Wonder Man: MCU, meta, comedy

[Techwright]

The MCU is finally pointing the spotlight on Wonder Man, and...  Sir Ben Kingsley's Trevor Slattery is back, baby!

 

As IMDB points out, this interpretation is extremely meta.  ( I thought the metas were all over in DC Comics.  Okay, so that was a poor pun on terminology.  Carrying on...)  The character is Simon Williams, same name from the comics.  This outing the character is black American, though he remains an actor, who is trying out for the big-movie remake of... Wonder Man.   

 

Huh?

 

As Kovak, the in-story director states "When everyone is tired of superheroes, there is an opportunity to re-imagine a whole genre."

 

It's as if Disney/Marvel had been reading online comments for a few years.

 

Yep, the meta of this film crashes in early and often.  Posters and clips from the in-story original Wonder Man film show a Caucasian Wonder Man whose appearance and costume match up (at least with 1970s sci-fi styling) with the comics character.  Personally, I see it as a fun way to say, "Yep, this MCU Simon Williams is going to be somewhat different.  Deal with it."  The trailer can fill in the rest.  What I find interesting is that the trailer deliberately doesn't speak to MCU's Simon William's powers, which gives the whole obsessed actor thing, and the comedy elements, including Trevor Slattery, a chance to breathe.   While not stated, I suspect MCU Simon Williams does not yet have his powers.

 

Wonder Man will be an 8-part series on Disney+.  IMDB suggests Sir Ben will be in every episode.  

 

One other note:  I keep thinking I've seen the actor for in-show director before, but if I've picked the right name from the IMDB list, I don't recognize him or his body of work.  It looks like the character might be a lot of fun as well.

 

 

[Darmian]

1 hour ago, Techwright said:

One other note:  I keep thinking I've seen the actor for in-show director before, but if I've picked the right name from the IMDB list, I don't recognize him or his body of work.  It looks like the character might be a lot of fun as well

Have you seen the recent Superman?

[Ulysses Dare]

IMDb lists a credit for Eric Williams. I wonder if we'll get to see the Grim Reaper and if that will tie into Simon getting his powers?

[Ghost]

The main thing that make me leery, is that I ALWAYS hated the character in the comics.

 

[Techwright]

3 hours ago, Darmian said:

Have you seen the recent Superman?

I have not.  There's (unfortunately) a lot of things I've not seen this year due to some family needs that had to be addressed first.

[TerroirNoir3]

1 minute ago, Techwright said:

I have not.  There's (unfortunately) a lot of things I've not seen this year due to some family needs that had to be addressed first.

Ah, he plays the President of Boravia in that movie.

[Darmian]

Just now, TerroirNoir3 said:

Ah, he plays the President of Boravia in that movie.

Beat me to it @TerroirNoir3!

[Techwright]

18 minutes ago, Ghost said:

The main thing that make me leery, is that I ALWAYS hated the character in the comics.

 

 

I have not been as exposed to the nature of Simon Williams as I have other Avengers.  What I have encountered gave me something of a Johnny Cage-like vibe: cocky action star.  Is there some facet(s) of the character that specifically trigger your hate?

[Ghost]

15 hours ago, Techwright said:

 

I have not been as exposed to the nature of Simon Williams as I have other Avengers.  What I have encountered gave me something of a Johnny Cage-like vibe: cocky action star.  Is there some facet(s) of the character that specifically trigger your hate?

Always thought he was overly cocky, and looked silly in that costume LOL

Hopefully he won’t come across as bad in this adaptation.

Edited October 13 by Ghost

[Bionic_Flea]

33 minutes ago, TerroirNoir3 said:

Ah, he plays the President of Boravia in that movie.

 

He was also the Russian former-boxer turned billionaire businessman that John Cusak drove around in 2012 (the movie).

[JKCarrier]

I was always indifferent to Wonder Man -- I didn't mind having him around, but he was never a favorite. So I don't mind that they're apparently changing pretty much everything about him. After all the epic, apocalyptic superhero movies flying around, I'm ready for something low-stakes and light-hearted, and this seems to qualify. Hopefully it'll be good, and not just a bunch of Hollywood in-jokes.

[Techwright]

Here's the teaser:

 

 

[TTRPGWhiz]

This trailer seems to be a cheeky nod to complaints about certain changes made  to characters between page and screen. It’s also incomprehensible to me, so maybe it’s also a nod to “they put everything in the trailer”. I get the sense that part of playing the role of Wonder Man will involve the actor gaining superpowers. 
 

It’s nice that they’re giving Simon Williams a rest from being constantly embroiled in Vision & Scarlet Witch drama. He deserves his own story.

[BrandX]

Well, Wonder Man isn't a fave of mine, so the race bending of Wonder Man isn't going to bother me, but at the same time, as the character is getting their first on screen appearance in the MCU, I'd be more inclined to see them stick to the comics.

 

But, I'll complain about such changes if it happens with X-Men since it's a comic I actually read.

 

Trailer doesn't have me excited tho, but I'm going to give it a chance.  I can't imagine it being as bad as Echo, which may be the suckiest of sucks that ever did suck in the MCU.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

On 10/12/2025 at 1:06 PM, Techwright said:

Sir Ben Kingsley's Trevor Slattery is back, baby!

It's tricky to piece together exactly how this is going to play out, but having read a few different pieces...

.

..seems that Simon goes looking for Trevor - as one of the very few (sorta-) approachable people who's been involved with superheroics, but is also an actor. And while Trevor's a cantankerous, manipulative, needy old bugger, he does come to realise exactly how much Simon wants this and is going pretty much Method to get it. So he swings in behind him.

 

Though whether Trevor's help will prove useful, backfire horrifically/hilariously, or both, remains to be seen...

[Techwright]

On 10/16/2025 at 6:51 PM, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

It's tricky to piece together exactly how this is going to play out, but having read a few different pieces...

.

..seems that Simon goes looking for Trevor - as one of the very few (sorta-) approachable people who's been involved with superheroics, but is also an actor. And while Trevor's a cantankerous, manipulative, needy old bugger, he does come to realise exactly how much Simon wants this and is going pretty much Method to get it. So he swings in behind him.

 

Though whether Trevor's help will prove useful, backfire horrifically/hilariously, or both, remains to be seen...

 

Keep in mind that Trevor stayed behind to train with Shang-Chi's aunt and company.  Not sure what, if anything he learned, but he may surprise us.   

 

[Triumphant]

For whatever reason, this produces no interest in my comic-book loving brain, whatsoever.  🤷‍♂️

[El D]

On 10/16/2025 at 6:51 PM, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

It's tricky to piece together exactly how this is going to play out, but having read a few different pieces...

.

..seems that Simon goes looking for Trevor - as one of the very few (sorta-) approachable people who's been involved with superheroics, but is also an actor. And while Trevor's a cantankerous, manipulative, needy old bugger, he does come to realise exactly how much Simon wants this and is going pretty much Method to get it. So he swings in behind him.

 

Though whether Trevor's help will prove useful, backfire horrifically/hilariously, or both, remains to be seen...

 

20 hours ago, Techwright said:

Keep in mind that Trevor stayed behind to train with Shang-Chi's aunt and company.  Not sure what, if anything he learned, but he may surprise us.   

 

This is... actually a really interesting combination. Makes fitting use of the fake Mandarin twist from Iron Man 3 while also having the 'original actor' possibly become more comic accurate by learning magic. It's been long enough from the release of Iron Man 3 that the negative reception has faded, it ties into prior films of multiple phases in organic ways, and has solid plot reasons for an existing character to show up - and then they actually do! Also it's more Ben Kingsley, which is its own plus.

 

Combined with the fact that the trailer didn't spoil really anything about how the show goes and feels like a pretty solid shift from the 'standard MCU style'... shoot, maybe they're onto something here.

[Techwright]

8 hours ago, El D said:

 It's been long enough from the release of Iron Man 3 that the negative reception has faded, 

 

I was very vocal in my distaste for Iron Man 3 when it premiered, due entirely to the Trevor Slattery reveal.  That changed, though, when they released the Marvel One-Shot  All Hail the King, which revealed that there really was a Mandarin in the MCU universe.  That the real one didn't ultimately match up to my full expectations didn't matter.  I just wanted there to be an actual one and not a pair of fake ones (Slattery and Killian).  I still get an eye twitch whenever I rewatch IM3 and see Sir Ben so commandingly performing sheer menace (so much wasted fantastic potential), but I've made my peace with it thanks to the One-Shot's revelation, and I'm actually enjoying IM3 these days, and found Trevor to be quite fun in Shang Chi.