Wonder Man Season 2: All 8 Marvel Characters That Were Expected To Appear

Marvel Studios' Wonder Man arrived on Disney+ earlier this year as one of the biggest surprises on the studio's slate in Phase 6, trading the typical superhero fanfare for a Hollywood satire built around Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Simon Williams and Ben Kingsley's Trevor Slattery. The eight-episode run finished with a 91 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and features one of the most interesting sets of characters Marvel Television has assembled recently.

Fans were expecting to see many of these characters again, though this is no longer the case following Marvel Studios' cancellation of Wonder Man Season 2 in July. Co-creators Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest were both set to both to return, and Abdul-Mateen and Kingsley were locked in to reprise their roles.

No full Season 2 cast list was officially released; however, looking at Season 1's ending and the team's prior interest in building on existing relationships, it is easy to predict who would have been asked to return.

Also, per Brad Winderbaum's past comments on the Escape Pod, it doesn’t look like the creative team would have made many major additions to the cast list. Winderbaum wanted Simon Williams to be "Simon Williams for another second before you throw him in the Avengers," indicating there would not have been other heroes joining Season 2:

"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." 

In the interview, Winderbaum agreed that it would have been best if Simon's story remained self-contained, noting that he liked the "stakes of Simon's world" the show had established: 

"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."  

Wonder Man Season 2's Most Likely Key Character Returns From Season 1

Putting this into perspective, Wonder Man Season 2 wouldn't have strayed too far from Season 1. If Marvel had continued with this approach, it would have made sense that the key characters who made the first season so successful would have returned.  

Leading the way, of course, is Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams, the struggling actor whose ionic powers turn a career-defining audition into a near-catastrophe. Season 1 ended with Simon finally embracing his abilities, breaking into a maximum-security Department of Damage Control facility, and flying Trevor Slattery out. Season 2 would have given an opportunity to explore the consequences of Simon's actions.

This automatically means Ben Kingsley's Trevor Slattery would have also been in the mix. Trevor spent much of Season 1 working as a reluctant informant for the DODC before being cut from the in-universe Wonder Man remake, replaced by Joe Pantoliano, and jailed after taking the fall for Simon's meltdown. Slattery is now a fugitive after Simon's prison break, and the fallout from this incident would have been central to Season 2's plot.

Looking back at Simon's decision to get his buddy out of prison, one cannot help but wonder how it would have impacted the in-universe Wonder Man film. This makes it only natural that Zlatko Burić's Von Kovak would have followed suit. He's the auteur helming the in-universe Wonder Man remake, and any negative publicity surrounding the movie's lead would affect his image. Season 1 ended with Kovak discussing a potential sequel with Simon, and the pair agreed to discuss how best they can pull it off later. With Simon now exposed as superpowered and unlikely to be re-hired under the Doorman Clause, Kovak won't be a happy man. 

The drama also brings another important character, X Mayo's Janelle Jackson, into the fold. Fans would recall Jackson as Simon's blunt, overworked agent. Janelle tried her best to keep her client's career on the rails despite his chronic overthinking, and the finale left her in a victorious position. 

The fictional Wonder Man remake was a hit, giving her the leverage to tell Simon he could now have any part he wants, but it looks like Simon has destroyed everything they have built together. If Simon were to get his career back on track, Jackson is his best bet.

Jackson and Von Kovak aren’t the only ones Simon has caused problems for. Arian Moayed could have continued his MCU tour as Agent P. Cleary, the Department of Damage Control official first introduced in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Season 1 ended with him humiliated by Slattery and Simon, so he'd have an even bigger bone to pick in Season 2. He would likely have pursued the two high-profile fugitives with a lot more aggression. 

Shola Adewusi's Martha Williams, Simon's Haitian-American mother, would have been another safe bet for the sophomore season. Her scenes in Season 1 gave the show some of its most emotional moments. With Simon now a known figure to the wider world, Martha's reaction to her son living as a wanted superpowered actor is a conversation the series could explore.

Simon's family dynamic cannot be highlighted without his older brother, Eric Williams. Eric was very critical of his brother's choices, but reconciled with him by the end of Season 1. He was even the one cheering loudest at the Wonder Man premiere in the finale, with tears of joy in his eyes. Eric will definitely not be happy with Simon's decision to jeopardize his career by staging a prison break. That could have provided plenty of runway to allow Eric’s Grim Reaper arc from the comics to be explored in Season 2.

Then there is Josh Gad, whose Season 2 return was not just likely but was personally promised by Andrew Guest. Gad played a heightened, fame-drunk version of himself in Episode 4, befriends Byron Bowers' DeMarr Davis, and disappears inside Doorman on the set of Cash Grab 2. 

This is the incident that leads to the creation of the Doorman Clause. Guest said that if the show had gotten another season, he promised to get Josh Gad free, and had floated the idea that Gad may even emerge with powers of his own after spending so much time inside DeMarr.