During last year's CinemaCon, Sony Pictures made no mention of Spider-Man 4, but did announce Venom 3 and El Muerto. The former wasn't a shock after the success of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, though fans were hoping for something a little more exciting than plans for a movie starring an incredibly obscure Spider-Man villain.
Based on what we've heard, Sony gave popular rapper and aspiring actor Bad Bunny his pick of characters from their Spider-Man Universe and he decided to take a crack at bringing El Muerto to life. Given his love of pro wrestling, that's not overly surprising, especially as he's competed at WrestleMania for WWE.
Now, Screen Geek is reporting that No Time to Die and Ballerina star Ana de Armas is being eyed to play the movie's female lead opposite Bad Bunny's title character.
This would be her first superhero movie and proves that, even after movies like Venom and Morbius, Sony has no trouble attracting A-List talent to its expanding Marvel Universe (we're not convinced actors fully understand the difference between that and the MCU, to be honest).
Considering the fact El Muerto has made only a handful of appearances on the page, there's really no one we know of from his corner of the Marvel Universe who we can say Armas would be a good fit for.
However, it's entirely possible Sony will pluck another Spider-Man supporting character from the comics in order to give Armas someone noteworthy to play here. It's worth noting that this is likely to be an original tale about the Mexican wrestler who wears a mystical mask that gives him, and those in his family before, superpowers.
While El Muerto briefly tussled with Spider-Man in the squared circle, his main foe is El Dorado, a supernatural being who is responsible for granting his family these supernatural abilities. If Armas does board the project, here's hoping she isn't relegated to "love interest."
Jonás Cuarón is directing the movie based on a screenplay by Garreth Dunnet-Alcocer.
El Muerto is set to be released in theaters on January 12, 2024.