Toward the end of last year, Disney unveiled a sizzle reel to preview some of their upcoming projects that we’d been anticipating for some time now. Within that footage came a series many know little about but are extremely curious about — and rightfully so. Wonder Man isn’t a popular character, but we’d venture to say he has quite a unique backstory and, if done right, could be an entertaining watch. Here’s what we know so far about the upcoming Disney+ series.
First things first: Who is this new kid on the block? Wonder Man, also known as Simon Williams, first appeared in Avengers #9 back in 1963, making him far from a newbie. While this could potentially leave room for Williams to make an appearance in Avengers: Doomsday, the cast is already wildly stacked, so the chances of that are quite slim. Cast in the role is fan favorite actor crossing over from DC, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, best known for his roles as Black Manta in the Aquaman films and as young Morpheus in The Matrix Resurrections.
As his story goes, he loses his father and is left with a weapons factory, which puts him in direct competition with Stark Industries. After doing a stint in jail for embezzlement at his own company, he strikes a deal with Baron Zemo (the main villain in Captain America: Civil War) and Amora the Enchantress and agrees to take on superpowers and go after Tony Stark. Early conversations around the plot point to the series following Williams as a struggling actor who auditions for a role as a superhero. Ben Kingsley is also set to appear in the eight-episode series as Trevor Slattery, who you might remember as the actor who played the Mandarin in Iron Man 3. This has the potential to be really fun or extremely corny, but only time will tell.
Right off the bat, Williams having direct ties to Stark is immediately attention-grabbing, given that it seems highly unlikely that Marvel would introduce a fresh character without tapping into his roots. This leads me to believe that one of two things will happen: Robert Downey Jr. will make a few appearances on the series, exciting us all to see him return in the role (despite his casting as Doctor Doom). The second possibility is that Feige and team are looking to cast a new, younger Stark, which might make sense if Downey is truly done for good with Iron Man.
If the MCU is going to continue the upward path back to where we once were, they very much need an Iron Man, whether we like it or not. Sure, we can’t see anyone else playing the role after the phenomenal job Downey did, but all good things must come to an end (look how we accepted Anthony Mackie as Cap after Chris Evans). With that being said, for Wonder Man to be successful, Stark will have to make a physical appearance because simply suggesting that he is “around” is just not going to work.
Creator Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) has entered post-production on the show and is currently slated for a January 2026 release date.
Wonder Man was one of the many projects that were affected by the writer’s strike and suffered a few delays, so it’s a breath of fresh air to see it still being released. While little about the plot and characters is fully known at the moment, one of the show’s stars, Demetrius Grosse, gave some insight about what we can expect. During an interview for Sound of Hope, he tells ComicBook.com, “I think people are going to be intrigued by the dynamic between Simon Williams and Eric Williams as much as they’re excited about the dynamic between Grim Reaper and Wonder Man. This series is gonna be a very, very different kind of show, but pleasantly so.”
All in all, now that Marvel Studios has checked themselves and owned up to churning out projects left and right, we’ve gotten some good content as of late. With the time in between its initial announcement a few years ago to now, there has been enough time to really get this script right and give us something good. Abdul-Mateen is a fantastic actor who can lead to us enjoying his time on screen, as long as the material is solid and entertaining, pretty much the opposite of Secret Invasion.
During NYCC a first-look teaser was released for the series. Check it out below:
Wonder Man is scheduled to debut on Disney+ in January 2026 and will consist of eight episodes. Each episode is 30-minutes in length and this series is part of phase six of the MCU.
