2026 will be a huge year for the MCU, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday likely to trouble the billion-dollar bracket by year’s end. But before we get to the tentpoles, the first MCU release of 2026 is Wonder Man, the smaller and radically different series from Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest. Starring comic book adaptation veteran Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, it’s a strange bird of a release, under Marvel’s Spotlight banner (meaning less outright links to the rest of the franchise), but still very aware of its place in the sprawling series. And along with a cast of new and freshly created characters, it brings seven Marvel Comics characters to the MCU (two of whom we’ve met before). Here’s the roll-call of Wonder Man‘s cast…
Wonder Man’s Returning MCU Characters
Trevor Slattery – Sir Ben Kingsley
Appearing for his third main appearance (fourth, including the All Hail the King One-Shot short), Sir Ben Kingsley revives his role as Trevor Slattery, the actor who infamously played Aldrich Killian’s fake Mandarin in Iron Man 3. He subsequently returned in Shang-Chi, after being broken out of prison in All Hail the King by the real Mandarin. Confusingly, he chose to stay in Ta Lo at the end of that movie, but apparently found life with furry new sidekick Morris less of a draw as time passed, returning to the US.
Trevor strikes up a friendship with Simon Williams when they both audition for the Wonder Man remake and is the conduit for a lot of the show’s meta jokes about the Hollywood machine. Acting legend Sir Ben Kingsley is, once more, on charming form.
Agent P. Cleary – Arian Moayed
Having previously appeared in both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Ms Marvel, Arian Moayed’s now-beleaguered agent is the MCU’s most recognizable representative of the Department of Damage Control. While the Sokovia Accords are no more, the DODC still monitors and seeks to regulate superpowered individuals at a street level, enforcing laws as they exist. Without getting too much into spoiler territory, Cleary sets his sights on exposing Simon Williams as a superpowered individual.
Wonder Man’s Marvel Comics Characters
Simon Williams – Yahya Adbul-Mateen II
Wonder Man’s leading man is Simon William (Yahya Adbul-Mateen II), a jobbing (and distinctly unsuccessful) actor looking for his breakthrough, but struggling with the weight of his own hubris. He’s also a Marvel Comics superhero, having debuted in the 1960s – albeit rewritten and retold quite markedly. His powers – which are barely on-show in this series, by design – seem to be the same, and his acting profession is from the comics, but that’s about it.
In the comics, Simon is killed and resurrected, via a confusing period where his brain patterns were used to create Vision, then took up an interest in acting, thanks in part to MU newcomer Hercules. His is one of the least conventional Avengers stories of all, so it’s somewhat fitting that Yahya Adbul-Mateen II’s version is also a bit of an oddball MCU “hero”. The actor, of course, previously played Black Manta in the DCEU’s Aquaman movies, and Dr Manhattan in HBO’s Watchmen remake series. The young version of Simon seen in various flashbacks is played by Kameron J Meadows.
Eric Williams – Demetrius Grosse
In Marvel Comics, Eric Williams was an Avengers-level villain and necromancer, better known by his alias Grim Reaper. As with the MCU show, he was also Simon Williams’ brother, who helped Simon in his original plan for vengeance against Tony Stark and Stark Industries, but who became the supervillain when Simon died protecting the Avengers.
In the MCU, Eric shows no sign of superpowers, and his backstory is a lot more mundane, but he does have a fair amount of sibling tension with his younger brother, who he sees as wasting his life acting. Erci is played by veteran TV star Demetrius Grosse, who has appeared notably in the likes of The Rookie, Heroes, Westworld, Justified, and Banshee.
Martha Williams – Shola Adewusi
Simon’s enthusiastic and loving mother Martha, is played by British actress Shola Adewusi, who you might recognize from a small role in Paddington 2 and Bob Hearts Abishola. She’s a fairly comedic presence in the background of the show, and both she and her husband, Sanford, were characters in the Wonder Man comics.
Sanford Williams – Béchir Sylvain
Simon’s father, who only appears in flashback and was key to Simon’s early love of film (and his desire to succeed as an actor). He’s dead by the time of Wonder Man‘s events and is played by Haitian-American actor Béchir Sylvain, who most recently appeared as doomed mercenary LeClerc in Jurassic World: Rebirth.
DeMarr “Doorman” Davis – Byron Bowers
There’s a degree of secrecy around DeMarr Davis, but without going into any spoilers, this version of the Marvel Comics mutant – and Great Lakes Avengers member – is the reason why Hollywood won’t employ superpowered individuals. He stars in the series’ best episode – a bottle episode flashback shot in black and white. He’s played by comedian and former The Eric Andre Show star Byron Bowers.
In the comics, Doorman can teleport people or objects through solid matter using his body as a portal through the Darkforce dimension. Somewhat reluctantly sidelined on the Great Lakes team, Davis expresses his embarrassment at times. He was killed off at one point and resurrected as Angel of Death by Oblivion with a power boost.
Wonder Man’s Key Supporting Characters
Janelle Jackson – X Mayo: Comedian and The Daily Show staff writer X Mayo plays Simon’s occasionally unscrupulous, and perpetually exhausted agent Janelle Jackson.
Von Kovak – Zlatko Buric: The eccentric director of the Wonder Man remake is played by Buric, who most notably played corrupt Boravian president Vasil Ghurkos in James Gunn’s Superman last year. He’s a walking, talking parody of award-winning auteurs supposedly slumming it with comic book movies.
Frank Preminger – Jon Abrahams: Scary Movie series veteran Jon Abrahams plays DeMarr Davis’ agent in the excellent Doorman episode.
Wonder Man’s Real World Cameos
Josh Gad – Gad appears as a caricatured version of himself, who adores the lime light, and parties a little hard.
Joe Pantoliano – an exceptionally funny cameo by Pantoliano (as himself) bookends the series. He’s a former friend and colleague of Trevor.
Mario Lopez – the Access Hollywood host appears as himself hosting industry dirtrag show “Hot Goss”.
Ashley Greene – the Twilight series actor appears as herself in the first episode as a co-star of Simon on American Horror Story.
All 8 episodes of Wonder Man release on Tuesday, January 27 on Disney+, starting at 9pm ET. Are you looking forward to it? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!