American actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, widely known for his impression of the Black Manta in the DC Extended Universe’s Aquaman films and Bobby Seale in the Netflix historical legal drama, The Trial of the Chicago 7, will be starring as the lead character in Wonder Man, a Disney+ Hotstar series. The Emmy-winning actor is all set to play the role of Simon Williams, who — according to Marvel comics — is the son of a wealthy businessman whose establishment of Williams Innovations, was compelled out of the enterprise due to competition from Stark Industries.
Seeking help from Baron Zemo, who offers desperate and helpless Simons the proficiency and command to insinuate and commit treason with the Avengers, Simon eventually joins the Avengers forces as the founding member of the West Coast Avengers, a spin-off group. However, it is unclear how much of this original plot will be reflected in the forthcoming series.
That said, Williams’ comic history and origin story as an actor and stunt performer will be analysed in the show, as English actor, Ben Kingsley is ready to return as the villainous Trevor Slattery, originating in Iron Man 3 (2013) and reprised in the 2021 superhero film, Marvel’s Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings.
The actor will be playing a major comic book character for the third time now as Mateen was previously portraying Black Manta in the 2018 Aquaman and his Emmy-winning role as Dr Manhattan in HBO’s 2019 series, Watchmen. He has already prepared himself to reproduce Black Manta in the American filmmaker and comic book writer James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, presently scheduled to hit screens on Christmas 2023.
Besides Mateen, the sequel will also star the original cast members Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Temuera Morrison, Patrick Wilson and Dolph Lundgren. New actors to enter the cast of the upcoming action film also comprise American actor Indya Moore and Portuguese actor Jani Zhao. Marvel Studios has not yet announced a premiere date for this series.
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