Even though the series was first announced close to four months ago, Marvel Studios has yet to officially confirm or deny anything about the in-development Wonder Man series for Disney Plus – with all of the information so far having been reported by the trades as opposed to Kevin Feige’s outfit.
In an even more unusual turn of events, the first name announced for the cast wasn’t even the title hero, with Ben Kingsley following up his decade-in-the-making Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings comeback to return once more as Trevor Slattery – a decision that makes fantastic sense in the context of Wonder Man being pegged as a Hollywood satire when the one-time Mandarin is a jobbing actor.
Shang-Chi‘s Destin Daniel Cretton is serving as an executive producer, with Community and Hawkeye alum Andrew Guest set as head writer, but no other creatives have been revealed as of yet. We’re still waiting to find out the identity of the actor to play Simon Williams, though, but a new rumor sweeping the internet suggests that the number one choice for the role is none other than the DCEU’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
First reported by ScreenGeek, the story was then vaguely hinted towards by insider Grace Randolph, who corroborated that “an offer was out” to a DC Films veteran who wasn’t Henry Cavill. While it isn’t anywhere close to being a done deal, or even being proven accurate, Abdul-Mateen II is nonetheless one of the fastest-rising stars in the business who would be an excellent pick for the gig.
There’s no rule that says you can’t work for both Marvel and DC, so if the Candyman headliner does land the part, we can probably expect Black Manta to meet his demise during Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
