Daniel Richtman claims Werner Herzog has joined the cast of Marvel Studios ‘ Wonder Man series starring Yahya Abdul Mateen II as Simon Williams .
If true, it would be a curious choice… although the great German filmmaker has already worked with Disney : he played the anonymous “client” in the first season of The Mandalorian . Obviously Werner Herzog is the director of unforgettable films such as Aguirre, the wrath of God , The riddle of Kaspar Hauser , Nosferatu the prince of the night , Fitzcarraldo , Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams , just to name a few. Sometimes, however, he works in front of the camera in various productions: he gave the voice to a character in Rick and Mortyand played a role in Jack Reacher – The decisive test , for example.
It seems that Lauren Glazier is also in talks to join the cast. The Canadian actress is best known for Gone Girl, Big Little Lies, Red Sparrow, Mindhunter, See and Tales of the Walking Dead .
Marvel Studios seems to believe a lot in this project, which seems to have been conceived as a satire of Hollywood: in the comics, Simon is in fact an actor and stuntman who gets superpowers thanks to Baron Zemo , and joins the Avengers after a short period as their enemy. Rumor has it that Demetrius Grosse is in talks to play his brother Eric , who becomes the supervillain known as the Grim Reaper . Ben Kingsley will return as Trevor Slattery , while Bob Odenkirk is rumored for the part of Neal SaroyanSimon ‘s manager . Other rumors claim that Courteney Cox will also be in an unspecified role.
The authors
Destin Daniel Cretton (the same from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ) will direct some episodes and serve as executive producer. Other episodes will be directed by Stella Maghie ( Jean of the Joneses, We are everything, The Photograph ). The role of head writer was instead assigned to Andrew Guest ( Community, Suburgatory, Brooklyn Nine-Nine ).
Who is Wonder Man?
Simon Williams was created by Stan Lee (texts), Don Heck (drawings) and Jack Kirby (sketches) on Avengers (vol. 1) n° 9 in 1964. Son of two war industry tycoons, he becomes Wonder Man when the Baron Zemo transforms him into a being of ionic energy, giving him superhuman strength and speed, invulnerability and energy manipulation. Zemo then infiltrates the ranks of the Avengers as an emissary of him, but later Wonder Manhe frees himself from the influence of the supervillain and really enters the team, from which he leaves only momentarily to pursue an acting career. His brother Eric is another foe of the Avengers , known as the Grim Reaper .
The cut cameo
The introduction of Simon Williams in the Marvel Cinematic Universe should have taken place a few years ago: Nathan Fillion in fact lent his face to the character for some fake movie posters that should have appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 , but his “cameo” was cut.