Who is Marvel's Wonder Man? Origin and powers explored amid announcement of Disney+ series

According to sources, Marvel is reportedly developing a Wonder Man series for Disney+. After the success of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton returns to Marvel to create this series alongside Andrew Guest, best known for writing and producing shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Community.

For Wonder Man, Guest is supposed to be the head show-runner, with Cretton acting as an executive producer and maybe even directing an episode of the show. Wonder Man has been part of the Marvel pantheon for a while now, and with a show being developed on him, it's sure to be quite the exciting moment for the fans.

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Dissecting Wonder Man's story amidst Disney+ series announcement

Wonder Man's real name is Simon Williams, and he resides on Earth-616 of the Marvel Universe. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first debuted in Avengers #9 in August 1964. Ever since, Wonder Man has been a favorite among comic book fans.

Simon Williams in the comics (Image via Marvel Comics)

According to Fandom, Simon Williams was born to Stanford Williams and was the youngest of two brothers. His father was an industrialist who ran the ammunition factory called Williams Innovations. Simon would join his father's firm after growing up, as his elder brother Eric would decline the offer.

Simon would inherit the entire business after his father died, but since he was only 22 and inexperienced, he wouldn't be able to manage such a large-scale business. Williams Innovations wouldn't be able to keep up with the ever-growing market and eventually fall behind firms like Stark Industries.

Simon Williams owned Williams Innovations (Image via Marvel Comics)

Simon would then ask his elder brother Eric for advice, who would tell him to embezzle some money and invest in businesses that he had gotten wealthy from, namely the Maggia families businesses. Simon took his brother's advice in a desperate attempt to save his father's business, but his company's board would discover the embezzlement and the Maggia connection. Simon would then be brought to trial.

Baron Zemo would then see on the news that Simon would blame Tony Stark for his downfall and believe he could be recruited into the Masters of Evil. Zemo sent Enchantress to break Simon out, and the latter agreed to go with Enchantress and meet Zemo.

After reaching there, Simon agreed to Zemo's offer and volunteered to be a test subject for his "ionic ray" treatment. The process would give him superhuman strength and durability.

Simon would come out of the treatment with superpowers and be given a costume, but it would be revealed that he would die under a week if not given a regular treatment of an unspecified antidote.

Simon Williams inherited superhuman strength and durability (Image via Marvel Comics)

Dubbed Wonder Man, he traveled with the Masters of Evil to battle the Avengers but turned on them and took the side of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, winning their trust. This is how he would join the Avengers and become a part of the team.

Simon Williams has basic superhuman abilities where he is really strong, fast, can fly, has invulnerability, agility, and more. He is also immortal as his wounds heal exceptionally quickly, and in later comics, he could teleport.

Simon Williams is an excellent addition to the MCU, and fans can't wait to see his show. Considering it's just gotten into development, they should expect it to be released in 2024.