‘Wonder Man’ shocked a lot of viewers with its emotional ending. However, behind the scenes, the creative team was briefly tempted to go with a much different ending, one that was more inclined towards performance, vulnerability, and pure theatrical weirdness.
As creators Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest explain, the Disney+ series almost ended with a scene that would have been more of an indie stage play than a standard MCU sendoff. Although the version that aired eventually landed, the path to it was more of an experiment than fans would have anticipated.
Marvel Almost Gave ‘Wonder Man’ A Very Different Goodbye
In a recent interview with EW, Cretton and Guest revealed that an alternate ending was seriously considered during development. Rather than the prison break that ends the show, Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) would have reappeared onstage, where they would have performed in a small black box theater together.
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“Emotionally, that was always the ending,” Cretton explained. “There was an alternate version where they performed in a black box theater together and levitated off the floor. That’s true,” Andrew added. Andrew Guest wrote about the abandoned idea with evident fondness. In this version, Trevor is no longer in the limelight, but instead, he goes inward and starts writing his own play. It is not very good at first, which is excruciatingly on-brand.
However, Simon intervenes to make it better, assisting Trevor in moulding the work into something significant. The concept even had a surreal flourish in which the two characters would fly in the air during the performance. It is weird, personal, and very ‘Wonder Man’. But the creators eventually thought that the idea was entertaining, but it was not the best ending for the characters.
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Although the other concept exists, both artists concurred that the emotional destination did not actually change. Fundamentally, ‘Wonder Man’ is a story about two very self-centered men who are learning, usually in an awkward way, how to care about someone other than themselves. Guest said that the ending had to demonstrate that Simon and Trevor put the needs of another person first.
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And it was not for fame or validation, but because they truly love one another. “Simon and Trevor both needed to learn that, and it’s hopefully rewarding to watch them do that for the right reasons and because they love each other, essentially.” That is what made the prison-break ending right. It is spontaneous, dangerous, and very human.
It showcased a decision made out of devotion and not self-interest. Cretton concurred with this, saying that the theatrical ending would have been more visually and conceptually intriguing. However, the released ending was closer to the heart of the story. It’s less poetic on the surface, but more honest to the journey the characters took.
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