Ben Kingsley has played kings, criminals, gods, and mentors, but few of his roles have followed him quite like Trevor Slattery. Initially appearing in ‘Iron Man 3’ as the flashy, intentionally deceptive Mandarin, Trevor started as a joke that split audiences.
A decade later, that joke has become much richer, more self-conscious, and, surprisingly, human. Kingsley is not only revisiting Trevor with the upcoming Disney+ series ‘Wonder Man’, but he is unpacking him.
Ben Kingsley Says ‘Wonder Man’ Is Trevor Slattery’s Most Dangerous Role Yet
Instead of making ‘Wonder Man’ another typical Marvel origin story, Kingsley makes it a much more personalized, even uncomfortable, look at ambition, ego, and survival in Hollywood. The series, in his words, is not so much a superhero spectacle as it is Trevor’s biopic. It explores who this man was before the lie of the Mandarin, and who he becomes after it nearly destroys him. The core of the show is a dual narrative.
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On the one hand, there is Simon Williams, a desperate actor who is on the verge of something special. Trevor Slattery is on the other side, older, wiser, more desperate, and painfully hungry to be recognized. Their stories intersect, together, based on mutual dreams and mutually dangerous compromises. What makes Wonder Man intriguing isn’t just that it returns to a fan-favorite Marvel oddity; it’s that it uses Trevor Slattery as a lens to examine the entertainment industry itself.
Kingsley calls the series an intensive look into the inner world of Hollywood, including auditions and casting rooms, directing egos, and low self-esteem. “We look at the seductive side of fame,” Kingsley told EW. “But also everything that’s vulnerable and rather unhealthy, without judging it.” That balance is key. Trevor is not introduced as a villain, nor as comic relief. He is a man who has tasted both illusion and humiliation. Trevor is a man who once thought that pretending to be powerful was all that was needed.
‘Wonder Man’ covers the consequences of such a belief. The series goes back to Trevor’s life prior to him ever putting on the Mandarin mask. It provides viewers with a glimpse of the actor he aspired to be and the one his mother thought he could become. Kingsley talks of this drive in a very endearing way. Trevor’s desire was not to get rich but to feel wanted. When Trevor escapes his captivity following ‘Shang-Chi’ and returns to Hollywood, he isn’t chasing fame for fame’s sake.
He’s chasing redemption. However, as Kingsley alludes, the industry provides him with something even more perilous than rejection: opportunity. “Extraordinary events place him exactly where he wants to be,” Kingsley says, “which crowns him and compromises him at the same time.” Trevor has a well-known, heartbreaking decision to make, success at a dreadful price. And this time, it is not the faceless enemies or unseen consequences that pay the price, but someone standing right next to him.
How Trevor Slattery And Simon Williams Share The Spotlight
Simon Williams might one day be ‘Wonder Man’, but the show is not in a rush to make him King. Similar to Trevor, Simon begins as a struggling actor who has to go through auditions, rejection, and the emotional fatigue of never being enough. It is this common ground that makes them friends and, of course, enemies. Kingsley explains the relationship between Trevor and Simon as being authentic and highly disturbing. Trevor regards Simon as a friend, a kindred spirit, but also as a means to an end.
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“It’s a classic human condition story,” Kingsley admits. “You have an affinity with someone, but you know you may have to exploit them to get where you need to be.” It is that tension that gives Wonder Man its emotional backbone. Trevor is not scheming in the shadows. He is making little, rationalized choices, the sort of choices that people make in their daily lives. Kingsley’s performance is going to live in those silent moral fissures where love and manipulation are mixed.
To Simon, Trevor is his mentor and his warning. The difference between the two men becomes more pronounced as Simon’s life starts to resemble the fiction he is auditioning to play in. Kingsley underlines that each episode contains some unexpected twists in the form of emotional reversals. Moments where characters surprise even themselves. “I don’t think it’s like anything out there at the moment,” he says.
