Sir Ben Kingsley reprises his Iron Man 3 character Trevor Slattery, the messy British actor hired to play a bad guy called The Mandarin. And Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man.<\/p>\n
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Through their adventures trying to book the gig-of-a-lifetime while surviving the perils of the MCU, L.A. landmarks and cultural references abound, and ground the series in a relatability for many Angelenos, including lots of inside jokes for those working in the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n
3 cultural references that make Wonder Man feel like real Los Angeles
\nHistoric places, some we\u2019ve had to part with<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a series of roughly 100-year-old small, independent movie houses used as locations in Wonder Man \u2014 the Eagle Theatre now home to Vidiots, Westwood’s Village Theater now operated by American Cinematheque (with views of The Bruin Theater across the street), and the Highland Theatre<\/a> which closed in 2024.<\/p>\n A scene from ‘Wonder Man’ on Disney +.<\/p>\n Speaking of iconic L.A. spots breaking local hearts, the vintage bar within Echo Park\u2019s Taix French Restaurant was used as an interior location for the series. Taix is closing at the end of the month to make way for new development.<\/p>\n \u201cTaix, the Highland Park Theatre \u2014 these places that it was only three years ago were there,\u201d Wonder Man showrunner Andrew Guest told LAist, \u201ca lot of these establishments sadly, are not surviving. And this town is in a rough, rough place.\u201d<\/p>\n (Though actor\/director Kristen Stewart recently said in an interview with Architectural Digest<\/a> that she bought The Highland Theatre and is restoring the building.)<\/p>\n L.A. traffic (especially around the Hollywood Bowl on a performance night)<\/p>\n Traffic is part of life in Los Angeles and with so many scenes shot in Hollywood, even the main characters of Wonder Man must experience that bumper-to-bumper frustration.<\/p>\n Though, because it is a TV show, they were able to indulge in the fantasy of beating that traffic in a way that in reality would be highly dangerous (and illegal).<\/p>\n \u201cWe got to shut down Sunset Boulevard for a little while to shoot a car going onto the sidewalk in front of the Palladium,\u201d said Guest. And surprisingly, he explained, they didn\u2019t have to shoot in the middle of the night to make the shot happen: \u201cThat was Friday night\u2026. We didn’t close all lanes of traffic. The street was open. We were shooting while Los Angeles was still going strong.\u201d<\/p>\n The scene also references the frequent traffic back up during big shows at the Hollywood Bowl, even earning the show a social media repost of the scene from Chaka Khan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Having family and friends 45 minutes away, who you rarely visit<\/p>\n Wonder Man includes an episode titled Pacoima where the main character visits his family and childhood home.<\/p>\n \u201cMy wife grew up in Chatsworth, and one of the things I found fascinating about her experience growing up there was that many of her friends and their families never went to Los Angeles,\u201d said Guest.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea that Simon grew up close to, but far enough away that Hollywood and Los Angeles did not feel like they were part of his life\u2026so when he moved to the city, Pacoima is not a place he goes to a lot. And I feel like that’s a part of L.A. that is true to this city. That doesn’t get explored a lot and felt like it was another detail that we got to sort of throw into the show.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773321548_276_.jpeg\")
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