00:00Did you hear about Wonder Man?
00:01I need to be in this movie.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the facts and lore about Marvel's Simon Williams,
00:09aka Wonder Man, before watching him debut in the MCU's Wonder Man miniseries.
00:14Beware of possible spoilers.
00:16I'm gonna need you to sign this to confirm you don't have superpowers.
00:21Yeah.
00:23Number 10. Tony Stark kinda created Wonder Man.
00:26In the MCU, Tony has had a hand in creating several villains, either directly or indirectly.
00:32This includes Baron Zemo, Mysterio, and Ultron.
00:36Ultron.
00:37In the flesh. Or no, not yet. Not this Christmas.
00:43But I'm ready. I'm on mission.
00:47While main comics Tony can relate to his counterpart as he created Wonder Man in 1964,
00:52Simon's family owned the munitions firm Williams Innovations.
00:55After he took over the business, it began to falter,
00:58which was made worse when Stark Industries transformed into a business powerhouse and eclipsed them.
01:03I'm not gonna let you do this.
01:05Do you hear me, Stark?
01:07I'm not gonna let you destroy my entire life!
01:10Destroy? What?
01:12No, wait, Simon.
01:13Simon!
01:14Let me...
01:15Explain.
01:17Desperate to save the family legacy,
01:19Simon is encouraged by his brother Eric to embezzle funds to avoid bankruptcy.
01:22However, it didn't work and Simon was arrested.
01:26This led to the Enchantress working with the Masters of Evil,
01:29paying his bail and offering to give him superpowers, which Simon accepted.
01:34I have brought you back.
01:35I've given you life in exchange for one simple task.
01:40Destroy the Avengers.
01:43Number 9.
01:44Death Debut
01:45With Simon agreeing to the Enchantress's offer,
01:48she took him to Baron Zemo, who had a dastardly plan.
01:51Desperate to get revenge on Tony Stark,
01:53Simon would get powers and then infiltrate the Avengers to bring them down.
01:57However, there was a catch.
01:59Zemo claimed the rays used to give Simon powers were fatal,
02:03and only he had the antidote.
02:05With the mantle of Wonder Man, Simon followed the plan.
02:08However, with the Avengers being all lovely and offering to save his life,
02:12Simon helped the heroes.
02:14However, he succumbed to the poisoning in the same issue in which he debuted,
02:18Avengers number 9.
02:20Following his quick demise, beyond brief resurrections,
02:23Simon wasn't returned to life until 1976.
02:27Number 8.
02:28The DC Lawsuit
02:29One of the reasons for Wonder Man being put on ice for so long
02:32seemingly stems from the fury of comic rival DC.
02:35According to Marvel legend Stan Lee, who helped create Simon,
02:39DC issued a lawsuit against the company for creating Wonder Man,
02:43believing it was infringing on their copyright with Wonder Woman.
02:46As such, Lee agreed to remove Simon from the playing field.
02:50Yet, he was in for a surprise when DC debuted the character Power Girl in 1976,
02:55shortly after Marvel's Luke Cage had taken on the name of Power Man.
02:59As such, Wonder Man was brought back into the 616 fold with no retaliation from DC.
03:04Number 7.
03:06Trevor Slattery's Involvement
03:07While fans hated the reveal that the Mandarin was actually performed by actor Trevor in 2013's
03:13Iron Man 3, the character has since become beloved in the franchise.
03:17The MCU achieved this by morphing Trevor into a comedy role as a parody of an unsuccessful actor
03:31when he returned in 2021's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
03:35With Simon having a long history in the same industry, more on that later,
03:50Trevor is set to be a focal point in the new Wonder Man series as the duo become allies in the acting arena.
03:55This is the world.
03:57It's everything.
03:58I get this close, and I miss?
04:02We all have our fingers and toes crossed that Morris follows Trevor to Hollywood.
04:07Number 6.
04:08Pacifist Man
04:09Typically, superheroes are all about fighting baddies with surreal powers, fists, or whatever they have lying around.
04:16Yet not Simon.
04:17At least, not modern Wonder Man.
04:19Following a mental health crisis when he believed the Avengers were causing more problems than solving them,
04:24Simon decided he would be a pacifist.
04:26Despite this, he still accepted the offer to join the Avengers' Unity Division,
04:31which was a PR team showing mutant and Avenger togetherness.
04:34It was an interesting dynamic to read how the comic creators would deal with a character in a team that doesn't fight.
04:40Instead of attacking, Simon would use his vast powers to play defense
04:44as he preached pacifist ideals by quoting Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.
04:49Number 5.
04:50Villainous Brother
04:51Considering Eric's advice to stop their family business from going under was to convince Simon to do crime,
04:57that probably shows that he's not a good egg.
05:00And he isn't.
05:01Instead, Eric was involved with a crime syndicate and took on the villainous alter ego of the Grim Reaper following Simon's first demise.
05:08Where's my brother?
05:10Or is the great Wonder Man afraid to face me?
05:16Fry them.
05:17With most of his abilities coming from technology and later getting some mystical ones,
05:22Eric, best known for his trademark scythe arm,
05:25was a thorn in the Avengers, Simon's, and Vision's scythes.
05:29Yet that hasn't stopped him from perishing and coming back to life as much as Simon.
05:33No need to panic, everyone.
05:35I've got a note from my doctor.
05:38We might get to see the live-action scythe when Eric is portrayed by Demetrius Gross in the Wonder Man series.
05:43Number 4.
05:45Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Comic History
05:47Live-action adaptations of comic books can take some time for actors to get used to.
05:53What should the audience expect from Wonder Man?
05:56Guess you just have to wait and see.
05:58Thankfully for Wonder Man, Simon is played by Abdul-Mateen, who has vast experience in the genre.
06:04Before he crossed the Rubicon to Marvel, Abdul-Mateen was at DC playing the villain Black Manta in 2018's Aquaman
06:11and its 2023 sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
06:15We are this close to unlocking the greatest power in human history.
06:22Are you really telling me you want to walk away now?
06:24Abdul-Mateen reportedly described his Aquaman role as, quote,
06:29clown work when comparing it to more dramatic roles,
06:31something which he had to, quote, get over when taking on the role.
06:35Yet regardless of that, it did not stop him from signing on to play Cal Abar in the 2019 TV show Watchmen,
06:42where he was later revealed to be Dr. Manhattan.
06:44I'm Dr. Manhattan.
06:47Obviously.
06:49You're dubious.
06:51Oh, I'm not dubious.
06:52I'm just wondering why the actual Dr. Manhattan is wearing a Dr. Manhattan mask.
06:58I don't want to be recognized.
07:00Number 3. Vision Connection
07:02While in the MCU, Vision was created with Tony's AI Jarvis.
07:06In the comics, it was a different story.
07:09Ultron used computer programming and human brain patterns to form Vision's core being.
07:13The human sample turned out to be Simon's.
07:16This is what triggered the failure of Ultron's plan to use Vision to destroy the Avengers,
07:21as the android joined the heroes instead, just like Simon.
07:24However, this fact caused Eric to despise Vision, who saw the hero as an imposter to his brother.
07:30Simon, on the other hand, while it has been frosty between them,
07:34essentially sees the Vision as his brother.
07:36This connection has led to speculation that Simon may be involved in fully restoring the MCU's Vision.
07:41Number 2. Movie Star
07:44As the 2026 Wonder Man show will depict, Simon is an actor.
07:49My name is Simon Williams.
07:51I'm Trevor Stanchery.
07:54And this is Wonder Man.
07:56Yet, as we've mentioned already, the comics version wasn't initially a Hollywood star.
08:00In 1978, after being dropped as an Avenger, Simon decided a new venture was needed.
08:07Inspired by going to the movies with Beast, he decided to try acting.
08:10Slowly but surely, Simon began rising up the acting ranks,
08:14finding work on a children's TV show and as a stunt performer,
08:17all during stints in The Avengers and The West Coast Avengers.
08:21It wasn't all great, though, as Wonder Man's ego grew rapidly.
08:25Yet eventually, he managed to achieve A-list status after publicly admitting to his embezzlement.
08:29Apparently, in this circumstance, crime can pay off in the long run.
08:34How'd you get into acting?
08:35My grandma.
08:36Oh, really?
08:37Yeah, she was the one who noticed that I just had a thing for reaching out and touching the human heart.
08:42Also, she was a huge, powerful movie producer and she made them put me in movies.
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09:01Number 1. Ionic Energy Powers
09:03Simon might be one of the underdog powerhouses in Marvel.
09:07Simon, what have you done?
09:09You should be more worried about what I'm going to do!
09:11Rogue made the error of underestimating Simon when she borrowed his power and accidentally killed Eric.
09:17Filled to the brim with Ionic Energy, Simon is one of the strongest around.
09:21After all, his strength is often compared to Thor's.
09:25Alongside superhuman speed, stamina, and reflexes, Simon has been known to fly and fire off energy blasts.
09:31Yet one of his most impressive powers is that he's essentially immortal.
09:36As such, he doesn't require food, water, sleep, or even oxygen to survive.
09:40Other powers Simon once used include teleportation, shape-shifting, size alteration, and the ability to make energy constructs.
09:49You're able to expand the Ionic Energy! That's amazing!
09:54If the Wonder Man series even scratches the surface of his abilities, we're in for a treat.
09:59What other obscure Marvel character do you think desperately needs some live-action content?
10:04Let us know in the comments!
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