- Tenoch Huerta said Marvel didn't edit his bulge out of "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."
- The actor plays aquatic antihero Namor, from the underwater nation of Talokan.
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" sees Shuri (Letitia Wright) and her family deal with the loss of King T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), mirroring the actor's death back in 2020.
But they also have to deal with the powerful new underwater nation, Talokan, and its mutant ruler Namor (Tenoch Huerta). Director Ryan Coogler spends a good chunk of the runtime exploring the Talokanil's culture, and how they've survived underwater for hundreds of years.
Talokan and its people are all inspired by real Mesoamerican groups, like the Mayans and the Aztecs, which is why Namor is adorned with gorgeous jewelry and piercings.
The film also honors the character's long history in Marvel comics by putting him in bright green trunks, and a viral tweet saw fans speculate whether Marvel Studios edited out the star's bulge in the final cut of the movie.
Huerta addressed two photos — one presumably taken from an early trailer and one from the final movie — when speaking to Rolling Stone, saying the one without the bulge is the original, unedited shot.
He said: "The only thing that I can say is the original was the photo [on] the right. Without [the bulge]! That's original."
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The star then explained that he doesn't want to lie to audiences, noting that fragile masculinity is an issue in society.
He added: "No, I mean, I'm not going to lie to people. Every man in the world, we have fragile masculinity, but not in that issue. I will say, the right one, the real one is the photo on the right."
The Mexican actor also said he's "concerned" about relaxing too much and not maintaining a good physique in case he's asked to return as Namor in the future.
Huerta said: "Concerned! I actually worry about it. No, it's a big problem, man."
Huerta went on to say that his trainer has already warned him about going overboard with food now that "Wakanda Forever" is out in theaters.
"It's something that my trainer told me. 'Okay, man, now you can rest, you can chill and take your time. But not too much, because if you have to play Namor one more time, you need to go through the same process all over again. So it's better you take care of yourself and don't get crazy with tacos.'"