Marvel Gets Weirdly Metatextual With The Wonder Man Teaser

Ever wondered what super hero movies look like in a world where super heroes exist?

At last, we’re getting a Wonder Man series! Said no one ever. One of Marvel‘s third tier heroes generally used to fill out the ranks of the Avengers, Wonder Man has the sort of convoluted backstory you really only get in comics – and certainly one that defies easy translation to the screen. The most interesting thing about his comics incarnation is that they used his personality to program the Vision once, and that ship seems to have sailed in the MCU.

But he’s sort of obscure enough and his comics career was been wild enough that you can kind of pick ‘n’ mix various elements to get something interesting, and that’s what series creators Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest seem to have done here. And so, say hello to jobbing actor Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who’s trying to get cast in an upcoming remake of a hoary old cape flick titled Wonder Man. Will he wind up becoming a real hero? Look, this is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so probably. But you won’t see too many costumes in the trailer. You will, however, see Ben Kingsley‘s hapless thesp Trevor Slattery, one of the weirder supporting characters floating around the MCU.

Wonder Man Trailer

What’s the plot?

Pretty much as we outlined above: there are super hero movies in the MCU, and struggling actor Simon Williams is up for a role. Some comments in the trailer about blurring the lines between documentary and fiction make me suspect he’s going to get the ol’ patented marvel scientific accident treatment before too long, though.

Who’s in it?

• Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams, and possibly Wonder Man. Funny thing: Wondy’s acting bug was something they just sort of threw in about 20 years after he was created, and it’s become his defining trait.
• Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery: failed actor, accidental terrorist, and comedy MVP.
• Arian Moayed as P. Cleary, a Department of Damage Control (DODC) agent.
• Zlatko Burić as Von Kovak, the director of the Wonder Man remake, and I’m just sayin’ that sounds a bit like Korvac…
• Demetrius Grosse as Simon’s brother Eric Williams, AKA Grim Reaper.
• Ed Harris as Simon’s agent, Neal Saroyan, and I’m sure he loved the experience.

Plus Lauren Glazier, Josh Gad, Béchir Sylvain, Manny McCord, Simon Templeman, Joe Pantoliano, X Mayo, and Olivia Thirlby are in the mix too, in roles yet to be disclosed.

When’s it out?

Wonder Man hits Disney+ on January 27, 2026.

What’s the vibe?

This wouldn’t be Marvel‘s first stab at self-reflexive commentary on the whole super hero thing – just look at She-Hulk – but it’s a bit rich to hear the biggest peddler of heroic power fantasies on Earth declare that people are sick of super heroes, even mediated through the mouth of a fictional character. Still, this looks like fun. You know, the real ballsy move would be to just side-step the whole origin story as much as possible. I’d watch an observational comedy about a jobbing actor in Marvel‘s Los Angeles who just happens to have super powers. I might not finish watching a series that starts that way and then drifts into generic punchy-fighty, though.