Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Simon Williams wants work and company, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II makes those ordinary needs worth watching. In Wonder Man (2026), his rapport with Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery is the chief pleasure of a superhero series willing to leave room for an actor’s hopes. We warmed to Simon because the pair make those hopes funny without dismissing them. Across eight episodes, the show allows Abdul-Mateen II to do more than establish a mood and keep delivering it.

Black Manta in Aquaman (2018) established him in blockbuster cinema. Then came Watchmen (2019) and the ensemble demands of The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020). Nia DaCosta’s Candyman (2021) gave him the lead in a horror reboot. These are different demands on an actor, and there is no reason to regard the superhero work as the lesser job. There is, however, a limit to what he can do with a part that keeps asking for the same response.

James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) is the clearest warning. Abdul-Mateen II supplies the fury required of Black Manta, but the script repeats his grievance and gives a possessed trident too much of the decision-making. We can see the effort; we cannot find enough changes in the part to make that effort interesting. The limitation lies in what he is asked to play, though his commitment does not make the repetition any less wearing.

We would not ask him to abandon genre work on this evidence. Wonder Man is still a superhero series, and its gentler treatment of the industry can leave the satire short of bite. Yet its modest stakes suit him: wanting a job is enough to hold our attention when he has Kingsley to work with. We would sooner see him given another good scene partner than another weapon.