Marvel Television’s Wonder Man, now streaming exclusively on Disney Plus, is a fresh, character-driven MCU series that blends superhero lore with Hollywood satire and requires no homework to understand the plot, unlike many MCU projects. The eight-episode story follows struggling actor Simon Williams (Watchmen and Aquaman co-star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who secretly possesses superhuman abilities, as he and washed-up performer Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) pursue life-changing roles in a remake of the iconic pulp superhero movie Wonder Man. But will Williams’ delusions and inability to conceal his powers be his undoing?
In the comics, however, Wonder Man’s origins are vastly different from his TV counterpart’s. Despite his deep ties to the Avengers, most notably Vision, his footprint in both the comics and the MCU has been surprisingly minimal. Add in his close friendship with Beast and his broader connections to the X-Men, and there’s a lot to unpack when digging into everything you need to know about Marvel’s next installment.
Wonder Man’s origin in Marvel comics
Wonder Man, aka Simon Williams, was created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Don Heck. He first appeared in The Avengers #9 in 1964 as the son of a wealthy arms manufacturer who inherited his father’s company. When Stark Industries threatens the business, Simon begins embezzling money to keep himself afloat. He gets caught, convicted, and thrown in jail, then bailed out by The Enchantress and used in an experiment by Baron Heinrich Zemo to exact revenge on Tony Stark. Because of their mutual hatred for Stark, Williams agrees to be transformed into a supervillain to go face-to-face with The Avengers.
Williams is bombarded with ionic energy, granting him superhuman abilities and transforming him into Wonder Man. Zemo then orders him to infiltrate the Avengers and turn on them when the Masters of Evil strike, keeping him in line by claiming the ionic energy will kill him within a week without a regular antidote that only Zemo controls. When the moment comes, however, Wonder Man betrays Zemo instead, siding with the Avengers, and is seemingly killed when he’s denied the antidote.
Because of this, Williams’ brother Eric (Demetrius Grosse in the TV version) holds a grudge against The Avengers and becomes the villain Grim Reaper. However, Hank Pym records Wonder Man’s brainwaves just in case there’s a way to bring him back to life. Surprise, surprise, Wonder Man wasn’t dead; he was just in a coma and kept in suspended animation. But the brainwaves Hank Pym recorded were later stolen by Ultron and used to create The Vision.
Kang the Conqueror later resurrects Wonder Man in The Avengers #131 as part of the Legion of the Unliving, a team composed of deceased characters plucked out of time from the exact moments of their deaths and brought together under his command. Eventually, The Avengers defeats that team and they return to their various points in time.
Next, the Grim Reaper revives Wonder Man, this time as a new villain called Black Talon. He fights the Avengers again, goes back into suspended animation, and is finally revived permanently by supervillain The Living Laser, who hypnotizes Wonder Man into attacking The Avengers yet again, because it worked out well so many times before.
But now that Simon is in control of his own thoughts, he defeats his brother and eventually becomes a full-time Avengers member. Some time later, Simon goes to Hollywood to pursue a career in acting, where he later helps establish the West Coast Avengers.
What are Wonder Man’s powers?
Being pelted with ionic energy granted Simon superhuman physical attributes, like enhanced strength, durability, speed, and reflexes. In his first appearance, he’s said to have strength comparable to Thor’s, and in more modern comic stories, Hercules confirms this after Wonder Man punches him through a wall. Throughout his comic book career, Wonder Man has taken on the likes of Abomination, Carol Danvers, Red Hulk, The Thing, and Namor. He also once battled The Hulk to a stalemate. His power has also been said to rival that of The Sentry. Needless to say, his strength is in the upper tier of the Marvel universe.
He also has a few durability feats — once, he swallowed a bomb and survived the explosion. He was knocked to the core of a planet by Gladiator, takes punches from Savage Hulk on the regular, and eats energy blasts from the Silver Surfer.
Wonder Man also learned how to use his energy to fly, although he initially needed an ion jet pack to travel. Because of his honed ability with ion energy, he can emit beams from his eyes and hands. He can also change his size and shape at will, teleport, and share his energy with people.
Most of all, because of his ion powers, which effectively turned him into a being of pure energy, Wonder Man is effectively immortal, as evidenced by just how many times he’s died and come back. He seemingly becomes more powerful each time he is revived, and he does not need air, food, or water to survive.
Is Wonder Man a mutant?
It isn’t clear how Simon Williams got his powers in the MCU, and the childhood appearance of an uncontrolled, hidden ability has some fans wondering whether he’s a mutant. One notable hint: Simon is under investigation by Agent Cleary (Arian Moayed), the same government flack who came after Ms. Marvel in her single-season series. And that series ended with a strong hint that she is a mutant.
Wonder Man isn’t a mutant in the comics, though. But after he had a falling out with The Avengers over the Human Registration Act (the equivalent of the Sokovia Accords in the MCU) during the Civil War crossover event, he became a de facto homie of the X-Men. During Civil War, Simon vowed to never use his powers again and to use his public relations skills more instead.
At some point, during a battle with a Celestial, Wonder Man allows Rogue to use his powers, but she also absorbs his consciousness. He’s freed when Rogue kisses Deadpool, gaining his healing abilities, allowing Wonder Man’s body to be restored.
Now that he’s back, still a pacifist, Wonder Man maintains his X-Men ties: He’s developed a strong friendship with the apelike mutant Hank McCoy, aka Beast, whose extroverted personality complements the more introspective Simon. Wonder Man considers Beast his best friend, a friendship that developed during their time as Avengers. The last time we saw Wonder Man in the comics was in Astonishing Avengers Infinity Comic #30 in 2025, but the character has a self-titled limited series expected to debut in Marvel Comics on March 18.
