Rey Mysterio vs La Oscuridad (Translated to Rey Mysterio versus The Darkness) is an upcoming Cartoon Network animated series to be streamed in Cartoon Network Latin America. Rey Mysterio Jr. is set to be the Executive Producer and will be animated by Mexican studio Viva Calavera.
The series follows the adventures of a young boy named Oscar who teams up with his idol, Rey Mysterio, to fight off villains of both the wrestling and supernatural side, all while having to deal with the Big Bad Uroboros, who is messing with dark forces that he does not fully comprehend.
The show will have ten episodes and was going to air in 2022, but the show debuted on December 8th, 2023. A US release is planned for 2024.
This series features examples of
- Ascended Fanboy: Oscar goes from being a fan of Rey Mysterio to actively fighting alongside his idol.
- Audience Surrogate: Oscar was created as the audience's viewpoint character of an underdog who rises his way to the top.
- Badass Adorable: Oscar is an adorable boy who idolizes Rey, but doesn't become "badass" until Rey shares some powers with him.
- Badass and Child Duo: Rey Mysterio and his biggest fan Oscar are the main protagonists of the show.
- Badass Bystander: Oscar tries to be this initially, but Rey has to come save him from being hurt. It isn't until Rey gives him a bit of his power does Oscar become much more useful.
- Blue Is Heroic: Rey's mask is a bright blue which also spreads to the blue highlights that forms when he unleashes his powers. When using the powers granted to him by Rey, Oscar's white shirt and brown pants become a blue wrestling outfit and he also has a blue mask.
- Bull Seeing Red: Oscar/Enygma uses his red jacket this way towards Gran Cuerno.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: In order to activate his powers, Rey shouts "BOOYAKA!"
- Calling Your Attacks: Rey shouts "6-1-9" before going for the final blow against Gran Cuerno.
- Celebrity Toons: In this case, it's one for the eponymous pro wrestler.
- Childish Tooth Gap: Oscar has one on the upper left corner of his mouth.
- Cool Mask: All over the place, given how lucha libre is a focal point of the show. Uroboros is capable of creating corrupting masks on wrestlers and Oscar has his own collection of Rey Mysterio masks.
- Creepy Doll: Episode 2's focus is on the famous Isla de la Muencas, thus numerous creepy dolls are to be expected.
- Dark Action Girl: Cascabelle is powerful fighter who works under Uroboros.
- David Versus Goliath: A given since this was a staple of matches Rey had with opponents, but this is even more pronounced with Oscar, who is a child, who tries to jump into battle against Raging Bull/Gran Cuerno in his corrupted form.
- Daydream Surprise: Every episode starts with Rey Mysterio having an adventure fighting monsters before it's revealed to be either a pretend scenario, a comic book, or even a video game.
- Establishing Character Moment: Oscar's first scenes depict him as an avid Rey Mysterio fanboy and hopes to get attention in an online fan club by taking a photo with said wrestler. En route to the stadium for his match, Oscar finds a young girl who's looking for her brother and can't enter the stadium without a ticket. Oscar decides to give his ticket to the girl and find another way to get the photo, showing that he's willing to do the right thing over personal glory.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Promotional material explains that Uroboros is tampering with evil powers he can't control.
- Expy: Ourboros is essentially a Masked Luchador version of Hawkmoth. He wears a suit, hides his identity with a purple mask and uses a corrupting power that resides in a special item (in this case, a wrestler's mask).
- Famed In-Story: Aside from action figures and masks, Rey also has a collection of superhero comics.
- Friend to All Children: One of Rey's most well-known traits as he and Oscar team up to fight baddies, and he's willing to hang out with Oscar's friends as well.
- Funny Background Event: While Lio is calling Oscar, a little girl — whom Oscar gave his ticket to — is seen giving her older brother an Ear Ache.
- Good Wears White: Prior to getting his powers, Oscar wears a white shirt and he's a kind-hearted boy.
- Hero of Another Story: Rey has had numerous adventures outside of the ring fighting supernatural baddies.
- Kid Hero: Oscar becomes one of these once Rey shares his powers.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Upon seeing his hero in trouble, Oscar goes into battle against a super-powered wrestler that could break him in half. And then he tries this again after getting powers from Rey and, while it does catch everyone off guard when he does a Punch Catch, he's thrown away soon after. He'd probably have been dead if Rey wasn't there.
- Mask of Power: Rey's mask gives him the power to fight off against enemies and he can even transfer this power to Oscar's own mask. Rey also has to remove Raging Bull/Gran Cuerno's mask in order to defeat him.
- Masked Luchador: But of course! Masked luchadors play a big part in the show, from Rey Mysterio, to the villains he fights.
- Meaningful Name: Uroboros is a reference to the famous ouroboros, the snake that bites his tail that signals infinity. Fittingly, the mask that corrupted Raging Bull into Gran Cuerno had an infinity symbol on it.
- Mythology Gag:
- In the first episode, one of the voice clips the Rey Mysterio action figure says is "Viva la raza!"
- Rey transfers some of his power to Oscar via a forehead bump, reflecting how Rey would do this to children whenever he enters the ring for his matches.
- On the stadium in the first episode is a poster for Rodeo Rumble.
- And, of course, naming the main character Oscar, Rey's real name.
- From the creators, the concept of Rey fighting Raging Bull was inspired by the well known shot of The Great Khali towering over Rey from 2006.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The first episode has Rey Mysterio fight off Gran Cuerno for a championship. A few scenes later, Rey has the belt draped over his shoulder.
- Papa Wolf: Rey has only met Oscar for just a few minutes, but he instantly goes to the kid's protection when he gets into the crossfire between Rey and a wrestler corrupted by one of Uroboros' masks.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: This is a given for Rey Mysterio, but once Oscar gains some of Rey's powers, he's shown to be able to perform a Punch Catch on Gran Cuerno.
- Primary-Color Champion: Rey's primary color is blue, but his mask also includes red eagle wings and a yellow cross. Oscar also counts since he has a blue mask and red jacket.
- Psycho Pink: Cascabelle has pink highlights around the eyes of her mask and wears a pink jacket. She's also working for Uroboros.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Played for Laughs. The second episode has two luchadors having tea, only to quickly start arguing with one another when Oscar notices them.
- Red Is Heroic: Oscar is first seen wearing a red hoodie and he immediately decides to jump in to fight Gran Cuerno.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: One of Uroboros' henchmen has a cobra mask.
- Secondary Color Nemesis: Big Bad Uroboros wears a purple and green wrestling mask.
- Secret-Keeper: Oscar is the only person who knows of Rey's true abilities and even goes as far as to delete the video he recorded of Rey's fight — which he was going to use to get up in the rankings of an online fan club — once Rey asks him to keep it secret.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Uroboros wears a really stylish suit to contrast to how Rey himself is a Walking Shirtless Scene.
- Shout-Out: Victor and Valentino can be seen in the audience of the first episode.
- Small Role, Big Impact: On the way to the stadium, Oscar finds a little girl who wants to enter the stadium to find her brother. He hands her his ticket and she hands him an old mask. Through this, Oscar decides to go backstage to find Rey Mysterio right at the time Rey has to fight off against Gran Cuerno, and his mask helps to hide his identity and bestow him magical abilities to fight back.
- Social Media Before Reason: Rey is shocked to see how Oscar is openly trying to record his fight against Gran Cuerno — in an attempt to boost his ratings in a fan club — instead of getting to safety. Thankfully, the end of the first episode has Oscar deleting the video instead of uploading it online.
- Theme Naming: Oscar's wrestling alias is called "Enygma" to go along with Rey Mysterio.
- Tuckerization: The Kid Hero, Oscar, is named after Rey Mysterio himself (real name: Oscar Gutierrez)
- Vocal Evolution: Oscar's voice is much deeper than it was in the pilot.
- What You Are in the Dark: Nothing really is stopping Oscar from uploading the video he saw of Rey's supernatural abilities as he could use it to climb up the rankings of the Rey Mysterio Fanclub. However, when reminded of Rey asking this to be kept a secret, he deletes it.
