‘Wonder Man’ Production Designers Break Down Easter Eggs, From Simon’s Mutant ID to Asgard Tourism Posters

Marvel’s “Wonder Man” is loaded with Easter eggs, cameos, and deep-cut ties to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some are obvious, while others are well-hidden.

Who better to highlight the easter eggs than the show’s production designers, Cindy Chao and Michele Yu?

The limited series, now streaming on Disney+, follows Yahya Abdul-Mateen II  as Simon Williams, an aspiring actor with supernatural powers. As a Hollywood hopeful, Simon makes the rounds of familiar L.A. studios, restaurants, and movie theaters, hoping to be cast in the reboot of the superhero movie “Wonder Man.”

She-Hulk makeup, Hulk protein powder, and even Kingo appear on movie posters when Simon is in Highland Park. For Chao and Yu, the series provided plenty of opportunities to plant teasers that give fans much to discover. Here, they highlight some of their favorites.

Simon’s License Plate and his apartment

Yu enjoyed reading about the Easter eggs fans had spotted. But the one she loves most—and feels has been missed—is Simon’s license plate.

“His car license plate number is a reference to his comic book mutant ID number,” she says. “We thought [it] would be a slam dunk of everybody catching them.”

Additionally, Simon lives in apartment #9, which Yu says “was a reference to the first issue that ‘Wonder Man’ appeared in.” He first appeared in October 1964 in “The Avengers” #9. She adds, “Every number and address that shows up in the series was some reference to either a comic book issue number or an existing number in the MCU associated with Simon Williams or with the creators of Wonder Man.”

Great Lakes Avengers

In the “Doorman” episode, DeMarr Davis, a founding member of the Great Lakes Avengers, makes an appearance. DeMarr’s codename is “Doorman,” and is played by Josh Gad. Yu says, “In the Doorman’s apartment, we included a map of the Great Lakes.”

Travel to Asgard

In the LAX set during Episode 2, the background posters promote travel to Asgard. Chao says those posters were beautifully done by graphic designer Sarah Gonzalez. “She illustrated and put together each of the regions of what Asgard would look like, and we had a little homage to that planet in that set.”

Trevor Slattery’s apartment

A personal favorite of Yu’s is the Shang-Chi easter egg in Trevor’s apartment. When designing the space, Yu started to think about Trevor’s relationship with his pet Morris and what might have happened to the mythical creature. Yu says, “Something must have happened, but we think that Trevor would have kept something around that reminded him of Morris.”

The idea was that he would need to have a reminder of Morris in there. “If you look at the footstool, this does appear on screen briefly.” She says, “It’s a fur-covered footstool. We tried to give it six legs. I don’t know if it ended up having six legs, but he has a little footstool in his apartment that is a tribute to Morris, and what we think he would have kept around to remind him of his great friend.”

Homage to Los Angeles

With the show set in Los Angeles, Chao and Yu wanted to pay homage to the city they love. A favorite was the recreation of the iconic freeway murals along the 101. Chao particularly loved one featuring Grecian statues floating in space. She says, “We did our version of that mural. When they’re running out of the hotel, you could see our version of the mural, which is a tiled version, and you could see that in one of the shots in the background.”

Colby Posters

Fluorescent ink and bold typography defined the art of Colby Posters. The now-defunct poster company is celebrated throughout the show. Yu explains, “It was a very accessible and inexpensive way for businesses to create advertisements, and the design of it was very instinctual. The letter press operators would take notes about what text you wanted, and all of the decision-making for the design would happen in-house at the printing press.”

Once again, graphic designer Sarah Gonzalez helped pay homage to the posters of yesteryear. They feature throughout the show.

Yu says, “We gave her all this research material, and we replicated this look. You can see some of the posters, and they were always meant for the background. They were never going to have like a front and center moment, but they’re there.”

An homage to the film crew

This is a blink-and-miss-it moment. Yu says, during a car chase sequence that goes past the Hollywood Palladium, they “did a little photo shoot with some of our crew who are all working in LA. We made the crew band members as if they were playing upcoming show. It’s a quick drive by, and you can’t identify any of them, but we did that.”

In addition to that, the DODC (United States Department of Damage Control) offices have Wanted posters on the wall — the faces belong to various friends.

Simon’s Dad, the chef

Part of Simon’s backstory was that his father had passed away, but there wasn’t much detail given. However, it had been decided that when he was alive, his father was a chef and had opened a restaurant.

Yu explains, “That was part of how they built community as a family. We wanted to give little hints that he was a cook. We wanted to incorporate stuff in set dressing in Martha’s (his mom, played by Shola Adewusi) kitchen that gave you hints of what his dad used to do. We had a framed chef’s hat that his dad would have worn.”

One detail Yu was thrilled to add was a framed paper tri-fold menu. “The list of dishes that was specific to the style of Haitian cooking that his dad would have done, but the logo for the restaurant was a replica of a logo that my family’s restaurant had in the 90s. When the opportunity came up that Simon’s dad was a chef, I was like, ‘Can I put a little bit of my reality in there?’” Yu says, those personal touches give it another layer of reality for people.”