Last year, the Marvel Cinematic Universe debuted two of its most powerful characters in ages, both of whom will fundamentally rewrite the scope of what’s possible in the MCU. Though set in an alternate universe, The Fantastic Four: First Steps literally delivered Franklin Richards into the MCU with his reality-changing abilities already formed as an infant. Furthermore, Marvel’s Thunderbolts* gave us Bob, or rather, The Sentry, a hero billed as being stronger than all of The Avengers rolled into one, and he even proved it by dismantling the other heroes in a fight without even breaking a sweat (and that’s without mentioning The Void).
Videos by ComicBook.com
On top of these two titans of power in the MCU, the franchise debuted yet another massive new hero with a skillset that puts many of its other heroes to shame just last week with the new series, Wonder Man. The titular Simon Williams only gets to express his powers a handful of times across the entire series, but by the end of the season finale, it’s clear that he’s got massive potential to disrupt the MCU, and maybe even usurp The Sentry as the most powerful.
Marvel Has a Sentry Replacement Ready in Wonder Man
What’s clear about The Sentry from his brief time on screen in Thunderbolts* is that he possesses massive amounts of strength, is clearly invulnerable to a large degree, and can even fly. In short, the basic kit of superheroics. There’s also the dark side, when The Void takes over and can imprison people inside the shadow realm that preys on their deepest fears and leaves them as a husk on the pavement. It’s a double-edged sword for the hero, and a good thing for the MCU, as the character cannot really access his full superhero potential without also letting the negative side of his powers out as well.
Like Sentry, Wonder Man is pretty unstable. His emotions can reflect in outbursts of his powers that are shown to level an entire studio in Hollywood, but the series also makes it clear that he’s also quite invulnerable. As a child, one of his outbursts burns his home down, but does no damage to Simon’s skin or even his lungs, proving that his durability was off the charts even as a kid. Furthermore, Wonder Man shows the character’s ability to harness kinetic energy, which he uses at the end of the series to make a grand exit, either by flying or leaping a tremendous height (in any event, he’s also using it to literally break through multiple floors of a super prison).
There’s one thing the seperates Wonder Man from Sentry, though, and it’s when they will next appear. Lewis Pullman is already confirmed to return as the golden hero in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, with no official word on if Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will be back for the movie. That said, Marvel could very well be keeping his appearance a secret, and it might be for a big plot reason.
Wonder Man Could Be Part of Doctor Doom’s Plans
Rumors and theories have swirled about the place that Sentry/The Void will have in Avengers: Doomsday, including many believing that Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr) will utilize the character and his abilities to take down the threat of the other heroes from the MCU. It’s a compelling one that makes the most sense, but leaves out the potential that maybe Doom will allow the heroes to destroy each other even without intervening (the X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four all hail from their own Earths after all, and incursions may trigger some dangerous responses). In any event, Doom will have to address Sentry and his powers, either by using him for his own measures or taking him out entirely, which leaves Simon Williams on the table as one of the only other heroes with powers that high that could be on the table.
Given Simon’s abilities to harness kinetic energy in the ways that he can, and the fact that he seems basically immortal, it’s possible that Doom may not even want to kill him, in fact, Wonder Man might be one of the keys to Doctor Doom eventually creating Battleworld for the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars. Perhaps the MCU will utilize Simon Williams and his powers in the same way that Marvel Comics used Molecule Man, making him Doom’s power source to not only hold Battleworld together but also maintain his power as the God Emperor of the entire domain.
Few details are even known right now about Avengers: Doomsday’s actual plot, let alone Avengers: Secret Wars, but given that only one years seperates the two films and there will need to be some kind of set-up from one into the other, an appearance by Simon Williams could certainly happen, and his role may end up being even more important than Sentry’s. That said, maybe one of the upcoming Avengers movies will put both of these heroes to the test and let us see who would really win between them.
Most Viewed
-
Image Courtesy of Ufotable -
Image courtesy of Tor Books/Macmillan
