At first, Wonder Man seemed like an oddball choice for a Marvel Studios TV series. The title character hadn’t appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before, and the other main character was… Trevor Slattery, the faux Mandarin, who’d previously popped up in Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. But when the show arrived in January, fans realized Wonder Man was exactly what the MCU needed: a funny, heartfelt tale of an unlikely friendship that plays out against the backdrop of Hollywood and secret superheroes.
Three big reasons the show worked so well: Oscar winner Ben Kingsley returned as Trevor. Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton (who has Spider-Man: Brand New Day coming in July) co-created and co-directed it. And Yahya Abdul-Mateen II played the role of struggling actor James Williams, aka Wonder Man.
In real life, Abdul-Mateen is about as far from a struggling actor as you can get. He rose to fame almost immediately after breaking out a decade ago, appearing in Black Mirror, Watchmen, Aquaman and its sequel, Candyman, The Matrix Resurrections, and more. One of the few roles he wasn’t cast in, apparently, was M’Baku in Marvel’s Black Panther, which went to his fellow Yale School of Drama graduate Winston Duke.
In the latest episode of Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Abdul-Mateen talked about how even after not getting Black Panther, he was still interested in joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, he wanted to carefully approach his way into that world, and he wasn’t sure at first when Wonder Man came along.
“The pitch was … they’re gonna do it kind of differently. Dustin is gonna shoot it like he shoots his indies. It’s gonna feel kind of different. We’re not gonna go after the big superhero thing,” Abdul-Mateen recalled.
The character Marvel wanted him to play was also part of the pitch. Simon Williams, Abdul-Mateen was assured, “cares about acting. He cares about the craft. He’s a little strange, but we think that he’s relatable. We would love to have someone who’s passionate about acting.”
With that information—and because he wanted to work with Cretton—Abdul-Mateen was intrigued. But he wanted to talk to Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige before making a decision, to ask about the “big picture.”
“I wanted to have a conversation with him to say—not necessarily, ‘Where is this gonna go?’ I didn’t flat-out ask that question—but I said, ‘This sounds like a great opportunity, but I only get one Marvel dollar to spend … and I want to make sure that I spend it well.’”
In other words, he wanted to make sure this was the right Marvel role for him to take. “I wanted to have that conversation with him to say, ‘Me saying yes is a huge gamble because I really, really, really like what you all do. So if this isn’t the time for me to say yes, let me know because I will sit to the side and wait until it makes sense.’”
Fortunately, Feige “let me know that it’ll be a dollar well spent” and mentioned that Wonder Man would offer Abdul-Mateen a way to show off his comedic side, something he hadn’t really gotten to do in previous projects.
Fast-forward to now, and Wonder Man is a hit with a second season in the works. While Abdul-Mateen couldn’t reveal much about what we might see Williams up to next, he’s excited to explore how the character will evolve now that he’s found the fame he was seeking.
“When he gets a little bit of power … what is he going to become? Have we created a monster?” he said. “I think it’s cool to watch somebody want something, then [become] a star, and then you’ve got to let him rise as high as he can go. And let him get burned by the sun a little bit. But his ascent is pretty exciting for me.”
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