Emmy-Award winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has been tapped to star in Marvel’s Wonder Man on Disney+, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Destin Daniel Cretton will direct the series and Andrew Guest will be the lead writer.
Created by Stan Lee, Don Heck and Jack Kirby in 1964, Simon Williams a.k.a. Wonder Man is the son of wealthy industrialist Sanford Williams, who takes over the family business, which is a competitor of Tony Stark’s Stark Industries, after his father’s passing. Due to chemical and radiation treatments with "ionic" energy given by Baron Zemo, Williams gains superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility and reflexes and becomes Wonder Man. He eventually becomes an arch nemesis to The Avengers. Later Wonder Man is reintroduced as a hero years and eventually joined the Avengers.
Abdul-Mateen is no stranger to playing characters based on comic books. In 2018, he starred as the villain Black Manta in Aquaman and played Dr. Manhattan in the HBO series Watchmen for which he won an Emmy in 2019. He’s signed on to reprise his role as Black Manta in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which is scheduled to be released on Christmas in 2023.
Additionally, Abdul-Mateen has appeared in Ambulance, The Matrix Resurrections, Candyman, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Us, and The Greatest Showman. His TV credits include Black Mirror and The Get Down.
Abdul-Mateen is also set to star in the action thriller Emergency Contact with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, which he’ll executive produce, and the Amazon Studios film I Helped Destroy People, which he’ll produce alongside Michael B. Jordan.
A premiere date for Wonder Man has not yet been announced by Marvel.
