Wonder Man Creates an MCU Plot Hole in the First 4 Minutes With a Surprising Reference

When the Marvel Cinematic Universe began, it was always trying to ground itself a little bit in realism, making it seem like the MCU was in a world not too different from the real one. Kevin Feige and his team did this by having real-life figures appear in the movies, with cameos, like Elon Musk in Iron Man 2, that served a different kind of function from Stan Lee’s appearances. The MCU would also take this a step further later on, referencing real movies and TV shows that were an easy shorthand for the audience to understand a joke.

All that to say, it’s no surprise that the MCU’s latest release, the new Disney+ series Wonder Man, has just as many references to real-life movies and TV as any other project. Since the series focuses on Simon Williams, an actor struggling to find work in Hollywood, it’s a very easy thing to slip into the writing. The trouble with Wonder Man‘s references to real shows, however, is that thinking a little too hard about these particular franchises creates a major plot hole.

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The opening of Wonder Man finds Simon having booked a new role in a major TV series, and he’s taking it seriously, perhaps too seriously. After arriving on set, Simon meets his scene partner and begins to ask questions about his character and the sequence with the director, which immediately slows down production. As anyone with a passing understanding of filming knows, this is a red flag for almost everyone, especially since Simon’s role is to simply say a few lines and then die on screen.

The scene has Simon (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) acting opposite actress Ashley Greene, playing herself. After meeting Ashley and the director, Simon begins to praise their previous credits, calling out the Twilight series for Greene and episodes of Sons of Anarchy and Castle Rock that the director helmed. These passing references may fly by the heads of many viewers, but for some who cannot help themselves, these stick out like a sore thumb. Twilight, for example, stars Chaske Spencer, who also stars in Marvel’s Echo, and Lee Pace, who played Ronan the Accuser in the MCU. Sons of Anarchy is less obvious, including Jamie McShane (Agent Jackson in Thor and The Avengers) and Theo Rossi (Marvel’s Luke Cage). Castle Rock has a more substantial one, as the first season includes Bill Skarsgård, who voiced Kro in Eternals.

The most egregious of all these examples, however, is the show that they’re filming an episode of, as Simon has booked a role on American Horror Story. What likely started as simple corporate synergy on the part of The Walt Disney Company has, however, become a headache, as American Horror Story‘s cast has long included major Marvel players. Evan Peters has long been a recurring cast member on American Horror Story, and though one could perhaps argue that his Quicksilver character from the Fox X-Men movies doesn’t make this an MCU headache, the fact that he plays Ralph Bohner in WandaVision is where the trouble starts.

More noteworthy than that, and the biggest example of all, is that Angela Bassett has starred in five different seasons of AHS, even earning two Primetime Emmy nominations for her work in the show. Bassett, as everyone knows, previously played Queen Ramonda in the Black Panther movies. One could argue that maybe no one would ever recognize a guy like Ralph Bohner, but the Queen of Wakanda is a high-profile figure in the entire world, and she happens to look exactly like a beloved actor from a show confirmed to exist in the MCU.

Do these references really wound Wonder Man beyond repair? Hardly, but they’re major distractions from a series that proves itself to be one of Marvel’s best in recent days. Not every Marvel fan will even realize that these holes are being constructed by the show’s dialogue, but for those us with broken brains, it’s unavoidable.