The following contains spoilers for Wonder Man, now streaming in full on Disney+.
For nearly 15 years, Marvel Studios primed fans to pore over their films and series seeking connections to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, the lack of any clear place in the larger saga for the Wonder Man miniseries may frustrate viewers eager to see the titular hero in action in the ‘real world’ rather than a film. Perhaps the show’s greatest contribution to the MCU isn’t found in canon or cameos, but rather how the story around Simon Williams sets up what to expect for the (fan-named) “Mutant Saga” set to launch after Avengers: Secret Wars.
Arguably, Marvel Studios is riding a wave of decline. There is a natural ending provided by Avengers: Endgame. So, with the X-Men now reunited with the larger MCU, many fans hope the Mutant Saga revives Marvel Studios’ winning formula for serialized storytelling. Wonder Man provides a glimpse into the future for how this can happen, and not just because Simon Williams and his powers are a mystery. The director of the in-series Wonder Man film is meant to satirize self-aggrandizing auteur filmmakers who believe their talent is “bigger” than the stories or characters. Yet, a line meant to set up a joke-filled audition sequence actually tips Marvel’s hand about the Mutant Saga to come.
Von Kovak Is a Weird Guy, But the ‘Wonder Man’ Director Actually Understands the MCU
Even with more than three dozen films and series in the MCU, the massive shared universe has little room to explore all it could. Many of Marvel’s greatest characters appear in one MCU project. To create the MCU, storytellers had to introduce superheroes and supervillains into an authentic world. In almost every case, some regular schmoe gets powers, embraces their destiny, and makes a splashy public heroic debut. Wonder Man is not about that at all. In fact, it is one of the first MCU stories to show what a world where superheroes are commonplace might be like. Von Kovak, the director, has a unique take on what makes a superhero movie interesting in a world where they are real.
One timeless detail in Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is the Tales of the Black Freighter comic interludes. This exists because the storytellers felt that in a world with masked vigilantes, comic books would be about something other than superheroes. Rogers: The Musical showed one way the heroes affected pop culture, and Wonder Man‘s in-series movie is another. “Our ideas about heroes and gods, they only get in the way. It’s too difficult to comprehend them. So, let’s get past them. Let’s find the human underneath. I want you to see who you really are,” he says. Making heroes seem human is how Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and others created the Marvel Renaissance, in fact.
So, while what Von Kovak says seems obvious, especially to longtime fans, it takes on a different meaning in the MCU. Because of DeMarr “Doorman” Davis and his powers, “enhanced” people are not allowed to appear in Hollywood films. Instead of mythical allegories with powered people as gods among humans, superhero stories in the MCU are firmly in the “based on true events” category. In Wonder Man, this line relates directly to Simon Williams and his struggle to hide his true, powered self. Even the audition scene mirrors his situation, where the hero’s best friend betrays him. But Von Kovak’s advice goes deeper than that.
Powers Aren’t Rare in the MCU, But They Are Still Scary, Which Sets Up the Mutant Saga
James Marsden as Cyclops without a visor, a dirty face, grimacing with fire behind him in the Avengers Doomsday trailerImage via Marvel Studios
The fallout of superhero activities has been ever-present since Age of Ultron introduced the Sokovia Accords. Still, even in shows like She-Hulk: Attorney at Law or Daredevil: Born Again, this idea remained centered in the superheroes’ experience. How they exist is easy for regular folks to understand. There are the aliens, of course. Heroes like Iron Man, Ant-Man, or Doctor Strange used science or magic to enhance themselves. Some, like Spider-Man, the Maximoff Twins, or Hulk, gained those enhancements by accident. In this context, the fear around Mutants makes more sense.
In Wonder Man, Simon Williams may be a mutant. He doesn’t know how he got what Trevor Slattery calls his “condition.” (Interestingly, Harry Dean Stanton says the same thing about Bruce Banner in Avengers.) The show also reveals how Simon lived in isolation and shame about his powers even before “the Doorman Clause” came to Hollywood. Whether MCU characters chose to become superheroes or had it thrust upon them, this “curse” was external. Simon’s story internalizes that idea, and it could apply to Mutants, too. These dangerous abilities for which they are persecuted are born from something “wrong” inside of them.
Some fans feel the existence of superheroes in the MCU is a detail that will set up the X-Men for failure. Only that might be what makes Marvel Studios’ Mutant Saga better able to portray humans’ bigotry. In the Fox films, Mutants present a unique danger because they are the only people with powers. In the comics and, now, the MCU, they will be just like the superheroes the public lauds as champions. The only difference is that rather than gaining powers by choice or consequences around reckless action, they are born that way. In fact, Simon Williams doesn’t even know the Department of Damage Control is hunting him. His powers are a burden for, as Von Kovak says, more personal and human reasons.
Arguably, the back-and-forth animus the public and government have for the Avengers holds the MCU back. In the Mutant Saga, the Avengers could finally become a true public institution. The X-Men, therefore, would be a more important superhero team by saving a world that hates and fears them. While the powers and battles will be cool, what will make the Mutant Saga work are stories framed like Simon’s in Wonder Man. These powers truly need to be a burden, and even mutants themselves should fear them. Instead of human beings who gain powers, mutants are something different. People will see them as their powers first, which is why their stories need to double down on the characters’ humanity.
The complete Wonder Man miniseries is now streaming on Disney+.
Release Date
2026 – 2026-00-00
Network
Disney+
Writers
Andrew Guest
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II
Simon Williams
Ben Kingsley
Trevor Slattery
