Back in 2023, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star Tenoch Huerta, who played Namor in the Marvel Studios sequel, was hit with some very serious allegations by saxophonist María Elena Ríos, who accused the actor of being a "sexual predator" in a series of Tweets.
Huerta released a statement shortly after, categorically denying Rios' claims and calling them “false and completely unsubstantiated.” However, the actor did decide to drop out of a Netflix film titled Fiesta en la Madriguera, in which he was set to play the lead.
“Given the impact of the recent false statements by María Elena Ríos and the damage they have caused, I have no choice but to withdraw from participating in the film Fiesta en la Madriguera," the actor said in a statement via Variety. "It is with great sadness that I do this, but I cannot allow her actions to harm not only me, but also the work of dozens of talented and hard-working people involved in the project. My focus now is simple: continue the process of restoring my reputation.”
As far as we know, no charges were ever brought against Huerta, but accusations like these can quite easily derail a career, so we weren't sure if we'd ever see him as the Savage Sub Mariner in the MCU again. However, we learned that he would reprise the role for Avengers: Doomsday during the recent cast announcement.
Now, Huerta has spoken about his return as the aquatic anti-hero for the first time during an interview with Mexican news site La ReSolana.
Huerta revealed that he only found out that he was going to be part of the cast hours before the livestream.
“They practically told us around 12 at night, and at 5:30 in the morning, the livestream started, and they told us, ‘Hey, the news is about to drop.'"
He also indicated that a lot of the characters will have minor roles.
“There are like twenty-something characters involved in the story. It’s more condensed because they give everyone their bit of time... and all the [different] universes."
Finally, Huerta hinted that he has filmed scenes with The Fantastic Four: First Steps star Vanessa Kirby, referring to her as “a great and spectacular coworker.”
As Marvel Comics fans will likely be aware, this may be significant because the characters become romantically linked on the page. Can we expect some flirtation or even a full on affair between the two in Doomsday? It's certainly possible, although MTTSH has responded to the interview quotes with the following:
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were recently hit with significant delays, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
You can check out the full (for now) Doomsday cast list below.
• Paul Rudd as Ant-Man
• Simu Liu as Shang-Chi
• Tom Hiddleston as Loki
• Lewis Pullman as Sentry
• Florence Pugh as Yelena
• Danny Ramirez as Falcon
• Ian McKellen as Magneto
• Sebastian Stan as Bucky
• Winston Duke as M’Baku
• Chris Hemsworth as Thor
• Kelsey Grammer as Beast
• James Marsden as Cyclops
• Channing Tatum as Gambit
• Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
• Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm
• Rebecca Romijn as Mystique
• Patrick Stewart as Professor X
• Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler
• Letitia Wright as Black Panther
• Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor
• Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards
• Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost
• Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm
• David Harbour as Red Guardian
• Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing
• Anthony Mackie as Captain America