Wonder Man Ending Explained: Did Simon Become a Star? Are There Any Avengers Connections?

Warning: Full Spoilers for Season 1 of Wonder Man follow. Read at your own risk.

Disney+'s Wonder Man, the latest TV series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is very different from almost any project with the word "Marvel" at the start of it. Yes, the show's main character, Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), has superpowers, but he's not trying to be a superhero nor does he become an accidental superhero, and he and the show aren't anything you'd expect. In the Marvel comic books, Simon is a member of the Avengers who also wants to act, but this Simon is simply a small-time actor living in Los Angeles hoping to find genuine success in his chosen craft, and the superpowers are really just a hindrance for him.  

There's no big pivot here to a supervillain ready to strike or any other city-menacing threat by the end of the show's eight episodes. The focus purposely stays small and personal, mainly driven by two things: Simon's goal of making it in Hollywood, and Simon's friendship with Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley). Trevor of course is the show's biggest connection to the larger MCU, thanks to his roles in Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. But what makes him a natural fit for Wonder Man and its Hollywood setting is he is, above all else, an actor, or ac-TOR, as Kingsley so wonderfully has Trevor declare. 

The show's drama is centered around the fact that Hollywood has a no-superpowers policy in place when it comes to the actors it hires, thanks to a tragedy involving a superpowered performer who may have, um, killed Josh Gad (more on that below). Because of this, Simon claims he has no powers in order to help land his big break and dream role in Wonder Man, a remake of his favorite childhood film. But he's not the only one with a secret, because Trevor didn't just happen to run into Simon when they met, he was tasked with befriending him by the Department of Damage Control, who believe Simon has powers but want proof. 

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Just how powerful is Simon?

As the series progresses, Simon and Trevor's friendship grows, and Trevor becomes more conflicted about feeding information to DODC's Agent Cleary (Arian Moayed, reprising his role from Spider-Man: No Way Home and Ms. Marvel). Eventually, he can't stand betraying someone he's come to care about and throws away the wire he's wearing, but unfortunately, that doesn't help him when Simon learns the truth and wants nothing to do with Trevor. 

Furious, Simon storms onto a soundstage on the studio lot where Wonder Man is being filmed and completely loses control, causing his powers — which tend to flare up when he's emotional — to essentially destroy the soundstage, as though a bomb went off inside. 

Earlier in the series, we'd already seen Simon cause a huge crack in the wall of his apartment, and then smash a table so hard it was demolished, but here we get the idea that he could likely truly be a force to be reckoned with, if he ever had the interest in honing his powers. 

This is essentially a variation on the comics, where Simon/Wonder Man is depicted as massively powerful, but was rarely perceived as one of the most formidable superheroes (even when he is actually acting as a superhero) because of his own insecurities and self-doubt. 

Does Simon achieve his dream?

In a way, the news of the explosion on the Wonder Man set is just what Cleary's been hoping for: a smoking gun of sorts, that he can use to take Simon into custody. And Simon is prepared for that to happen. 

Except before it does, Trevor calls Simon telling him how sorry he is for what he did and that he needs to make things right and make sure Simon gets the success that eluded Trevor. As it turns out, to accomplish this, Trevor has once more become… The Mandarin! Trevor was introduced in Iron Man 3 as a seemingly diabolical and vicious terrorist leader, only to be revealed as an actor playing a role in order to project a certain image to the world for that film's real villain. It was his past as The Mandarin — and the fact that he never finished his prison sentence — that forced Trevor to work for Damage Control in the first place. 

Now, Trevor sends a video of himself as The Mandarin to the news, taking credit for the explosion on the movie set. He lets himself be the fall guy, so that Simon can walk free. And though Cleary knows Trevor must be lying, he's also willing to accept it for the time being, happy he can at least tell his bosses he brought in someone important for their maximum security prison. 

With his name cleared, and director Von Kovak (Zlatko Buric) wanting to push forward, Simon ends up finishing production on Wonder Man. And when the film opens, he gets to attend the big Hollywood premiere as the center of attention, before seeing the film go on to become a hit. Simon has done it! He's now a star and Von Kovak's quickly mulling over a sequel. 

What brings Simon to Yucca Valley? 

The show's extended ending picks up sometime later, as Simon is shadowing Chuck Eastman (Blake Robbins), a regular joe in Yucca Valley, California. Simon's researching a role, and wants to see what life is like for Chuck on a day-to-day basis. Chuck and his family do their best to help Simon keep a low profile in town, even as they are in awe of the new movie star at their dinner table. 

As it turns out, Chuck's been having a tough time, battling depression that's been fueled by his job, which turns out to be at the Department of Damage Control's prison. That's when we find out this has all been a ruse, and Simon has done all of this to find and free Trevor. When Trevor tries to stop him, saying he wanted Simon to be free and clear, Simon insists he won't let Trevor rot in this prison. And he shows him that he has a way for them to get past all the guards without any confrontation, which is harnessing his powers in a new way he's clearly been practicing. He grabs hold of Trevor and flies into the air, smashing out of the prison and up into the sky. 

ALSO READ: Wonder Man review: A Marvel show with real character

Why Wonder Man's ending is so poignant 

Much of Wonder Man spotlighted Simon's flaws and that while he was a great actor, he was also an overly pretentious actor, who sabotaged opportunities by overthinking and overanalyzing every role he had or almost had. At the same time, he was an incredibly interior person, who'd screwed up his last romantic relationship and had no close friends, thanks to the walls he put between himself and others.

It's clear that Trevor becomes Simon's true friend in a way he's never experienced and it's clear how much Simon comes to value that friendship. Which is why he feels so betrayed learning why Trevor first befriended him, feeling everything between them was a lie. But Trevor going to the lengths he does to help Simon, and his willingness to ruin his own life in the process, prove their friendship was very much real. 

That's why it means so much when Simon makes the decision to torpedo the newfound success he's always sought as an actor. He landed the role in Wonder Man thanks to his talent and it was a hit! He's achieved his dream and now has the chance for an amazing career ahead of him! But he decides Trevor and the friendship they've forged is more important than all of that and he'd rather become a fugitive than let Trevor stay locked up for the rest of his life. It's a great payoff to the show and to the very sweet bond between the show's two main characters. 

Oh, and the use of Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin'" as the show's final song when Simon and Trevor take flight? The same song made famous in Midnight Cowboy – the revival movie screening Simon and Trevor met at? Chef's kiss. 

What's next for Simon and Trevor? 

It's the natural question, but one we may not get an answer to for a long time. Wonder Man feels like an end-of-an-era show, from when the Disney mandate for as much content as possible for Disney+ led to a glut of MCU series, including ones for characters who would be unlikely to get a show today, now that Marvel Studios is trying to once more slow down how much it releases. 

Could Simon follow his comic book counterpart's path and eventually become an Avenger? Anything is possible and certainly the final scene of the show leaves a small window for that possibility more than anything else in the series. After all, Simon is finally purposely using his powers and even expanding upon them with his use of flight, even as Cleary is observing just how much more it seems Simon is capable of.

Yes, Simon has abandoned his acting career to save Trevor, but that still makes their next step murky. At the moment, it doesn't feel like this version of Simon would suddenly be in full crimefighter mode, and it feels more likely that he and Trevor would attempt to assume new identities and go into hiding. After all, they're both terrific actors! 

Look, it would be fun to see Simon actually face a supervillain threat one day, sure. But at the same time, it would be fun to just see him and Trevor hang out together again, because that's a huge part of what made Wonder Man so enjoyable. 

Wait, but will Chuck be OK?

It's worth noting that while Simon has chosen to disrupt his own life, he may have just blown Chuck's life up too. Or maybe not! 

Right before Simon frees Trevor, we see Chuck get a phone call from his wife, informing him they have an unexplained huge deposit in their bank account — one big enough that Chuck can leave his job. Which is great! Chuck seems like a really nice guy, and obviously this was Simon's way of thanking him for all he did and for being a good man.  

…Except isn't there a chance Chuck will be nabbed as a likely accomplice of Simon's? Doesn't the unexplained money just make it look worse? 

Granted, Simon was (briefly) a Hollywood star who did indeed manipulate Chuck, so hopefully everyone accepts Chuck's truthful account as the truth. Let's just assume Chuck's fine! 

So did the MCU version of Josh Gad die? 

Wonder Man's fourth episode is an unusual one. It's black and white, it's set in the past, and it centers almost completely on the story of DeMarr Davis, AKA Doorman (Byron Bowers). As it turns out, he's the reason the Doorman Policy came to be. His real life power, which let people walk through his body as a portal — bypassing any wall he was pressed against and letting them move through him to the outside — was used as a no-budget special effect, and he became a star when he was cast in a movie alongside Josh Gad (playing himself). But while filming that movie's sequel, he lost control, and in a scene where Gad was moving through him, he accidentally closed the portal and Josh Gad was simply… lost. Because of this, superpowered individuals were henceforth officially banned from acting roles. 

So what happened to Gad after that? We saw a glimpse of the realm Doorman would transport people through — identified as the Darkforce dimension in the comics — so presumably that's where he was sent. Did he just eventually die there? Is he still just floating about? Did some otherworldly being find him? 

COULD JOSH GAD RETURN IN AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY? 

Okay, probably not. But for now, this is a very funny, bizarre fate for the Marvel version of the Frozen star.

Wonder Man is now streaming on Disney+.