Rapper and singer Bad Bunny was hand-picked by Sony Pictures to join the Spider-Man Universe as the star of El Muerto, which translate to 'The Dead One' in English.
With Jonas Cuarón set to direct from a screenplay by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, a premiere date was set for the Spider-Man spinoff for January 12, 2024.
But on Wednesday El Muerto was pulled from Sony's release schedule due to Bad Bunny's touring schedule and the ongoing 2023 Writers Guild Of America strike.
The production is poised to make history as the first time a Latino character leads a Marvel live-action film, according to Deadline.
A wrestling wrestling aficionado in his real life, Bad Bunny (born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) is set to play the lead, Juan Carlos Estrada Sanchez, described in Marvel lore as an anti-hero and son of a luchador (Mexican professional wrestler) next in line to inherit the ancestral superhuman power of El Muerto.
Between his busy tour schedule and the ongoing WGA strike, it has proven to be even too difficult for the studio to set a new release date
Sony executive were first interested in Bad Bunny for the role after being impressed with his performance in their action comedy film Bullet Train (2022) that also stars Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada.
Afterwards, the Vega Baja, Puerto Rico native, 29, made a surprise appearance at Sony's CinemaCon panel in Las Vegas in April 2022 to announce the film.
'It's amazing. it's incredible. I love wrestling. I grew up watching it and now I'm a wrestler,' Bad Bunny said of playing El Muerto during CinemaCon, as reported by Entertainment Weekly.
He added, 'This is why I love this character. I think it's the perfect role to me, it will be epic.'
El Muerto is a wrestler whose eventual superhuman powers stem from a special mask that's been passed down through generations, according to the description in Variety.
It hasn't be revealed whether Spider-Man will appear in the film, considering El Muerto once faced the web-slinger in Marvel Comics in the hopes of unmasking the vigilante before the two ended up joining forces.
While Bad Bunny is best known for his musical abilities, he has garnered more acting experience with his recurring role on Narcos: Mexico (2021), to go along with Bullet Train, as well as his time in the ring as a WWE wrestler at Wrestlemania 37 (2021), Royal Rumble (2022), and WWE SmackDown (2023).
There have been other live-action Latin characters, including Salma Hayek's Ajak in Eternals (2021) and Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022), but in El Muerto the Juan Carlos Estrada Sanchez character actually get his own standalone movie.
With El Mutero off the Sony schedule, the studio filled that slot with The Book Of Clarence, the Jeymes Samuel-directed film starring LaKeith Stanfield that had been slated to be released on September 22, 2023.
All the moving and shaking also saw the movie Dumb Money be shifted to September 22 instead of October 20.
Bad Bunny rose to prominence in 2016 with his song Diles, which led to a deal with Hear This Music.
He continued gaining traction with songs such as Soy Peor and collaborations with the likes of Farruko, Karol G, Ozuna and J Balvin, among others, during the next few years.
His major breakthrough came in 2018 with his feature on Cardi B's number-one song I LIke It alongside J Balvin, and his top-10 song Mia featuring Drake.
Bad Bunny has since gone on to release four studio albums since 2018, with the most recent being Un Verano Sin Ti (2022), all while being credited with helping Spanish-language music achieve mainstream popularity in the worldwide market.
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