Love him or hate him, Ben Kingsley‘s Trevor Slattery is ready for another close-up! The divisive character who made his MCU debut in 2013’s Iron Man 3 is supposedly getting more screen time thanks to Marvel Studios’ Wonder Man series. While Kingsley’s involvement has yet to be confirmed by Marvel, Variety says they have it on good authority that it’s a done deal.
Wonder Man is one of Marvel‘s oldest characters, dating back to 1964 in the pages of Avengers #9. He began his comic book career as a villain but got reintroduced as a hero in the late 1970s. Wonder Man’s civilian name is Simon Williams, and he was a founding member of the Los Angeles-based West Coast Avengers. As an actor and stuntman, Williams’ look included wearing a turtleneck, a red jacket, and sunglasses. Wonder Man strongly relates to Marvel characters Vision and Wanda/Scarlet Witch. The trio shared several adventures, with Wonder Man and Vision thinking of each other as brothers in action. After Vision was dismantled, Wonder Man developed intense feelings for Wanda. Whether Marvel plans to introduce Wonder Man as a potential love interest for Wanda remains to be seen.
Marvel could take Wonder Man in several directions, given that he’s a relatively unknown character. Will they treat him like a brand-new hero or slide him into place alongside Wanda after the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? Could it be Wonder Man who eventually frees Wanda from her self-inflicted incarceration?
As for Slattery, it’s anyone’s guess how the character could be introduced in Marvel’s Wonder Man series. One way to introduce Slattery is through his acting pursuits. Reports indicate that Wonder Man is intended to be a Hollywood satire, giving Slattery the perfect angle to appear in the series.
After being introduced in Iron Man 3 as an actor hired to play a terrorist named Mandarin, Kingsley’s Slattery appeared in the Marvel short film All Hail the King. After MCU fans thought they’d seen the last of him, Slattery popped up in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings as a prisoner of Shang-Chi’s father, Xu Wenwu. Enthusiastic, hapless, and oddly great with mystical animals, Slattery bumbles from one outrageous situation to the next, making him one of the MCU’s most unpredictable characters.
How do you think Trevor Slattery will find his way into Marvel’s Wonder Man series? Feel free to share your theories below.