Wonder Man is the latest Marvel superhero to get the on-screen treatment.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton has teamed up with Andrew Guest, a writer and producer of comedies like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Community, to tackle a series of live-action films featuring perennial Marvel characters.
Guest will act as the series’ lead writer, while Cretton will executive produce and possibly direct one episode or more. Cretton is working through his master deal with Marvel Studios, signed late last year in light of the Shang-Chisuccessful.
Developing for what is being headlined Wonderful man is in its early stages, but if things go haywire, the camera could launch in 2023.
Wonder Man is one of Marvel’s oldest characters, first introduced in 1964 in the pages of Avengers No 9. He was originally a villain and only appeared sporadically in the early Marvel Age, until being billed as a hero (and Avenger) in the late 1970s.
By the 1980s, the character had really come into its own. Known as Simon Williams, he was a founding member of the Los Angeles-based West Coast Rangers and with his looks that included turtlenecks, red jackets, and sunglasses, he rose to prominence. known for his work as an actor and stuntman by day.
The character also developed a close relationship with the classics (and now, thanks to the Marvel movies and a series of Emmy Award-winning, universally acclaimed) Vision and Wanda/Scarlet Witch characters. Stories that link him to the robot through ionic energy and brainwaves imply that the two are like brothers. Wonder Man even developed feelings for Wanda after Vision was destroyed.
The character’s take on the Disney+ series was not disclosed. Marvel could steer the character down a Hollywood path, hitherto unexplored in the MCU, or possibly put him in the Wanda-Vision lane, which the company has continued to explore, even with his latest blockbuster, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. There is even a WandaVision spin-off show in development that stars Agatha Harkness, the villain played by Kathryn Hahn.
Marvel has been consistently prolific with its Disney+ series since its launch with WandaVision early 2021. Streaming recently ended Moonlight Knight currently in Emmy Awards campaign mode, while Ms. Marvel is in the works and produces some of the best reviews of any Marvel show to date. She-Hulk: Lawyer will premiere in August, while Samuel L. Jackson-let Secret Invasion and Iron Man was on deck afterwards.
More than half a dozen shows are in development, including the second season of Loki and a new one Daredevil series.
In addition to working on Wonder Man, Cretton is developing a sequel to Shang-Chi and will direct and executive produce a series of adaptations of Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novels Chinese Americans for Disney+.
Guest is his tooth in comedy –— this credit includes shows like 30 Rock and Marry me – but he has Marvel experience: he was a consultant producer on Hawk Eyeseries, which is headed by Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld, is known for its fun and lighthearted take on heroic works and fiction.
Cretton is represented by WME and Goodman Genow. Guests were represented by UTA, Mosaic and McKuin Frankel.
