We know that Marvel Studios’ Wonder Man is coming next year. We know that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars in the show, along with Ben Kingsley, and that it’s partially a send-up of Hollywood’s obsession with superhero movies. What we don’t know is how any of that ties into the actual superhero elements of the show, but a new clip has begun to reveal just that.
Marvel just released the first clip from Wonder Man, which comes to Disney+ on January 27. It’s a lot of the same beats we saw in the first trailer released at New York Comic Con, but then, we get something new. Something that everyone involved with the show has, thus far, been avoiding. Check it out.
Up until now, we hadn’t seen if Abdul-Mateen’s character, Simon, even had powers. We assumed so. It’s a Marvel show, after all, and Wonder Man usually has powers. But all the trailers and materials have portrayed him mostly as just a struggling actor finally getting his big shot. Here, though, we see that not only does Simon have powers, but he’s also going to lie about them to try and star in the Wonder Man movie.
That’s a fun twist in the story and will certainly make for a nice blend of humor and action. But from an adaptation standpoint, it seems like the powers are going to be different from what Wonder Man has in the comics. Created in 1964, Wonder Man traditionally has all the big superhero powers one might expect: strength, flight, speed, etc., thanks to an infusion of ionic energy. This doesn’t seem to be any of that here… at least not yet. These powers do appear to be triggered by his emotions, though, and that is a part of the character. So it’s not like this is totally out of left field. It’s just an interesting tease of what’s to come.
Basically, what this clip confirms is that Wonder Man is, indeed, a superhero show and not just Marvel’s Entourage. We’ll surely find out more in the lead-up to its January release.
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