Lights, camera, and… action! Wonder Man, the first Marvel TV show of 2026, is out now on Disney+. And, with all eight episodes of Wonder Man dropping on launch day, it’s already time to dissect its finale, aka ‘Yucca Valley’.
Below, I’ll explain what happens to Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery in the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) TV series. I’ll also try and answer your biggest questions about the Disney+ show, too, including whether there’ll be a season 2 and why Wonder Man leaves one major story thread unresolved. So, hop to it – but beware, full spoilers follow for the latest Marvel TV show!
What happens to Simon and Trevor in Wonder Man’s final episode?
Surprising no-one, ‘Yucca Valley’ picks up immediately after its forebear ‘Kathy Friedman’. The MCU TV show’s seventh chapter ended with Simon learning that Trevor had been working with the DoDC – the US agency that monitors superhumans it perceives to be threats – to keep tabs on Simon. Remember, Trevor hasn’t completed his prison sentence for his The Mandarin-based crimes from Iron Man 3. So, it was either help the DoDC or go back to jail.
Feeling betrayed by someone he considered to be his friend and mentor, Simon loses control, which results in him unleashing an ionic blast that causes damage to one of the in-universe ‘Wonder Man’ movie sets and temporarily knocks out the power within a certain radius.
After learning what happened and surveying the scene for themselves, the DoDC – led by the dogged Agent Cleary – now feel they have enough evidence to arrest Simon. What follows is a sequence of intersecting footage that appears to show the DoDC arriving at the apartment complex Simon lives in, and the latter slowly spiraling as he watches a news report covering last night’s events before tearfully calling his mom before he’s detained.
Just as Simon resigns himself to his fate, though, he receives a phone call from Trevor, who tells Simon that he knows how to make things right before ending said call. Confused, Simon turns up the volume on his TV – he’d muted it to call his mom and then take Trevor’s call – and learns that the DoDC aren’t coming for him. They’re coming for Trevor.
As it turns out, Trevor has reprised his role as The Mandarin – well, the fake one he played in Iron Man 3. And, after recording a new video in which he takes full responsibility for the Hollywood-based blast, which Trevor/The Mandarin passes off as a terrorist incident, he posts said video online, which news agencies and the DoDC soon catch wind of.
The DoDC arrest Trevor/The Mandarin at his Talmadge Hotel suite, although Cleary has his suspicions that Trevor/The Mandarin are covering for Simon, and that Trevor is simply giving another performance as The Mandarin. Without breaking character, Trevor/The Mandarin calls Cleary a “dolt” before further chastising him with a callback to his Iron Man 3 days, saying “…and you never saw me coming”.
Having evaded the DoDC’s clutches and with nobody knowing he was to blame for the blast, Simon is called back to set to wrap production on ‘Wonder Man’.
There, he receives a pep talk from Von Kovak, who tells Simon to use Trevor’s ‘betrayal’ – remember, everyone except Simon and Cleary thinks that Trevor is actually a terrorist called The Mandarin – to fuel his performance.
Before shooting the first scene of the day, the props department also reveal they’ve not tracked down the sunglasses worn by Brett Willard, aka the actor who played Wonder Man in the original in-universe film. Handing them to Simon, he puts them on before removing the black robe he’s worn to set to reveal the Marvel character’s classic black suit with a giant red ‘W’ emblazoned across its chest.
Simon is then seen filming the movie remake’s climax and, without skipping a beat, the Marvel Phase 6 TV show cuts to said sequence being shown during the film’s world premiere. A full circle moment for the series’ lead character if ever there was one.
Some sweet moments follow – Simon and Von Kovak discussing a possible sequel, Simon reconciling with and earning some long overdue praise from his brother, and a quick, quiet moment with his agent Janelle.
Then, somewhat bizarrely, we cut to Simon shadowing a blue collar worker called Chuck Eastman, who’s apparently going to be the subject of a new biopic played by Simon. However, it soon becomes apparent that this is all a front because Chuck isn’t just anybody – he’s a DoDC security guard.
Long story short: Chuck allows Simon to accompany him on his next shift. To ensure Simon doesn’t attract questions from the DoDC, Chuck forces him to wear a DoDC security guard outfit, which turns out to be the perfect cover for Simon. After he convinces Chuck to let him wander alone through the DoDC’s prison, Simon finds Trevor and – yep, you guessed it – uses his powers to break Trevor out.
As the breach alarms sound, Cleary – who’s just informed the DoDC’s deputy that Simon’s ionic abilities make him even more dangerous than they thought – and company race to Trevor’s cell. Arriving on the scene, they gaze up in awe at a giant hole in the ceiling, which Simon created. The show ends with Simon and Trevor being propelled through the air as Simon shows off his upgraded powerset by revealing he can now fly.
Why don’t we learn about how Simon Williams got his powers in Wonder Man?
I could be wrong – and please correct me if I am in the comments! – but I believe Wonder Man is the first MCU project that hasn’t revealed how a superpowered being acquires their abilities.
Sure, The Fantastic Four: First Steps didn’t show us the superhuman origins story for Marvel’s First Family. We don’t actually see how Tom Holland’s Peter Parker became Spider-Man during his MCU introduction in Captain America: Civil War or in his first solo flick Spider-Man: Homecoming, either. However, those cases are different because we’ve already seen the webslinger and The Fantastic Four‘s origins stories in non-MCU movie adaptations.
With Wonder Man being many people’s first encounter with Simon Williams, though, it would’ve made perfect sense if his superhuman backstory had been covered. So, why wasn’t it?
In an exclusive chat ahead of Wonder Man‘s launch on Disney+, aka one of the world’s best streaming services, I asked co-creator and executive producer Andrew Guest that exact question.
“It’s interesting because, in the comics, Simon Williams has had different and complicated iterations throughout the years,” Guest replied. “When Marvel were thinking about this project, there wasn’t a particular comic book run they were looking at [for inspiration], so they were open to any interpretation.
“The more I understood Simon and figured out what the show was about, the more I felt like Simon doesn’t care about his powers,” he continued. “So, I didn’t want the show to be too focused on where they came from.
“As far as Simon is concerned, this is something that simply happened to him in the way you might grow up to be super tall or, you know, having really hairy legs. So, I didn’t feel the need to dive into Simon’s relationship to his superpowers and where it all started, and that was what I felt like the show’s relationship to them should be as well.”
Does Wonder Man include cameos from Wanda Maximoff and/or Vision?
No, Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, and her romantic humanoid partner don’t appear in Wonder Man.
Now, you might be asking yourself why either or both superpowered beings would feature in this show. Without getting into Simon Williams’ incredibly complex Marvel Comics history, he has close ties to both characters. It’s not in the realms of possibility, then, that Wanda and/or Vision could’ve made a cameo.
That said, the chances of them doing so was always slim to none. That’s because – spoilers – Wanda is presumed dead after she seemingly sacrificed in Doctor Strange 2. Meanwhile, Vision was killed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War before his body was reanimated as an emotionless husk during WandaVision. The last we saw of this revived Vision, he’d flown off to whereabouts unknown after ‘Soul Vision’ – a version of the character that Wanda fabricated using her powers in WandaVision – restored Vision’s memories.
With Wanda thought to have died and Vision’s location unknown – we’ll be reunited with him in VisionQuest on Disney+ later this year – then, none of us should’ve expected them to show up in Wonder Man.
Does Wonder Man have a mid-credits and/or post-credits scene?
Nope, there isn’t a mid-credits and/or end credits stinger to stick around for.
As I always say in these types of articles, you should sit through the end credits sequence to appreciate the amount of people who’ve worked on any film or TV project. If you’re only watching the finale’s credits crawl to see if there’s one final Wonder Man scene, though, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
Will there be a Wonder Man season 2?
We don’t know. Publicly, Marvel has only described Wonder Man as a limited series. That’s usually code for projects like this being a ‘one and done’ situation.
That doesn’t mean a second season should be ruled out completely. As has become the industry standard these days, Wonder Man‘s return is dependent on its viewership. Attract a big enough audience and Marvel would be silly not to greenlight a follow-up.
As for what season 2’s story could entail, Guest gave me some insight into where Simon Williams’ MCU journey could go next.
“[Co-creator] Destin [Daniel Cretton], myself, Sir Ben [Kingsley] and Yahya [Adbul-Mateen II] would be thrilled to get to keep working together, and to keep exploring Simon and Trevor and more stories with them,” Guest told me.
“I haven’t put too much thought into what would be next for Simon, but one of the things I think about is that Simon may think that getting this role of a lifetime would solve all his problems. My guess is he’s going to be just as frustrated, lonely, and as difficult [to work with] as he was before. Maybe there are some other things in his life that need to come [to the fore] and more introspection that needs to happen for him to find fulfillment.”
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tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power)
