‘Wonder Man’: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will star in the Marvel series for Disney +

Marvel Studios grows every year with the release of new projects that expand its universe with new characters and stories. Marvel has announced future plans for the Marvel Cinematic Universe at San Diego Comic-Con, but it’s no secret that there are others it is already working on, but not officially talking about it yet.. This is the case of the future Disney + series ‘Wonder Man’, of which the House of Ideas has not commented on the issue, but part of the creative team has been known for some time and, from now on, the actor who will play in it. According to Deadline, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will play Wonder Man in the series.

Abdul-Mateen II will play Simon Williams (Wonder Man), a character who has been both a villain and a hero in the comics. He acquired powers as a result of an experiment that gave him superhuman physical abilities, the ability to project ionic energy through his hands and eyes, flight, and the ability to see beyond the spectrum visible to humans. It is not the actor’s first contact with the world of superheroes, since he has already worked with DC. In “Aquaman”, Abdul-Mateen played Black Manta, a role he will repeat in the film’s sequel. He also starred in the ‘Watchmen’ series, where his portrayal of Cal Amar / Doctor Manhattan earned him his first Emmy Award. Outside of this industry, the actor has appeared in films such as “Candyman”, “Matrix Resurrections”, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” or “The Greatest Showman”.

While there isn’t much information about “Wonder Man” yet, we know Destin Daniel Cretton, director of ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’, will direct and executive produce and Andrew Guest, producer of ‘Hawkeye’, will write the script. Variety has reported that Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley will reprise the role of Trevor Slattery, the fake Mandarin in “Iron Man 3” and “Shang-Chi” for the series.

From DC to Marvel

Marvel Studios and DC are the two big superhero movie franchises, and several performers have shown us that you can work in both, no matter how rivals the audience thinks they are. Abdul-Mateen II is the latest to join this list, which also includes names like Christian Bale, Halle Berry, Idris Elba, and Ryan Reynolds. There are a few more names, but if anyone deserves special recognition in this group, it’s James Gunn. Gunn is the director and writer of Marvel Studios’ “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy, as well as “The Suicide Squad” and “The Peacemaker” series. But that’s nothing compared to the recent news that Gunn became the new president of DC Films while he was still working on post-production on Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.