It's not exactly a one-for-one swap, but with word of James Gunn becoming co-CEO of DC Studios, someone is switching from DC to Marvel as Yahya Abdul-Mateen II – normally found playing Black Manta in the Aquaman movies, will lead the Wonder Man series on Disney+.
Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton is aboard as one of the series' producers and directors (in addition to his bigger gig making Avengers: The Kang Dynasty), while Hawkeye veteran Andrew Guest is head writer.
Wonder Man, AKA Simon Williams was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in 1964. As originally written, he was the son of a wealthy industrialist whose company falls on hard times due to competition from Tony Stark’s Stark Industries.
Williams then accepts an offer from villain Baron Zemo that gives him ionic superpowers including super strength and durability. After fighting the Avengers several times, Wonder Man ultimately joined their ranks.
The show will, of course, chart its own path through the story – origin or not – and ultimately the likely plan is to have Abdul-Mateen's character show up in other MCU projects. And we already know that Ben Kingsley is on board to reprise his role as Trevor Slattery.
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