Ben Kingsley to Return as Trevor Slattery

Television

If you’ve loved how goofy the Disney+ Marvel series have been, you’re in luck because it looks like they’re going to stay that way. Variety exclusively reports that Ben Kingsley will return as Trevor Slattery in the Wonder Man show that’s currently in development. Kingsley first played Trevor in Iron Man 3, where he was revealed to be an actor hired by AIM to pretend to be the Mandarin because Disney wanted to sell the movie in China. He next appeared in one of those lousy Marvel one-shots in which it was confirmed that there was a real Mandarin out there somewhere. Last summer, he showed up in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings as a captive of the Mandarin. Wonder Man is said to be a Hollywood satire, which would presumably have room for a failed actor like Trevor; Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton is also serving as showrunner, which means that Marvel is pretty much hiring the same four or five people to make everything for the foreseeable future.

If Wonder Man (or whatever they call it) is going to be a send-up of the movie business, I guess Trevor will fit in there better than he did in Shang-Chi. I know most people disagree, but I liked Iron Man 3, and I was okay with the Mandarin switcheroo, partly because I thought it was a neat twist and partly because it makes more sense than a British Indian guy calling himself “the Mandarin.” (And it’s better than Shang-Chi’s version, a boring stiff who’s unceremoniously killed off so his daughter can take over for him.) Ben Kingsley is an outstanding actor, and I enjoyed seeing him play broad comedy for a change. In Shang-Chi, however, he started to wear thin; his shtick was funny for five minutes in Iron Man 3, but he was around for too long in Shang-Chi. (That Shang-Chi wasn’t nearly as good a movie probably didn’t help.) I’m not exactly stoked to see him again, particularly as Marvel is having trouble balancing comedy and drama at the moment, but if Wonder Man is as bad as most of these shows have been, at least Kingsley should be good for a few legitimate laughs.

Are you glad Ben Kingsley is returning as Trevor Slattery? Does Wonder Man interest you? Is Marvel chomping at the bit to get the squeaky-voiced guy from Spider-Man: Homecoming to show up in one of their Disney+ shows? Let us know in the comments, and stay tuned to Geeks + Gamers for more poorly conceived comedy!