Highlights
- Sony's Spider-Verse plans may no longer include Bad Bunny's El Muerto Spider-Man spinoff.
- Sony's Spider-Verse universe has faced setbacks with recent box office bombs like Morbius, and upcoming films like Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web lack excitement.
- Bad Bunny's involvement in El Muerto is seemingly over, leaving room for Sony to reconsider their Spider-Man projects.
Bad Bunny's El Muerto Spider-Man spinoff may no longer be a part of Sony's Spider-Verse plans.
Sony decided to capitalize on owning the movie rights to Spider-Man by creating a movie universe featuring spinoffs of Spider-Man villains and side characters. Sony started with Venom in 2018, which became a huge box office success. However, Sony's Spider-Man Universe began a downward spiral when Morbius became one of the biggest box office bombs for a superhero movie. There is also seemingly little excitement for upcoming films like Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web.
One of the other films that Sony had in development was El Muerto, starring Bad Bunny, which was recently removed from the studio's release schedule. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, also known as Bad Bunny, responded vaguely when asked about what happened to El Muerto. His publicist sternly told the interviewer to go to the next question before Martínez said, “I don’t know what to say,” and called the situation “delicate.” His publicist then provided a less vague response about his role in the film, saying, “Obviously, it's out.” According to MyTimeToShineHello,El Muerto has been canceled at Sony.
El Muerto was seemingly delayed due to the ongoing writers' strike. Martínez is busy, as he is a Grammy-nominated artist and now also an actor. If the Spider-Man spinoff was delayed indefinitely, he may have had to step away from the film so that he could commit to other projects, prompting the alleged cancelation. Martínez was excited to get the El Muerto role, as he would be the first Latino actor in a lead role for a live-action Marvel movie.
El Muerto was an odd character for Sony to choose to make a solo film about. Venom was an immensely popular Spider-Man villain who became an anti-hero with many different comic book runs. Kraven is another villain significant enough to have a standalone movie, but Morbius is known only by a few people. Even worse, El Muerto appeared in only two comic books, but at some point, Sony thought he would be an interesting enough character for a solo film.
It is unclear if Sony will move forward with El Muerto at a different time and recast Bad Bunny once the actors' and writers' strikes are concluded. However, after Morbius flopped, Sony may want to change what Spider-Man projects they focus on.
Source: Vanity Fair, MyTimeToShineHello