Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta will be making his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut with the upcoming film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The actor portrays Namor the Submariner, a popular superhero, who is being brought to the big screen for the first time. However, no everyone seems happy with his casting. On Tuesday, Marvel artist Mike Deodato Jr posted – and then deleted – a comparison of his own body with the actor’s, criticising his physique. Fans, however, did not take too kindly to the body shaming, with many criticising Mike on Twitter. Also read: Jason Momoa gets body shamed for ‘dad bod’ but fans are having none of it
Tenoch’s Aztec-inspired look for the character was revealed in the Black Panther 2 teaser released earlier this month. One shot of the actor from the back was what drew Mike’s attention. On Tuesday, he posted a picture of the screengrab of that from the trailer and a picture of himself in the nude from the back. He wrote alongside, “You can tell somebody screwed things up when a character from a movie looks in worst shape than the 60 years old artist who drew him.” By Wednesday morning, he had deleted the post.
Mike Deodato Jr is a Brazillian comic book artist, who has worked on a number of Marvel and DC titles, including Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, The Invincible Iron Man, Batman, and Wonder Woman among others. Many fans laughed at him comparing himself to the actor. “I learned today that Mike Deodato Jr must be on one hell of a hallucinogen if he thinks his bod is better than Heurta’s,” wrote one fan. Another tweeted, “Body shaming to start the week and thinking you are fitter than a man playing a literal god.” Many fans called him delusional and some even implied the post was racist in nature, criticising a person of colour.
Tenoch Huerta, 41, is Mexican actor who has worked extensively in Latin America and Spain. Namor is his first major Hollywood role. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, directed by Ryan Coogler, is the 30th film in the MCU. It stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Florence Kasumba, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Martin Freeman, and Angela Bassett. The film, which sees a new character take on the Black Panther mantle following actor Chadwick Boseman’s death, will be released on November 11.