Watchmen’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Cast as Lead for Wonder Man Series

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has been collecting franchises since Aquaman appearing in HBO’s Watchmen and the last Matrix movie, and now he’s ready to make that Marvel Studios jump.

According to Variety, Abdul-Mateen has been cast as the lead for Disney+’s Wonder Man series. Shang-Chi and Avengers director Destin Daniel Cretton is developing the show as part of his Marvel deal, and he’s also brought in Community writer Andrew Guest to be the head scribe.

In the comics, Wonder Man is known to be incredibly wealthy, and was originally given his powers by Baron Zemo in an attempt to take revenge on Tony Stark. Probably the most unique thing about him is that he’s also an actor and stuntman—using his powers to survive dangerous stunts.

With Ben Kingsley reprising the part of Trevor Slattery for the series, it’s possible that Wonder Man could be leaning in on the Hollywood industry angle. In a world where superheroes are revered, how would a place like the MCU deal with celebrities. Would they cast people to do biopics of the Avengers? What are the odds Wonder Man wants to be cast as T’Challa in an in-universe biopic?

If anything, Abdul-Mateen has kind of been stuck playing the more stoic characters from Doctor Manhattan to Black Manta. It would be great if he could have some fun in the role, especially with a character that has to navigate the film industry—which could be another level of meta for Wonder Man.

No release date has been set for Wonder Man, but you can catch She-Hulk now streaming on Disney+.