For all of the high points of Mark Ruffalo’s tenure as the Hulk, the MCU has underused Bruce Banner and his Jade Giant counterpart. It still feels like we’ll never get a Hulk solo movie, for a start, but on a more fundamental level, the resolution of the Hulk v Banner identity war robbed us of one of the most interesting conflicts in the franchise. Hulk is great because he’s a literal Jekyll and Hyde figure: a body where intellect meets raw power, and for many fans, the choice to sanitize Hulk with the Smart Hulk compromise was the wrong resolution entirely. Luckily, a new MCU character offers part of what made that conflict so entertaining.
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In the newly-released Wonder Man, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Simon Williams is at once a normal man trying to follow his dreams, and a walking nuclear weapon who could unleash serious damage if he has a bad day. Throughout the season, we see Simon wrestling to keep the lid on his powers, with the suggestion that the worse his mental state, the more devastating the manifestation of power. Banner might turn into Hulk when he loses his temper, but “Wonder Man” creates a blast zone and far more indirect collateral damage than Banner’s transformation ever does. With Hulk blunted as a volatile Hulk, Simon Williams has stepped up as an interesting replacement.
Wonder Man Proves Iron Man’s Nightmare Right (Sort Of)
Interestingly, of course, Wonder Man also continues an unresolved Iron Man thread that was first introduced in Spider-Man: Homecoming – the influence of government agency the Department of Damage Control. Now basically a nefarious agency of control, the DODC was part of Tony’s fearful response to threats to Earth’s safety. He may have presented them as a clean-up force, but they’re more of an embodiment of the anxiety that underpinned the Sokovia Accords, and Wonder Man proves their role is making sure the events of Age of Ultron don’t happen again.
Crucially, Wonder Man confirms that Tony Stark was right to be concerned: he dreamed of a suit of armor around the Earth, but superpowers (especially inexplicable ones like Williams’) pose a hueg internal threat. Just as Tony built a Hulkbuster to contain Hulk (and SHIELD built the prison cell on the Hellicarrier specifically for Banner), the DODC is the government’s contingency plan for Hulk-like threats they fear will rampage. And while Simon Williams’ powers don’t manifest in a berserker rage, the fact that they’re tied to his emotions and seemingly can’t always be fully controlled presents the same threat. In other words, Simon Williams might as well be a Hulk.
Back in 2025, Marvel obviously introduced another character in the same bracket – Lewis Pullman’s Sentry – and rumor has it that Hulk’s involvement in Spider-Man: Brand New Day will bring the Savage Hulk to the MCU, finally. So maybe we’re in a bit of a purple patch for superheroes with control issues? Re-add Scarlet Witch to the pot after her seemingly inevitable resurrection, and throw in Jean Grey/Phoenix and Wolverine from the mutant side, and we could build the most unhinged Avengers team in Marvel history.
All 8 episodes of Wonder Man are available on Disney+ now. What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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