Jonás Cuarón to Direct Bad Bunny in Sony Spider-Man spin-off ‘El Muerto’
The new movie has a script from ‘Blue Beetle’s Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer and will focus on a wrestler who gains superpowers through a mystical mask.
El Muerto from Marvel Comics. Photo courtesy of Marvel.com.
Sony used its 2022 CinemaCon presentation in April to announce that it was developing a movie based around Spider-Man character El Muerto, which will star award-winning musician Bad Bunny.
There is some forward movement on that front, as we now know that director Jonás Cuarón is on board the movie, which will have a script by ‘Blue Beetle’s Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer.
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.
Bunny apparently pursued the chance to play the character, and this would be the first leading Latino superhero in the Sony Marvel movie universe.
The musician’s most recent role was in incoming action thriller ‘Bullet Train’, which starred Brad Pitt and just crossed $100 million at the domestic box office. Sony has apparently been impressed by his performance there, moving quickly to put ‘El Muerto’ into motion to accommodate his musical and promotional schedule.
Brad Pitt and Bad Bunny star in 'Bullet Train.'
Obviously, there are no details yet about what the story will be, but we doubt it’ll feature Spidey at this point. It’s far more likely to be an origin tale of how El Muerto got his abilities. His mask is one that is passed down through the generations, and his family has always had to face El Dorado.
Cuarón has some hefty filmmaking experience, co-writing ‘Gravity’ with his father, director Alfonso Cuarón, and then moved on to make his immigration thriller ‘Desierto,’ which starred Gael Garcia Bernal and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The film won the International Critics’ Award at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival.
Dunnet-Alcocer, meanwhile, is quickly becoming a go-to writer for projects featuring Latino characters, having worked on DC’s ‘Blue Beetle’ (which stars ‘Cobra Kai’s Xolo Maridueña).
Sony has a January 12th, 2024, release date on the books for the movie.
It’ll follow other Marvel-based (though not MCU, Sony has its own Spider-universe) movies including ‘Kraven the Hunter’, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and directed by JC Chandor, and ‘Madame Web’, with SJ Clarkson directing Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney.
‘Kraven’, which will introduce one of Spidey’s classic villains, is set to arrive in theaters on October 6th, 2023, while ‘Madame Web’, featuring the clairvoyant character who has aided the web-spinner in the past but also has her own agenda, has a February 16, 2024, release planned, though the date has changed a couple of times.
Bad Bunny stars in 'Bullet Train.'
