Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Has Been Chosen To Lead Marvel Studios' 'Wonderman'
Image Source: Entertainment Tonight
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II started out with two major DC roles but has now made the jump to Marvel. The actor is set to star as the main lead of the Wonder Man series for Disney+.
Wonder Man, real name Simon Williams, was originally introduced as a supervillain. He inherits his father’s munitions company but has trouble competing with Stark Industries, ultimately getting super strength and ion-based superpowers while working under Baron Zemo, but eventually becomes a founding member of the West Coast Avengers. How much of even his original story can be directly adapted is unlikely to amount to much, as even being an industry competitor against a Stark-less Stark Industries might not have that much weight to it, especially with how long the MCU iteration has been out of the weapons manufacturing game.
RELATED:
The series was announced in June when it was just entering development. Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton will be an executive producer and director and Hawkeye co-producer Andrew Guest will be the head writer. Cretton will also be helming Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, The only other known casting to this point is the return of the MCU’s second-best actor, Trevor Slattery, once again played by Ben Kingsley.
Mateen has played David Kane, also known as Black Manta, in Aquaman and its upcoming sequel, and Cal Abar, best known as Dr. Manhattan, in the Watchmen series, for which he won an Emmy in 2020. His other notable roles include Morpheus in The Matrix Resurrections, the lead Anthony McCoy in Nia DaCosta’s Candyman and Bobby Seale in The Trial of the Chicago 7. He’s also done theater work, most recently Broadway’s revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Suzan Lori Parks play Topdog/Underdog, where his performance has been highly regarded.
READ NEXT:
Source: Deadline
Latest News
Featured
