Marvel tries its hand at meta series with Wonder Man: trailer

Finally a Marvel series that changes Marvel series?

Marvel Studios dares bittersweet satire of Hollywood.

We will certainly not be in the madness of The Studio, Seth Rogen style, but the new MCU series will obviously try something new with Wonder Man, which has just revealed its trailer. The excellent Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen) plays Simon Williams, a struggling actor ready to do anything to land the role of his childhood idol: the superhero Wonder Man.

The very exciting video shows us the beginning of the story: a legendary director, Von Kovak (played by Zlatko Burić), announces that he is going to shoot a remake of Wonder Man, a cult superhero film from the 1960s or 1970s. Determined to get the role, Simon Williams crosses paths with the whimsical Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), the loser actor who was the false Mandarin, manipulated pseudo-terrorist, seen in Iron Man 3 then in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The latter, now an unlikely mentor, could well change the actor’s destiny. We don’t yet know how, but by becoming Wonder Man on a movie set, Simon will a priori acquire real powers…

The series is co-created by Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi), who also directs the first episode, and Andrew Guest (writer on Hawkeye, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Community), is the project’s showrunner.

Wonder Man also brings together X Mayo, Demetrius Grosse, Arian Moayed and Olivia Thirlby in the cast.

Cult character born in 1964 from the imagination of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Don Heck, Wonder Man aka Simon Williams is originally the son of a rich industrialist ruined by competition from Stark Industries. Manipulated by Baron Zemo, he acquires ionic powers and first confronts the Avengers before joining their ranks. Later, he reinvented himself in Hollywood, between small roles and stunts, in a life oscillating between glory and introspection. The series will therefore take liberties with the comics.

Initially expected in December, the series will finally be released on January 27 on Disney+.