In what had been set to be the first Latino-led Marvel film ever, El Muerto has had its place on Sony‘s release calendar removed. Starring rapper Bad Bunny in the titular role and set to had been released on Jan. 12 2024, the antihero spinoff has lots its place alongside a couple others.
Known in the comics as Juan-Carlos Estrada Sanchez, El Muerto is an antihero with its origin in the Spider-Man universe. The legend of the character can be grasped in Marvel‘s biography on the character which reveals that El Muerto’s powers are founded in a special luchador mask. Juan Carlos is a Mexican wrestler who is granted superpowers as a result of a mask handed to him by his father having been passed down for generations. The possession of the ancestral mask makes Juan Carlos a target of the villain, El Dorado who would challenge the then child for the mask. In a bid to save his son, Juan Carlos’ father sacrifices his life to save his boy who – upon reaching safety – would spend the next ten years preparing for a showdown with his family’s nemesis. At Sony‘s Cinema Con in 2022 when the project was first announced, Bad Bunny showed excitement about being on board. “To bring El Muerto to life is just incredible .. so exciting,” the rapper said at the time.
Despite the announcement of the film’s removal from Sony’s calendar, the film in itself marks a continuous trend of the studio creating a separate universe from that of famed stars from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All these creations by Sony, all lean towards confrontation or collaboration with the studio’s prized character, Spider-Man. The trend in question began in 2018 with the release of Venom, then came its sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage in 2021, and the recently released Morbius. The Sony Spider-Man universe is set to continue its expansion with films like Kraven the Hunter featuring Aaron Taylor-Johnson coming on Oct. 6 and Madame Web starring Dakota Johnson on Feb. 16, 2024 on the way.
More Release Dates Moved Around
As part of the announcement by Sony, the studio also revealed new release dates for Dumb Money from Oct. 20 to Sept. 22; as well as the LaKeith Stanfield-led biblical epic The Book of Clarence which took the slot of El Muerto from Sept. 22 to the Jan. 12 slot. Dumb Money is seen as the ultimate David vs. Goliath tale, based on the insane true story of everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GameStop into the world’s hottest company. Directed by Craig Gillespie, it stars Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley and Seth Rogen.
The Book of Clarence will tell the tale of Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield), a down-on-his-luck denizen of Jerusalem embarking on a misguided attempt to capitalize on the rise of celebrity and influence of the Messiah for his own personal gain — a journey that leads him on an exploration of the idea of faith and to a highly unexpected path of his own. The cast members include Omar Sy, RJ Cyler, Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy, Anna Diop, Teyana Taylor, David Oyelowo, Alfre Woodard, and Marianne Jean Baptiste among others.
via Collider