A surprising side character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe could be making his return in a Disney Plus series. First appearing in Iron Man 3, Trevor Slattery was perfectly played by Sir Ben Kingsley. The character was first thought to be the Mandarin until Tony Stark uncovered that he was actually an actor paid by Aldrich Killian and made to look like he was the mastermind behind Killian’s Extremis attacks.
The character was sent to prison after the events of Iron Man 3 and returned in the one-shot All Hail the King in 2014 before returning to the MCU in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The real man dubbed the Mandarin was really Xu Wenwu (played by Tony Leung), aka Shang-Chi’s father. After learning that Slattery was impersonating him in Iron Man 3, Wenwu ordered the Ten Rings to imprison Slattery in his compound, where he met a Hundun named Morris. The pair survived the film, so it would not be surprising for the character to return in a future MCU outing.
Let’s unpack which series the character is slated to appear in and how his appearance might fit into the larger story of the MCU.
Which Disney Plus series is Trevor Slattery slated to appear in?
According to Variety, Kingsley will be reprising his role as Trevor Slattery in the upcoming Disney Plus series Wonder Man. In the comic books, Wonder Man was a man named Simon Williams who, after experimentation conducted by Baron Helmut Zemo, turned into the superhuman Wonder Man. Wonder Man was originally a villain, a pawn used by Zemo, but he eventually joined the Avengers. Wonder Man has so many ties to the characters already introduced in the MCU that it is quite hard to nail down how the Disney Plus series will revamp his story. For example, his villainous beginnings related to Tony Stark buying out his company sounds familiar. Hank Pym once revived him, as did Kang the Conqueror, and he was once romantically involved with Captain Marvel.
Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, is attached to the series as an executive producer, so Trevor Slattery might be making an appearance alongside Shang-Chi himself. One aspect of the Wonder Man story that will probably be the reason Trevor Slattery appears is that in the comic books, Wonder Man is a movie star as well as a distinguished superhero. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, James Gunn filmed a cameo of Nathan Fillion as Wonder Man, but it was unfortunately cut from the film. While it might seem like the cameo was cut for the arrival of this series ⏤ and that might very well be true ⏤ Gunn himself has said that the scene in which Fillion was featured was cut completely, not just Fillion’s role. In fact, Fillion only appeared on movie posters outside a movie theater.
So why would Trevor Slattery appear in Wonder Man? Well, for starters, he’s an actor. Don’t forget that “his Lear was the toast of Croydon” before Slattery was under the employ of Killian in Iron Man 3. Depending on how Marvel crafts Wonder Man’s origin story, Slattery could have worked with him in something before the events of Iron Man 3. Or, perhaps more likely, after tasting his freedom in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the actor might go to Hollywood in search of acting work and that is where the two encounter each other.
As for when we might see it happen, Wonder Man does not currently have an announced release date. It obviously will not be released in 2022 and based on the company’s recent announcements, Marvel’s 2023 Disney Plus series slate seems quite full, with six Disney Plus series slated for next year, including Secret Invasion, Ironheart, Agatha: Coven of Chaos, and the second season of Loki. Its 2024 lineup is looking lighter, so that might be the target Marvel is aiming for, as so far only Daredevil: Born Again will be released in 2024.
As we have not yet heard about casting for the titular character, it’s probably a safe bet that Wonder Man featuring Trevor Slattery will be released in 2024 or beyond. We’ll likely will have to wait a while to see if Slattery will really be making his return and if he’ll run into his fellow actor Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man.