It has been more than two months since the development of the live-action Wonder Man series was revealed. Now it looks like things are moving along for the newest Marvel Studios project as it unveils its first cast member. According to Variety, Oscar winner Ben Kingsley has officially signed on to reprise his Marvel Cinematic Universe role as Trevor Slattery in the upcoming Disney+ series. The outlet’s sources note that he will be playing a significant part in the project.
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Kingsley first appeared as the washed-up actor in Iron Man 3, where he pretended to be the terrifying villain The Mandarin. Last year, MCU fans unexpectedly met Trevor Slattery again in Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings, where it was revealed that he had been imprisoned by the real Mandarin.
The Wonder Man series will be developed by Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and writer-producer Andrew Guest (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Community), with Guest serving as the head writer and Cretton executive producing and directing some episodes. The project will be a part of Cretton’s overall deal with the studio.
Development for the series is said to be in the early stages, so there’s no information as to who will star in the role. However, the report notes that if things continue to go well, official production on the series could begin as early as 2023.
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Wonder Man is one of the oldest characters in Marvel’s long history and was first introduced in 1964 in an early issue of Avengers. The character — named Simon Williams — was created by Stan Lee, Don Heck, and Jack Kirby, and was initially introduced as a supervillain who fought the Avengers.
In the late 1970s, Wonder Man was turned into a hero and eventually ended up joining the Avengers throughout various iterations of the team. Imbued with “ionic” energy by Baron Zemo, Wonder Man has powers similar to other superheroes, including enhanced strength, speed, stamina, durability, reflexes, and agility.
