The Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s lore has become so sprawling and convoluted that it’s impossible for the franchise not to step on its own toes at times. Every new MCU project that’s released is, to some degree, obligated to acknowledge the lore that preceded it, which can be daunting to new or casual fans just trying to enjoy any single project for what it is. Then there are the little experiments that Marvel Studios has tried along the way – such as the Marvel “One Shots” of the Phase I and Phase II eras. Many of those shorts simultaneously filled in gaps in the MCU canon and opened new windows of opportunity by introducing characters, organizations, or in-universe developments that could potentially pay off down the line.
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The new Marvel Disney+ series Wonder Man brings back one of the MCU’s most eccentric characters, Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), the disgraced actor who became a cosplay terrorist for the A.I.M. organization and its leader, Iron Man 3 villain Aldrich Killian. Last seen, Slattery was hanging out in a mystical realm discovered by Shang-Chi and his friends; in Wonder Man, he makes an unceremonious return to Hollywood and brings some forgotten bit of MCU lore along with him. Now, fans have even bigger questions about whether we’re going to see everything that was promised to them.
Wonder Man Acknowledges Trevor Slattery’s Forgotten Chapter of the MCU
One of the most infamous MCU One-Shots is the fifth and final one, “All Hail the King”, which was a bonus feature item included with the home release of Thor: The Dark World. It provided a pivotal retcon to one of the MCU’s craziest villain stories and set the stage for another villain’s long-awaited return.
The short is set after the events of Iron Man 3; Trevor Slattery has been arrested and taken to Seagate Prison, where it turns out he’s enjoying the biggest celebrity status he’s had since being an A-List actor. When a famous documentary filmmaker comes to the prison to interview Trevor, it attracts the eye (and jealousy) of industrialist Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell). The short ended with the documentarian being revealed as an agent of the real Ten Rings organization, who was sent to break Trevor out of prison so he could face the wrath of the real Mandarin, Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung). That’s where we find Trevor in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: locked in Wenwu’s basement dungeon for years, and forced to perform as a jester for the warlord, as punishment. However, what about the other Iron Man villain that “All Hail the King” teased us with?
When Is Justin Hammer Returning to the MCU?
Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer has been missing in action since he was arrested at the end of Iron Man 2. Hammer tried to surpass Tony Stark’s armor technology with his own designs, hiring Russian convict Ivan Vanko to create a new era of armor (and armored drones), which nearly wiped out the patrons of the Stark Expo before Iron Man and War Machine saved the day.
The saga of MCU tech has expanded and evolved since Iron Man 2, bringing in A.I.M., Extremis, Pymtech, nano-technology, and more, not to mention brilliant rival industrialists and tech-vultures (Sonny Birch, Hank Pym, Riri Williams, Princess Shuri and Wakanda, Roxxon, and others). Justin Hammer and his company have been a big, conspicuous missing piece of the MCU, and the dropped storyline about Stark and Hammer’s rivalry feels like one of its biggest misses. The disappointment has only felt worse as Marvel fans have watched Sam Rockwell go on to do such great work in films (Moon, Vice, JoJo Rabbit) and TV, with the actor capturing the entire pop-culture spotlight with just one cameo scene in HBO’s The White Lotus.
Rockwell has even made a return to the MCU to voice Justin Hammer in the animated What If…? series (“What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”). So the fact that he hasn’t had another live-action appearance is even crazier.
For now, you can catch Trevor Slattery in Wonder Man and Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2, both streaming on Disney+. Come discuss all things MCU with us over on the ComicBook Forum!
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