Yahya Abdul-Mateen II blurs the line between fantasy and reality with an interview as Wonder Man character Simon Williams at the Fantastic Four: First Steps premiere
In a new interesting bit of a promo from Marvel Studios, the official social media account posted somewhat of a peek into the upcoming Wonder Man series, but it’s in the form of a faux red carpet interview. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II shows up at the blue carpet of the premiere of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, where he gives an interview as the Simon Williams character from Wonder Man. In the small clip, Williams talks about being a fan of Wonder Man and superheroes, and even says the Wonder Man movie was the first movie he saw in theaters and yearned to be a superhero afterwards.
Things take a turn when the reporter asks about his affiliation with Trevor Slattery, who portrayed the face of The Mandarin in Iron Man 3 and showed up again in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. It was then that Williams was escorted away from his publicist and says he is no longer taking questions. You can check the reality-blurring promo below.
Wonder Man focuses on one of Marvel’s oldest characters, as title character Simon Williams was introduced back in 1964, in the pages of Avengers #9. “He began his comic book career as a villain but got reintroduced as a hero in the late 1970s. Wonder Man’s civilian name is Simon Williams, and he was a founding member of the Los Angeles-based West Coast Avengers. As an actor and stuntman, Williams’ look included wearing a turtleneck, a red jacket, and sunglasses. Wonder Man strongly relates to Marvel characters Vision and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch. The trio shared several adventures, with Wonder Man and Vision thinking of each other as brothers in action. After Vision was dismantled, the villain-turned-hero developed intense feelings for Wanda.”
Marvel’s Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation Brad Winderbaum says we’re in for a “very sincere, beautiful” show with an episode count of 8. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Candyman) stars and is joined in the cast by Ben Kingsley, who reprises his Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings role of actor Trevor Slattery; Demetrius Grosse, who plays Simon’s brother, Eric Williams, an Avengers villain from the comics known as the Grim Reaper, and Ed Harris as Simon’s agent, Neal Saroyan. Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton as a producer on the show, with Andrew Guest (Hawkeye) serving as the head writer.
Winderbaum told Collider that Wonder Man is “a very new flavor for Marvel. It’s straight from the minds of Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest. Honestly, it is one of my favorite things ever. I think it’s the best show no one’s ever seen, and I’m very excited to see the audience reaction to it. I think it’s a love letter to what we do as filmmakers. It’s a love letter to acting as a profession, and it’s a very sincere, kind of beautiful show.” Winderbaum went on to say that the episode runtimes range from 20-something to 40-something minutes.
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