Marvel previews 'meta' Wonder Man, Daredevil: Born Again season 2 first look, and more X-Men '97 ...

Brad Winderbaum, the head of Marvel TV and animation, sits down with EW ahead of the studio's New York ComicCon panel. Marvel previews 'meta' Wonder Man, Darede

Brad Winderbaum, the head of Marvel TV and animation, sits down with EW ahead of the studio's New York Comic-Con panel.

Marvel previews 'meta' Wonder Man, Daredevil: Born Again season 2 first look, and more X-Men '97 (exclusive)

Brad Winderbaum, the head of Marvel TV and animation, sits down with EW ahead of the studio's New York Comic-Con panel.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in *Vanity Fair*, Vulture, IGN, and more.

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October 10, 2025 12:00 p.m. ET

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Charlie Cox returns as Matt Murdock for 'Daredevil: Born Again' season 2. Credit:

Jojo Whilden/MARVEL

- The head of Marvel Television and Marvel Animation previews *Wonder Man*, *Daredevil: Born Again*, and *X-Men '97* ahead of their New York Comic-Con panel.

- Wonder Man is a meta story, Brad Winderbaum teases, in that "it's a story about acting and the journey of an actor in Hollywood."

- Winderbaum confirms Matthew Lillard's *Daredevil: Born Again* character and Elden Henson's return as Foggy.

This Saturday at New York Comic-Con, four titles across Marvel Television and Marvel Animation will be highlighted at a panel event: the Yahya Abdul-Mateen II-fronted *Wonder Man*, and the second seasons of *Daredevil: Born Again*, *X-Men '97*, and *Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man*.

As part of *'*s exclusive preview of the Con festivities, Brad Winderbaum, the head of both Marvel TV and animation, sat down to tease what's ahead.

Winderbaum describes *Wonder Man* as a meta live-action Disney+ series in the sense that "it's a story about acting and the journey of an actor in Hollywood." Abdul-Mateen stars as Simon Williams, a working actor who auditions for the lead role in *Wonder Man*, an upcoming reboot of a classic *Wonder Man* project from his youth. The story is a two-hander between Simon and Ben Kingsley's Trevor Slattery, who bond over their shared love of acting.

The *Wonder Man* premiere date is shifting from this December to January, EW can exclusively confirm. As Winderbaum explains, they took their nod from *WandaVision*, which debuted in January 2021. "We don't want it to get swallowed up by people watching *Home Alone* and *Die Hard* and *Elf*," he says.

EW can also reveal the official first look at Charlie Cox's comeback as Matt Murdock on *Daredevil: Born Again* season 2, while Winderbaum confirms new details about Matthew Lillard's character and the return of Elden Henson's Foggy Nelson. Henson previously made statements at L.A. Comic-Con that led many to believe Foggy wouldn't be involved in season 2, but Winderbaum clarifies the character is back.

Read EW's conversation with Winderbaum below.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams on 'Wonder Man'.

Courtesy of Marvel Television

**: Let's start with *Wonder Man*. Not much has been released on this show yet, but I get the sense that this is gonna be a meta show. How meta are we talking about here?**

**BRAD WINDERBAUM:** It's one of my favorite things I've ever been a part of at the studio. I'll start there. It's very different than anything the studio's produced. In terms of how meta it is, without getting into details, it is a show that takes place within the MCU, but it's a story about Hollywood. And it's a story about not just Hollywood, I would say it's a story about acting and the journey of an actor in Hollywood, of having to balance being an artist with making money and very grounded ideas that anyone who came up in Hollywood or in the arts in general can relate to. I certainly could on a very deep level.

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**So is this Marvel's version of *The Studio*, basically?**

It's funny you should say that. We all, obviously, are obsessed with that show. Sometimes it cuts a little close to the bone, but it's so funny and so great. [*Wonder Man*] is very different than *The Studio*, actually. It's different tonally. It's very sincere and it's very focused on acting as a craft. *The Studio* is really more about the big Hollywood system and the machine and the craziness that ensues. This is really a very intimate portrait of one actor trying to live his dreams while the world and the need to make money intervenes.

**Am I right in saying this is the brainchild of Destin Daniel Cretton [executive producer] and Andrew Guest [head writer]? **

Yeah. Andrew Guest and I worked on *Hawkeye*. He's been around and really is an amazing writer, amazing craftsman, really understands the industry, and was really able to dig into these characters. And Destin, obviously amazing filmmaker, he worked on *Shang-Chi* with us, but it really hues closer to his more independent films, *Short Term 12* and that kind of genre. They've crafted something that is really deep and wonderful and moving at times. It's for an MCU fan that knows the history of Trevor Slattery from *Iron Man 3* to *Shang-Chi *to here. There is a very interesting three-act structure for his character, as well. I don't wanna spoil anything, but it's very sincere. It's very earnest. It's not cynical.

Trevor Slattery (Sir Ben Kingsley) and Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) on 'Wonder Man'.

Courtesy of Marvel Television

**Is this a two-hander, Simon and Trevor?**

Yes. They connect on their love of acting. Other than that, they're wildly different people, but because they have this very strong love of this craft, they have this really white-hot affinity for one another right away.

**I remember at the *Fantastic Four: First Steps* premiere, Yahya did this in-character bit for Marvel socials where he, as Simon, was saying he auditioned for this role of Wonder Man, loved the original *Wonder Man* when he was younger. Am on the right track in thinking the show is really about Simon auditioning for a *Wonder Man* reboot based on a property that he loved as a child?**

Yeah, yeah. That's definitely a big part of the premise. It gives us a chance to step back at what we do and our influence on the culture and the superhero genre, which we grew up with as filmmakers. Almost everyone in this office can recite the 1978 *Superman* film or the 1989 *Batman* film. There's a legacy of these characters that move from generation to generation and what it means, for one sliver of time, to carry that character from one generation to the next.

**Are you envisioning this show as a limited series? But, obviously, in this day and age, "limited series" can go on for multiple seasons if the success is there. What is the vocabulary you're using to describe *Wonder Man* behind the scenes?**

It's a different time at Disney+. The original shows were created as limited series with characters that could bounce back and forth between the movies and TV shows. That made it challenging to make season 2s because the deal structure became really expensive, frankly. So we started developing shows that could last for multiple seasons. *Daredevil*, we've now greenlit the third season, that'll come out annually. *X-Men '97*, *Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man*, they'll come out annually for a number of years. But there are shows that were caught in the middle. I would put *Marvel Zombies* on that list, I'd put *Wonder Man* on that list where we have to see. Season 2s could be on the table if people watch. If it's the only *Wonder Man* story, it really stands on its own as a beautiful piece. But I anticipate that when people get to the end of this story, they're gonna want more. And I hope that's what happens.

Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock on 'Daredevil: Born Again' season 1.

Giovanni Rufino/Marvel

**Let's move on to *Daredevil: Born Again*. So far, one of the biggest updates is Krysten Ritter's involvement. Were there a lot of discussions about the very first Defender that you wanted to join Matt Murdock on the show?**

*Jessica Jones* is a great series. That first season with Purple Man I put up there with our best television Marvels ever done, and Krysten really embodies that character. We liked the way Frank Castle played in the first season [of *Daredevil: Born Again* season 1]. Characters can come into his orbit from the greater universe. The first and best idea was to bring Krysten back and to have her be part of this resistance that Matt is trying to build in the midst of a lot of obstacles in duress in Fisk's New York.

**Are Luke Cage and Danny Rand that far behind now that Jessica Jones is back in the mix? **

The less I say the better. Dario [Scardapane, showrunner] is trying to tell a story to great effect that is, like Stan Lee said, a reflection of the world outside your window. The politics of New York are a big part of that story. It's clearly about a guy who runs around in a devil suit, but what is amazing about Dario's work is the intricacy of the interplay of all these characters and how he really treats New York and the world of City Hall and the groundswell of the growing resistance against Fisk. It feels at times like a fantasy epic or *Game of Thrones* or something. There's a palace intrigue-type storytelling that is really fun to read. I'm starting to watch the cuts. It's amazing. So I don't know if it's exactly about who's gonna show up. It's a little deeper than that. There are rewards to be had for fans, but it's really about the stakes of this world that this Kingpin is building in New York City.

**I want ask about Matthew Lillard. When you think of Matthew Lillard, you think of all of his horror work. I was curious if his casting served a specific purpose in that regard to evoke a certain vibe or a certain imagery.**

He plays a character named Mr. Charles. The story is about power. When Wilson Fisk takes over New York, not just as a mayor but as a king in a way, it puts him in a new class of power players on the international stage. Matthew Lillard's character represents that. So he's a bit of a new antagonist on the field, but he's as influential in many ways as Fisk is. That power negotiation at a very high level of politics and international diplomacy is also fun to watch. He is dealing with Mr. Charles up here and Daredevil down here for different reasons. So he's getting squeezed a little bit.

Tom Holland on the Scotland set of 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day'.

**I imagine you would have conversations about, If it's this big of a story affecting this much of the city, do we have to now bring in like Kamala Khan or Spider-Man or all these other New York-based heroes.**

Yeah. We are communicating a lot with the team on *Spider-Man: Brand New Day* to make sure that there's coherence there. We don't want to spoil anything, but it very much exists in the same world and it is important. We're in a shared universe together, but I would say just the Daredevil comic books, the Punisher comic books depicted a certain tone and an idea of New York in a different way than Spider-Man's, but they both exist in the same universe. It's similar. Everything lines up and the impacts are felt, but we're able to tell different stories.

**Elden Henson was at L.A. Comic-Con recently. He said something everybody interpreted as he wasn't coming back for *Daredevil* season 2, but I wasn't sure if he was talking about Foggy not being alive in season 2. Could you clarify that?**

I actually haven't seen the quote, but I can tell you he is in season 2. People don't know what they're allowed to say and what they're not allowed to say, also. Do I play it coy? Do I be honest? It's always a dance.

***X-Men '97*...Especially with the showrunner change, I think fans have a lot of questions about what to expect in season 2, if the vibe and tone is gonna be very similar to season 1 or if it's gonna go in a new direction. What can you say about the continuation of this show under new creative leadership? **

Well, first and foremost, it's actually the entire creative team. Same director, same producers, same cast, many of the same writers, and it's standing on the shoulders of giants. One thing that makes *X-Men '97* work so well is that everybody's rowing in exactly the same direction. Everyone that works on the show knows that original series inside and out. And we work very closely with Eric and Julia Lewald and Larry Houston [creators of *X-Men: The Animated Series*]. They're here all the time reviewing material and talking to the artists. The second season feels very much a worthy successor to the first season.

Apocalypse on 'X-Men '97' season 1.

**Season 1 left us with a very apocalyptic arrival and a very clear tease of Gambit serving as this Angel of Death role. Is it fair to assume that that tease has big implications for the season 2 story at large?**

That tease certainly matters and Apocalypse is a big part of season 2.

**Ross Marquand was talking recently basically teeing up that a lot of characters die in season 2.**

I saw something about that. I would say that it is the same stakes as season 1. I wouldn't characterize it as a lot of characters die! It's not *Marvel Zombies*, but like many great anime shows, like *X-Men '97* season 1, mortality's on the table and some of these characters want to do what's right at any cost.

**Beau DeMayo has been sharing his side of his experience and his story on social media pretty regularly. I recognize this is an ongoing conversation being handled internally. What are your feelings on that matter and his exit?**

We've talked about this before. I'm grateful to Beau. We launched this series together. I think he did excellent work. Frankly, I don't really look at it or read any of it, so I don't really know.

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity. ***

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