After last month’s rumors, now there is confirmation from TV Line :
Demetrius Grosse will play Eric Williams in Wonder Man , Marvel Studios series for Disney+ with Yahya Abdul Mateen II in the eponymous role.
Created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema in The Avengers #52 (1968), Eric is the older brother of protagonist Simon Williams . In the comics, Eric is neglected by his parents – war industry tycoons – in favor of Simon , and joins the Maggia crime syndicate . When Simon , desperate for the condition of the family business, asks his brother for help, he obtains some stolen money to invest in the company (which could not hold a candle to Stark Industries ), but is discovered and arrested.
Baron Zemo then leverages Simon ‘s hatred towards Stark , infuses him with superpowers with ionic energy and unleashes him against the Avengers . The infant Wonder Man , however, is seemingly killed in the battle. Blinded by a desire for vengeance, Eric has a high-tech scythe built by the Tinkerer and becomes the supervillain known as the Grim Reaper . For his part, the revived Simon embarks on a career as an actor and stuntman, even entering the Avengers themselves .
Probably these origins will have changed in the series, also because the recently leaked synopsis spoke of “two actors”… is it possible that they are the two Williams brothers ?
The story of two actors trying to make it big in MCU Hollywood, asking the big question: what is Hollywood like in a world where superheroes are real?
However, the American Demetrius Grosse is very active on the small screen, and is best known for Banshee, Justified, Westworld, The Rookie and Fear the Walking Dead . He also appeared in the movie Straight Outta Compton .
For the rest, we know that Ben Kingsley will return in the role of Trevor Slattery , while Lauren Glazier ( Gone Girl, Big Little Lies, Red Sparrow, Mindhunter ) will play an unspecified character. Filming will begin this spring.
We will keep you posted.
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.