{"id":724043,"date":"2026-06-09T00:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T00:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724043\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T00:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T00:04:15","slug":"all-the-wonder-man-easter-eggs-that-nod-to-marvel-and-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724043\/","title":{"rendered":"All the “Wonder Man” Easter Eggs That Nod to Marvel and Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMarvel<\/a>\u2019s \u201cWonder Man<\/a>\u201d is loaded with Easter eggs, cameos, and deep-cut ties to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some are obvious, while others are well-hidden.<\/p>\n

\n\tWho better to highlight the easter eggs than the show\u2019s production designers, Cindy Chao and Michele Yu?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe limited series, now streaming on Disney+, follows Yahya Abdul-Mateen II<\/a>\u00a0 as Simon Williams, an aspiring actor with supernatural powers. As a Hollywood hopeful, Simon makes the rounds of familiar L.A. studios, restaurants and movie theaters, hoping to be cast in the reboot of the superhero movie \u201cWonder Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe-Hulk makeup, Hulk protein powder, and even Kingo appear on movie posters when Simon is at the theater in Highland Park. For Chao and Yu, the series provided plenty of opportunities to plant teasers that give fans much to discover. Here, they highlight some of their favorites.<\/p>\n

\t\tSimon\u2019s License Plate and his apartment\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tYu enjoyed reading about the Easter eggs fans had spotted. But the one she loves most \u2014 and feels has been missed \u2014 is Simon\u2019s license plate.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHis car license plate number is a reference to his comic book mutant ID number,\u201d she says. \u201cWe thought [it] would be a slam dunk of everybody catching them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAdditionally, Simon lives in apartment #9, which Yu says \u201cwas a reference to the first issue that \u2018Wonder Man\u2019 appeared in.\u201d He first appeared in October 1964 in \u201cThe Avengers\u201d #9. She adds, \u201cEvery number and address that shows up in the series was some reference to either a comic book issue number or an existing number in the MCU associated with Simon Williams or with the creators of Wonder Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tGreat Lakes Avengers\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the \u201cDoorman\u201d episode, DeMarr Davis, a founding member of the Great Lakes Avengers, makes an appearance. DeMarr\u2019s codename is \u201cDoorman,\u201d and is played by Josh Gad. Yu says, \u201cIn the Doorman\u2019s apartment, we included a map of the Great Lakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTravel to Asgard\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the LAX set during Episode 2, the background posters promote travel to Asgard. Chao says those posters were beautifully done by graphic designer Sarah Gonzalez. \u201cShe illustrated and put together each of the regions of what Asgard would look like, and we had a little homage to that planet in that set.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTrevor Slattery\u2019s apartment\t<\/p>\n

\n\tA personal favorite of Yu\u2019s is the Shang-Chi Easter egg in Trevor\u2019s apartment. When designing the space, Yu started to think about Trevor\u2019s relationship with his pet Morris and what might have happened to the mythical creature. Yu says, \u201cSomething must have happened, but we think that Trevor would have kept something around that reminded him of Morris.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe idea was that he would need to have a reminder of Morris in there. \u201cIf you look at the footstool, this does appear on screen briefly.\u201d She says, \u201cIt\u2019s a fur-covered footstool. We tried to give it six legs. I don\u2019t know if it ended up having six legs, but he has a little footstool in his apartment that is a tribute to Morris, and what we think he would have kept around to remind him of his great friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tHomage to Los Angeles\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the show set in Los Angeles, Chao and Yu wanted to pay homage<\/a> to the city they love. A favorite was the recreation of the iconic freeway murals along the 101. Chao particularly loved one featuring Grecian statues floating in space. She says, \u201cWe did our version of that mural. When they\u2019re running out of the hotel, you could see our version of the mural, which is a tiled version, and you could see that in one of the shots in the background.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tColby Posters\t<\/p>\n

\n\tFluorescent ink and bold typography defined the art of Colby Poster Co. The now-defunct poster company is celebrated throughout the show. Yu explains, \u201cIt was a very accessible and inexpensive way for businesses to create advertisements, and the design of it was very instinctual. The letter press operators would take notes about what text you wanted, and all of the decision-making for the design would happen in-house at the printing press.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOnce again, graphic designer Sarah Gonzalez helped pay homage to the posters of yesteryear. They feature throughout the show.<\/p>\n

\n\tYu says, \u201cWe gave her all this research material, and we replicated this look. You can see some of the posters, and they were always meant for the background. They were never going to have like a front and center moment, but they\u2019re there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tAn homage to the film crew\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is a blink-and-miss-it moment. Yu says that during a car chase sequence that goes past the Hollywood Palladium, they \u201cdid a little photo shoot with some of our crew who are all working in L.A. We made the crew band members as if they were playing an upcoming show. It\u2019s a quick drive by, and you can\u2019t identify any of them, but we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to that, the DODC (United States Department of Damage Control) offices have Wanted posters on the wall \u2014 the faces belong to various friends.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tSimon\u2019s Dad, the chef\t<\/p>\n

\n\tPart of Simon\u2019s backstory was that his father had passed away, but there wasn\u2019t much detail given. However, it had been decided that when he was alive, his father was a chef and had opened a restaurant.<\/p>\n

\n\tYu explains, \u201cThat was part of how they built community as a family. We wanted to give little hints that he was a cook. We wanted to incorporate stuff in set dressing in Martha\u2019s (his mom, played by Shola Adewusi) kitchen that gave you hints of what his dad used to do. We had a framed chef\u2019s hat that his dad would have worn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne detail Yu was thrilled to add was a framed paper tri-fold menu. \u201cThe list of dishes that was specific to the style of Haitian cooking that his dad would have done, but the logo for the restaurant was a replica of a logo that my family\u2019s restaurant had in the \u201990s. When the opportunity came up that Simon\u2019s dad was a chef, I was like, \u2018Can I put a little bit of my reality in there?\u2019\u201d Yu says those personal touches give it another layer of reality for people.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marvel\u2019s \u201cWonder Man\u201d is loaded with Easter eggs, cameos, and deep-cut ties to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,134,344,127828],"class_list":["post-724043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-wonder-man"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}