Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton is heading to the small screen, with plans to bring early Marvel character Wonder Man to Disney Plus. He is teaming with Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Community writer Andrew Guest, which suggests there might be a comedic spin on the character. Given that he is also known as Mr. Muscles and Mr. Wonderful, that shouldn’t be hard.
In the comics, Wonder Man, whose real name is the very normal sounding Simon Williams, is initially recruited by Baron Zemo (played by Daniel Bruhl in the MCU) and his Masters of Evil, but he switches allegiances to The Avengers. Simon’s older brother Eric becomes a villain called The Grim Reaper.
He is one of Marvel’s oldest characters, first introduced in 1964. In the 1980s the character really came into his own with a look that included a turtleneck, a red jacket and sunglasses. He also became a celebrity due to his day job as an actor and stuntman. The character also developed strong ties to Vision and Wanda/Scarlet Witch, which could be way of bringing these two characters back after WandaVision.
Andrew Guest was also a consulting producer on the Disney Plus show Hawkeye, so it’s not his first time at the Marvel rodeo. Cretton is also working on Shang-Chi 2, and it’s currently unclear if that movie or this show will come first. Wonder Man could also end up having connections with WandaVision spin-off show Agatha Harkness, starring Kathryn Hahn.
Ms. Marvel is currently winning praise on Disney Plus for being a refreshingly young and colourful MCU show. The next Marvel show after that will be She-Hulk: Attorney at Law starring Tatiana Maslany. The MCU shows no signs of slowing down on screens big or small.
If you want to keep track of all things MCU right now, check out our guide to Marvel’s Phase 4.