Wonder Man Series

The Wonder Man series will introduce a new character to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, played now by Yahya Abdul-Mateen. The series could take a different tone than we’ve seen in the past and will return at least one familiar face to the franchise.

Never heard of Wonder Man in comic books or series? Well, that’s about to change. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe, really every character that’s ever been introduced in the pages of the comic books is fair game. In a lot of ways, many have already been used, at least the most popular ones. But as we enter the fifth and sixth phases of movies and series there are more and more projects and characters being introduced to the mix.

Some of whom might not have the same kind of name recognition that we’ve seen up until this point. One of those is Wonder Man who will be getting his own series in the near future on Disney+. Giant Freakin Robot was the first with the exclusive that the show was coming.

Let’s take a look at what we know about Wonder Man, how this series is starting to shape up, where it could fall in the timeline and who has already been cast in key roles. More news is coming out all the time for Marvel and we are here to help you keep up.

WONDER MAN IS SIMON WILLIAMS AND WAS ORIGINALLY AN ENEMY OF IRON MAN

Was Wonder Man a counter to Wonder Woman? Maybe. In the world of comic books, the two big houses were often (and still are) competing over characters with similarities almost comical at some points. Regardless, we need not confuse Wonder Man with DC’s Princess Diana because this dude is a totally different guy. The character originally came about in the 1960s and in his first iteration was actually a villain.

He was created as an enemy of Tony Stark’s Iron Man because the character Simon Williams was also the son of a wealthy businessman who takes over the biz only to see Stark Industries turn that thing into dust. Eventually, he goes to jail though is propositioned by Baron Zemo (could we see a Thunderbolts overlap here?) to become plant in the Avengers.

This is where Williams becomes Wonder Man and is given powers that have him pulsing with ionic energy and all the attributes that go along with it (speed, strength, etc). From that point of view, he’s your standard comic book character.

The character does take a turn though and eventually ends up on the side of good after he dies, is brought back, and vows to be virtuous with his abilities. He joins the Avengers though as his alter ego is also employed to do some stunt work in movie productions (this will be important when we talk about casting later) and does your run-of-the-mill hero work.

In the comics, his story did overlap with some other major arcs like Secret Invasion and even Civil War though it’s unclear if the MCU version will take part in the former story (the latter is already in the books).

YAHYA ABDUL-MATEEN II WILL STAR AS WONDER MAN

The casting on this had been mostly under wraps, but big news came out when the great Yahya Abdul-Mateen was slotted to star as Simon Williams/ Wonder Man. Abdul-Mateen’s credits are some of the best out there, having starred in HBO’s Watchmen, The Matrix Resurrections as the new version of Morpheus, and in Aquaman as Black Manta.

Having him star in this series adds incredible credibility to the cast and the overall trajectory of the show. And there’s a likelihood this character has staying power in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with such a big name attached.

BEN KINGSLEY HAS BEEN CAST IN THE WONDER MAN SERIES

As of right now, we don’t have a lead for the Wonder Man series. Originally, it looked like the MCU was going to use Nathan Fillion in the role and he had even shot something for Guardians of the Galaxy which was meant to introduce him into the universe. But that was cut and Marvel could definitely go a different direction now. There’s been no clear word about what will happen along that front.

We do know that there’s been one other casting decision with a character already technically in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though he’s not of the hero variety. That’s because Variety had it recently that Ben Kingsley was returning to the fold as his Trevor Slattery character and would appear in the series.

We’ve seen him a couple of times already, first introduced in Iron Man 3 as the actor who was posing as The Mandarin. He was arrested but eventually ended up in Shang-Cho and the Legend of the Ten Rings, essentially captured as a court jester type for the evil group’s amusement. He ended up helping in the end though, essentially redeeming the character. 

Bringing in Ben Kingsley as Slattery signals that the show will likely deal with the acting profession for Simon Williams seeing as how that is where each of their stories somewhat overlap. 

DESTIN DANIEL CRAIG AND ANDREW GUEST ARE LEADING THE SERIES

While we don’t have the lead cast for the Wonder Man series, we do know who is handling the story and the direction. As per the style Disney and Marvel like to employ for their series, there is one person in charge of the direction in addition to a head writer. 

Destin Daniel Cretton will act as executive producer and already has one Marvel credit under his belt with another to come. He directed the aforementioned Shang Chi so there’s some overlap with Kingsley there. Crestin has also been tapped to direct The Avengers: The Kang Dynasty as well. That is going to be the penultimate movie in Marvel’s Phase Six, right before The Avengers: Secret Wars.

Meanwhile, Andrew Guest is on as head writer for the Wonder Man series. The Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Community writer also worked as a consulting producer on the MCU’s Hawkeye so he has experience with this franchise already. From a creative direction standpoint, this is such a good starting point for the show.

THERE IS NO RELEASE DATE FOR THE WONDER MAN SERIES ON DISNEY+

As of this writing, it isn’t known exactly when Wonder Man will release on Disney+. We are likely years away on that front. It wouldn’t be happening until Phase 6 and with a lack of firm casting news, it would probably be at the tail end of that timeline. Other shows happening in this section are ones like Armor Wars and Nova both of which are just starting to ramp things up. 

In all, Wonder Man could offer a new fresh face to the Marvel mix and there’s some chance we see Simon Williams pop up before the show even releases.