Yahya Abdul-Mateen II To Star In Marvel’s ‘Wonder Man’
by Erik Amaya
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is grabbing another comic book credit.
Deadline reports the actor will star in Marvel Studios and Disney+’s Wonder Man series. Created by Don Heck, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, the character started out as an Avengers foe before eventually joining the team over 20 years later. Growing up the ne’er-do-well son of a rich industrialist, he eventually agrees to be a plant within the Avengers on the behalf of Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil. He ultimately decides not to sell out the heroes and pays for it with his life. But that wouldn’t be the end as Hank Pym managed to save his brain, after a fashion, and rejoins it to the body after many years, weird conflicts, and being used as the basis for Vision’s brain. He subsequently rejoined the Avengers and other iterations of the team across the decades. Somehow, he also found time to become an actor.
Ben Kingsley will also appear as Trevor Slattery, the actor whose appearance in Iron Man 3 led to him spending several years as a guest of the Ten Rings. We presume he will attempt a comeback and, somehow, Simon Williams (Abdul-Mateen) will be involved.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton is developing the series alongside Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Community veteran Andrew Guest, who will serve as head writer. The project is, presumably, the one first whispered about when the director signed an overall deal with Disney to continue developing projects within and outside of the Marvel Studios environment. We’re also presuming the series will be another comedy.
Abdul-Mateen’s previous comic book characters include Aquaman‘s Black Manta — which he will reprise in next year’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom — and a further iteration of Watchmen‘s Doctor Manhattan. A third role is something special and we look forward to seeing him in a more lighthearted program alongside Kingsley.
Wonder Man will likely debut sometime in 2024.