Ben Kingsley's Trevor Slattery Almost Headlined His Own MCU Series — Then Marvel Folded It Into Wonder Man

Marvel went and made a buddy show out of two of its most unlikely scene-stealers: Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man, and Trevor Slattery, the washed-up actor who pretended to be the Mandarin in Iron Man 3. On paper that pairing feels obvious. Behind the scenes, it almost lived as two different projects before Marvel mashed them together. It was the right call.

How we ended up with Simon and Trevor as co-leads

Wonder Man didn’t start as a Simon-first story. It started because director Destin Daniel Cretton and Sir Ben Kingsley clicked on the set of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. They liked working together so much they wanted to build a show around Trevor Slattery. Then that idea merged with a separate Wonder Man project, and the result was designed from the jump as a two-hander with Trevor already locked in. Writer and co-creator Andrew Young says he knew exactly how to write Trevor once Cretton brought him aboard. He told GamesRadar+ the genesis was simple:

"This show started with [director Destin Daniel Cretton] and Sir Ben on the set of Shang-Chi, loving working together and wanting to do a show together."

That mix-and-match approach is what puts Simon and Trevor in the same lane, and it gives the show its energy. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (as Simon Williams) and Ben Kingsley (as Trevor Slattery) carry the whole thing on pure performance and very specific chemistry. It feels like a no-brainer now, but it took a merge to get here.

The Trevor Slattery homework that shaped the show

Cretton didn’t just plug Trevor in and hope for the best. Early on, he flew to England, sat with Kingsley for a long, recorded conversation — a couple of hours — and they went deep on acting: Kingsley’s process, Trevor’s philosophy on performing, and the messy backstory that would make Trevor tick in a series. Out of that brainstorm came details that made it into the scripts, including a surprisingly sweet backbone for Trevor’s arc: he goes back to Los Angeles because he wants to make his mom proud.

If you remember Shang-Chi, Trevor was sprung from prison by Wen-Wu — the real power behind the Ten Rings and the man whose image Trevor once faked for a paycheck. Wonder Man picks up that thread and brings Trevor home, where he collides with Simon Williams, a fellow actor whose life is a lot more complicated than headshots and call sheets. The character work here wasn’t accidental; Cretton says that ongoing dialogue with the actors fed straight into what you see in the final cut.

What you need to know before you hit play

• Premise: Actor Simon Williams teams up (sometimes reluctantly) with Trevor Slattery, the infamous Mandarin impersonator from Iron Man 3, after Trevor returns to Los Angeles.
• Cast anchors: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams; Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery.
• Creative spine: Born from Cretton and Kingsley’s Shang-Chi collaboration, later merged with a separate Wonder Man concept and built as a two-hander.
• Trevor’s arc: Shaped by Cretton and Kingsley’s early, hours-long sit-down; includes Trevor heading back to LA to make his mom proud.
• MCU tie-ins: Follows Trevor’s prison break in Shang-Chi and his earlier Mandarin hoax in Iron Man 3.
• Release: All eight episodes are streaming on Disney Plus starting January 27.