The MCU scales down the superhero action in “Wonder Man,” a new show following the adventures of Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley).
Rather than showing superhero action or superpowered heroics, “Wonder Man” focuses almost entirely on Simon and Trevor’s experiences as actors in Hollywood. This means a lot of movie references.
As big as the MCU has become, it’s hard to reference film and television without bringing up a Marvel actor or two. Throughout the series, “Wonder Man” breaks the fourth wall a number of times by referencing actors who have already appeared in Marvel Studios projects.
Here are all the MCU actors canonized by “Wonder Man.” Warning: There are spoilers ahead. If you haven’t checked the show out, queue it up — it’s an easy watch.
Robert Redford, the “Sundance Kid”
In the first episode of “Wonder Man,” a poster for “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” hangs on the wall of Simon’s apartment. Famously, the late Robert Redford portrayed the famed sharpshooter the Sundance Kid — giving Redford the inspiration for the name of Sundance Film Festival.
MCU fans will remember that Redford portrayed Alexander Pierce, the primary antagonist of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” In the film, Pierce, Secretary of the World Security Council, revealed himself to be a high-ranking Hydra member, leading the infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. and establishment of Project Insight. Pierce briefly appeared again in “Avengers: Endgame,” despite the film releasing less than one year after his announced retirement project “The Old Man & the Gun.”
Angela Bassett, Evan Peters and ‘American Horror Story’
Early on in “Wonder Man,” Simon Williams takes a small part in an episode of “American Horror Story,” a show he gets fired from for being overeager with his suggestions. This long-running Ryan Murphy series had a handful of MCU actors appear in its various installments.
Evan Peters started on “American Horror Story” back in its first season, playing characters such as Tate Langdon, Jimmy Darling and James Patrick March. In the MCU, Peters played Ralph Bohner (remember him!) who appeared in both “WandaVision” and “Agatha All Along” after posing as Quicksilver (a character he played in the Fox “X-Men” films) in the former.
Angela Bassett also appeared in several seasons of “American Horror Story,” playing characters such as Desiree Dupree and Ramona Royale. In “Black Panther” and “Wakanda Forever,” Bassett played Queen Ramonda. For “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Bassett picked up a Best Supporting Actress nomination, making her the only actor to get an Oscar nomination for an MCU performance.
As a side note, Michael Chiklis appeared in “American Horror Story: Freak Show” as Wendell ‘Dell’ Toledo. Though Chiklis played Ben Grimm/The Thing in the Tim Story “Fantastic Four” films, his take on that character has yet to become MCU canon (unlike Chris Evans, whose version of Johnny Storm/The Human Torch made a reappeared in “Deadpool & Wolverine”). Maybe in “Secret Wars.”
Nathan Fillion, “The Rookie”
As Arian Moayed’s Department of Damage Control agent P. Cleary breaks down the danger presented by Simon’s powers, he references an incident involving a “porta potty explosion on the set of ‘The Rookie.’” In “The Rookie,” Nathan Fillion stars as Officer John Nolan.
As a close friend and frequent collaborator of James Gunn’s, Fillion appeared in both the first and third “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies as a Kyln prisoner and Orgoscope head of security. Fillion also voiced Headpool in “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
Fun fact: Gunn originally cast Fillion to portray Simon Williams as an actor in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” In that film, Simon was set to appear during a Simon Williams film festival on Earth — with one of the features being a Tony Stark biopic starring Simon as Iron Man.
Entering “The Matrix”
Joe Pantoliano (often simply referred to as “Joey Pants”) appears a couple of times in “Wonder Man,” a fellow actor and nemesis of Trevor Slattery’s. When Trevor introduces Simon and Pantoliano, Simon says, “You know, I never eat a steak without thinking about you in ‘The Matrix,’” thus opening the door to a few MCU references.
Laurence Fishburne famously stars in the film series as Morpheus, a mentor to Keanu Reeves’ Neo. Fishburne also appeared in “Ant-Man and the Wasp” as Bill Foster, also known as the size-changing superhero Goliath.
Another “The Matrix” star, Carrie-Anne Moss appears in all four films as Trinity. On Netflix, Moss portrayed Jeri Hogarth, a lawyer who appears in “Daredevil,” “The Defenders” and, most notably, “Jessica Jones.” Though it’s long been debated whether or not these shows are actually MCU canon, Daredevil has been making a comeback tour on Disney+ and in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” This week, Krysten Ritter made her own return to the franchise in the trailer for “Daredevil: Born Again” Season 2 — another hint that Hogarth is, indeed, an MCU character.
Finally, Hugo Weaving portrays the iconic and villainous Agent Smith in the “Matrix” series. Known to play some high-profile bad guys, Weaving appeared in “Captain America: The First Avenger” as the Red Skull. This role was later taken over by Ross Marquand when the character became the Stonekeeper, watching over the Soul Stone on Vormir in “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.”
Sterling K. Brown, Alfred Molina and “Frozen 2”
The fourth episode of “Wonder Man” centers around DeMarr “Doorman” Davis, a superpowered club doorman who saves Josh Gad’s life and falls into the actor’s entourage. While at DeMarr’s club, Josh Gad sings a remix of Olaf solo “In Summer,” thus showing that “Frozen” exists in the MCU.
Assuming that Gad also starred in “Frozen 2” (we’re not positive on what year he died in this episode), that folds in a few actors who have been in the MCU. Sterling K. Brown makes an appearance in both “Frozen 2” (Lieutenant Mattias of Arendelle) and “Black Panther” (N’Jobu, uncle to T’Challa and father to N’Jadaka/Killmonger).
“Frozen 2” also features a voice role by Alfred Molina as Anna and Elsa’s father, Agnarr. Molina’s famous portrayal of Otto Octavius/Doc Ock from Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2” was made MCU canon by a return in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
Ian McKellen, Stanley Tucci and “Beauty and the Beast”
In the same episode, Mario Lopez makes a cameo, referring to Josh Gad as a “former LeFou,” proving that the actor’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” reboot exists in the MCU. Gad stars in the Disney remake alongside Stanley Tucci, who portrays the composer-turned-harpsichord Cadenza. Tucci appeared in the first “Captain America” film as Dr. Abraham Erskine, Steve Rogers’ mentor who created the Super Soldier Serum.
Ian McKellen also appears in “Beauty and the Beast” alongside Gad as Cogsworth, the Beast’s butler and Lumiere’s clock sidekick. While McKellen’s portrayal of Magneto has yet to properly appear in the MCU, recent trailers for “Avengers: Doomsday” confirm that he will, indeed, make his debut in the franchise this December.
Ohana means Ving Rhames
Fair warning, this is one of the nicher connections.
In the fifth episode of “Wonder Man,” an establishing shot of Hollywood Blvd. shows the El Capitan Theatre. In the corner of the shot, audiences can see a Disney+ billboard with the “Lilo & Stitch” quote, “Ohana means family” (the 2025 remake of “Lilo & Stitch” recently premiered at the El Cap).
In the original “Lilo & Stitch,” Ving Rhames lends his voice to portray the physically imposing social worker Cobra Bubbles. In the MCU film “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” Rhames briefly portrays a character named Charlie-27, one of the original Guardians who first appeared in “Marvel Super-Heroes #18.”
“Alien” and Sigourney Weaver
When the in-universe “Wonder Man” director Von Kovak (Zlatko Burić) shows Simon, Trevor and their fellow actors an inspiration board for his new movie, audiences may spot an “Alien” poster hanging on the wall. Famously, Sigourney Weaver starred in the film, as well as later entries in the “Alien” franchise, as badass survivor Ellen Ripley.
Weaver briefly held a role in the MCU as Alexandra Reid, a leader of the Hand and villain at the center of Netflix’s “The Defenders.” Reid was eventually killed by Elektra (Élodie Yung) before the end of the series.
“Severance” and Zach Cherry
When Simon reconnects with his ex-girlfriend Vivian (Olivia Thirlby) in the penultimate episode of “Wonder Man,” she mentions that she has a part on the next season of “Severance,” a series starring Zach Cherry. Cherry had a brief but memorable appearance in “Spider-Man: Homecoming” as a bystander named Klev who tells Spider-Man to “Do a flip!” He later reprised this character in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” as a bus passenger who films one of the movie’s key fights on his phone.
