s rival, Dorado. El Muerto first debuted in 2006 and has only two comic appearances to his name, the website said. 

Sony has two other Spider-Man spinoff movies scheduled for next year: “Kraken the Hunter,” which will premiere January 13, and “Madame Webb,” which will be released July 7, Comicbook reported. 

Christopher Brito

Christopher Brito is a social media producer and trending writer for CBS News, focusing on sports and stories that involve issues of race and culture.