Simon Williams, the Wonder Man, has supposedly been discovered for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to sources on Monday, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is in negotiations to play the title role in a future Wonder Man Disney+ series. Abdul-Mateen II has experience in the superhero genre; he previously played Doctor Manhattan in the Watchmen television series and Black Manta in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Ambulance, Candyman, and The Get Down are also included in his filmography.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton, who also directed Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and writer Andrew Guest, who wrote Brooklyn Nine-Nine, collaborated on Wonder Man. It will have Ben Kingsley reprising his role as Trevor Slattery, and according to sources, it may be an MCU satire of Hollywood.
Who is Wonder Man from Marvel?
Wonder Man was a villain-turned-hero with several superpowers, including recognizable energy manipulation, teleportation, and strength. He was created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Don Heck in 1964’s Avengers. The fact that the character was a founding member of the West Coast Avengers helped him break into the acting and stunt world in Hollywood.
In the comics, Wonder Man also has a special relationship with The Vision, who considers him to be like a brother, as well as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch. After Vision was destroyed during the “Vision Quest” storyline (about which, curiously, Marvel is rumored to be planning a Disney+ series), he also became Wanda’s love interest.
Has Wonder Man made an appearance in the MCU?
When writer-director James Gunn cast Nathan Fillion in the role of Wonder Man, the character was temporarily set up to make an appearance in 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. A scene set on Earth was meant to have a quick cameo from Fillion’s Wonder Man in a series of in-universe movie posters, but it was ultimately deleted from the movie.
At the time, Gunn wrote on his Facebook page, “I really do adore the character of Simon Williams/Wonder Man in the comics — a sometimes douchey actor/superhero — and could picture Nathan vividly in that role (not because he’s a douchebag, but because he’s fantastic at playing one). But of course, I didn’t have a place for him in a movie that was 99.9% set in space. I decided to build a theatre showing a “Simon Williams Film Festival” with six Simon Williams movie posters outside in a brief flash to earth. He has a B movie history, as evident from the posters. Most of them are in some way Easter eggs on their own.
