While covering the Marvel press line for The Nerds of Color at NYCC 2025, I got to speak with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Sir Ben Kingsley about their eight-episode new Marvel series, Wonder Man, which premieres on January 27, 2026, at 6:00 pm PT.
The actors took the Empire Stage during the Up Next From Marvel Television and Marvel Animation panel, which gave fans a look at Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ projects. To start, I asked them what their NYCC experience was like as they presented the Wonder Man trailer.
“I saw them driving in. Very humbling,” Kingsley said of the line that fans who waited for hours. “You probably know that I started in the theater before I became a film actor, and I was on stage for at least 15 years in front of audiences, and there’s always that flutter of the heartbeat when you go on for your curtain call, have they or have they not got it? And so, I am very attuned, even though I’ve not been on stage for a very long time. I love cinema, TV, and Marvel. But to have that wave of, yes, we saw you, we heard you, and we like it very much. Incomparable. Beautiful. Essential.”
Abdul-Mateen II commented, “Well, what it is is a really great reminder of who it is that we do this for. Social media is an interesting place; you get a lot of mixed noise. This is the place where the people who love it, who really, really love it, they come, they spend their hard-earned money, they dress up, they make noise, and it’s really great to be able to show up, be present, and give a gift back to them.”
As for the unique concept of showing audiences the behind-the-scenes process of remaking a superhero movie and bringing something new to the genre, Kingsley explained, “Well, my last words to our writer, Andrew, and our wonderful showrunner, Destin, were, and of course, they looked after it, whatever the committee says to you, don’t change it. It has pathos, it has sadness, it has vulnerability, it has hilarious comic moments, it has satire, it has irony. How many levels does this show have? I mean, it’s really — what a feast, and I begged my dear colleagues, but Brad looked after it beautifully, of course. Of course he did. I didn’t know Brad at the time, but I knew that sometimes shows can come under pressure, and they say, ‘Oh, you can’t do that. Oh, you can’t say that. Oh, you can’t film that.’ They say audiences won’t like that. How do they know? Audiences love this because it doesn’t talk down to them. It’s not dumbing down anybody. You really have to pay attention to it and to this wonderful dynamic I share with my colleague.”
Abdul-Mateen II concluded, “I think the coolest thing to me is that it doesn’t feel like it’s about superheroes. To me, it feels like it’s about ambition, friendship, and dreams. I think just the idea of Simon being a guy who has something, who feels like he has something to offer. He feels like he’s in this really big world with a really big talent that nobody knows about, and I think that’s the very relatable thing is being ambitious and going after your dreams. We get to tell that story, do it in a clever and fun way with some attitude, and hide it in this infrastructure — the world of Marvel. So, it’s really cool to be a part of something like that.”
Watch the official trailer below:
