In the pages of Marvel Comics, Simon Williams has worn almost every hat an Avenger can wear. Founding member of the West Coast Avengers, longtime reserve Avenger on the main team, closest friend to Hank McCoy's Beast, on-and-off love interest of Wanda Maximoff, and the brain template that gave Vision his mind. So it's safe to say Simon has a fair bit of history with the Avengers and other popular heroes. However, he is an actor first and an Avenger second, a C-list Hollywood star who moonlights as a superhero. Marvel Studios captured this duality in the Disney+ series about the character, Wonder Man, which dropped all eight episodes at once and gave Yahya Abdul-Mateen II the keys to the character.
The show is a success, and the debate over Simon's future in the franchise has started. Marvel Studios Head of Television, Streaming, and Animation and executive producer Brad Winderbaum recently weighed in on whether Wonder Man should be suiting up alongside the main Avengers lineup any time soon.
Speaking with Andrew Parker and Alex Azor on the Escape Pod podcast, Winderbaum was asked whether Wonder Man should eventually team up with other heroes in the MCU. His response was not a flat no, but rather a push for patience. He agreed there is a pull toward a team-up, but doesn’t want to rush it, telling the hosts he wants to "give him a chance to be Simon Williams for another second before you throw him in the Avengers":
"Well, there's something pure about the show. It's not that I disagree [that Wonder Man shouldn't team up with other heroes], actually, it's that I don't want to rush it. Let's give him a chance to be Simon Williams for another second before you throw him in the Avengers."
The conversation continued, with co-host Andrew suggesting that Simon is the one MCU character he least needs to see connected to other heroes through cameos or crossovers. Winderbaum agreed, and Andrew followed with a point about preferring to let the story develop before any team-up arrives:
"I like his story being self-contained. Now, I don't think it should never happen. You just need to see where a story goes. But yeah, I agree."
Winderbaum then made the case for why the show's small-scale and emotions make it special, pointing to the Episode 3 moment where Simon shatters his mother's kitchen island in a burst of ionic rage and arguing that "destroying the kitchen island has more emotion to it than like 99% of the spaceships we blow up":
"I also like the stakes of Simon's world being, 'Is he going to get the part?' Like, destroying the kitchen island has more emotion to it than like 99% of the spaceships we blow up. There's just something about that scale that I want to live in for a little while."
The comments arrive as fans continue to speculate about whether Abdul-Mateen's Simon could fold into Avengers: Doomsday or any future Avengers project Marvel is building toward. It looks like the answer to those speculations is now obvious, and we'd have to wait a while before we see Simon use his ionic powers alongside other heroes.
Why’s It Too Early for Wonder Man To Join the Avengers?
Winderbaum's answer makes sense when you look at what Wonder Man actually is. The show spent eight episodes building Simon as a struggling actor chasing a role, not as a hero chasing a villain. Dropping him into the Avengers now would throw away the thing that made the series work in the first place. Also, this show is supposed to be different from typical MCU projects, as it aims to fix superhero fatigue.
There's also the timing issue. Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18, and Secret Wars arrives next year. The roster is already packed with returning X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and the core MCU heroes, all facing off against Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom. Squeezing Simon into an Avengers lineup wouldn’t be the best, as fans are still getting to know the character.
Simon needs more stories before a team-up feels earned. By the end of Season 1, he breaks Slattery out of jail, and his powers are about to become public news; this arc needs proper development. He hasn't even accepted being a superhero yet. Putting him next to Captain America or Thor before he figures that part out would skip the most interesting step of his journey.
The comics took years to turn Simon into a full Avenger, and the MCU seems happy to follow that pace. A future team-up will hit harder once fans have seen more of who Simon is on his own. Whether that comes in maybe a third season of Wonder Man, a West Coast Avengers project, or something further down the line, Simon's Avengers arc is on the back burner for now.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
