Back in June 2022, it was revealed that Marvel Studios is developing a Wonder Man series for Disney+. According to a report from Deadline, actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will be playing the superhero, whose real name is Simon Williams.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is best known for portraying the villain Black Manta in 2018’s Aquaman and Doctor Manhattan in HBO’s Watchmen series by Damon Lindelof, as well as starring in movies like Jordan Peele’s Us, Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial Of The Chicago 7, 2021’s Candyman and as Morpheus in 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections.

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton is teaming up with Andrew Guest, a writer-producer on sitcoms like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Community, for the Wonder Man Disney+ series. Guest will be the head writer of the series, while Cretton will executive produce the series (and maybe direct one or more episodes).

Simon Williams AKA Wonder Man is a classic Marvel character, having been created by Stan Lee and artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby in The Avengers #9 (October 1964). In the comics, he is notable for being one of the earliest Avengers (and West Coast Avengers) but he started out as a villain. Notably, his brain patterns was used as a template by Ultron to create Vision (yes, Ultron created Vision in the comics, and Hank Pym created Ultron, while Tony Stark was NOT involved at all). Wonder Man was also once romantically involved with Wanda Maximoff AKA the Scarlet Witch.

Wonder Man is extremely powerful. He’s basically made of ionic energy, which means that he’s virtually indestructible, super strong, can fly, and project energy. It’s somewhat similar to the powers of Monica Rambeau AKA Photon/Spectrum, but based on ionic energy instead of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The many costumes of Wonder Man over the years.