Actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, known for his work as DC’s Black Manta in the Aquaman movies as well as HBO’s Watchmen, will star in Marvel’s latest Disney+ series Wonder Man, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series will be spearheaded by Destin Daniel Cretton, filmmaker behind Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Andrew Guest, writer-producer of televisions series Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Community, via The Hollywood Reporter.
Wonder Man is one of Marvel’s oldest characters and was first introduced in 1964 initially as a villain, but later was conceived as a hero in the late 1970s, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Wonder Man, known as Simon Williams, grew into his own in the 1980s. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he was “a founding member of the Los Angeles-based West Coast Avengers and, with a look that included a turtleneck, a red jacket and sunglasses, became a celebrity thanks to his day job as an actor and stuntman.”
Wonder Man has also developed strong ties to Marvel’s popular characters Vision and Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch from the Emmy-nominated series WandaVision, via The Hollywood Reporter. Various stories tie Wonder Man to Vision via “ionic energy and brain waves that implied the two were akin to brothers, and Wonder Man even develops feelings for Wanda after Vision had been dismantled,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Marvel has consistently practiced colorblind casting, as seen with Nick Fury played by Samuel L. Jackson, known for his work in Pulp Fiction and The Hitman’s Body Guard. The casting of Abdul-Mateen is the latest example that, as the character has been white in the comics, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Wonder Man includes Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery, previously in Marvel’s Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi and t Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, via The Hollywood Reporter. Abdul-Mateen is due back as Black Manta in DC’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in December 23, 2023, according to The Hollywood Reporter.