Joseph Lamour is the food reporter at TODAY.com and is based in Washington D.C.
“O! O!” I exclaimed. A rather Haitian expression left my lips while watching Episode 3 of “Wonder Man,” Marvel’s latest Disney+ show to introduce a new superhero to the Marvel Cinematic Universe . The show follows Simon Williams , a struggling actor who is hiding ionic energy powers from an industry that would rather he be a 'normal' human.
Hijinks ensue, but we get to know the deeper truth behind Simon's motivations as both an actor and the first-generation child of immigrants. In a flashback scene, Simon's mom, Martha Williams , refers to her son as “Piti Mwen” in Kreyól, which means “my little one,” while he’s being checked out in a hospital room. I was surprised by a character speaking Haitian Kreyól on a mainstream Marvel show, because it’s the same language I hear my own parents speak so frequently at home as a first-generation Haitian American. During the flashback scene, Martha asks Simon’s brother Eric , “Kisap fe,” meaning “What can I do?” By then, the show had my full attention. In the original comics, Wonder Man is a white man, introduced as a foil to the Avengers. The idea that Marvel had turned a villain into a superhero with Haitian heritage was something I never thought I needed — until one was right in front of me. As it turns out, it wasn't a fluke: the feeling I was having was thanks to one Marvel actor and creative consultant hired to ensure the show's cultural aspects rang true. An Accurate Representation of Haitian-American Life “It’s going to be just a bunch of aunties and cousins sharing war stories of growing up Haitian,” adult Simon says back in Wonder Man’s present. Later in the episode, Simon, a struggling actor, visits his mom in Pacoima, California, for her birthday along with fellow struggler Trevor Slattery . The scene that follows is the most accurate depiction of a Haitian-American household on American television that I have ever seen. “Tanbou’n Frape” by Haitian supergroup Lakou Mizik plays as the house’s warm pink walls call to mind a color my own aunt Janet has on her walls in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The pleasantly mismatched lawn furniture and the judgmental-but-loving cousins all gathered to cause an almost-out-of-body experience, and I wasn’t alone. “I have a few friends in my life who are Haitian and who reached out to me, saying like, ‘Why did you not tell me this?’” Kira Talise, a writer for “Wonder Man,” tells TODAY.com over Zoom. “But it was just really lovely to also see people who are not Haitian, or who don’t have a Caribbean ancestry, get educated and be curious.” Talise says the show wanted to make Simon “first-generation something,” but they weren’t sure what. “There was a lot of talk about the pressures that first-generation people in America feel, and how their parents perceive them,” she continues, adding that they wanted to focus on the pressure put on Simon to “present a certain way” or not “explore creative endeavors.” “Our decision to make Simon Haitian came after a lot of conversation and discussion, and leveraging what resources we had to make sure that we were able to create it authentically,” Talise says. The Man Who Brought Haiti to 'Wonder Man' One moment really sealed the deal for me: Simon’s aunt Esther says such a visceral line in Kreyól after a tense conversation with Slattery that you don’t really need to know the language to get the gist. 'Simone toujou ap pote fatra lakay manman,' Haitian-American actor and creative consultant Jean Elie tells TODAY.com over Zoom, repeating the line with a laugh. Translation 'Simon is always bringing trash to his mother's house.' Auntie! Elie, a first-generation Haitian American who grew up in Massachusetts with two Haitian immigrant parents, was hired as a cultural consultant for the series. He wrote lines like this for Haitian characters and their first-generation kids to make them feel authentically from the island. “They had the scripts already written and sent me a couple of episodes,” he says. After one authenticity read, he immediately translated parts of the dialogue into Kreyól from English. “I marked it all up and told him, ‘Well, Haitians don’t necessarily speak about their stuff in front of people,’” Elie says, cleverly not changing a word but turning the English lines into Kreyól so Slattery wouldn't understand. It was met with some pushback, but he told them that Haitian folk would take issue with the original characterization. Elie also had Martha often turn to Eric, the eldest man in the family, for guidance. “I was always translating bills and other things for my parents,” Elie recalls. Elie, best known for playing Issa's brother Ahmal on “Insecure,” says showrunner Andrew Guest and Marvel Studios executive Brian Gay expressed their aim to make Simon’s heritage more than just a throwaway line. Elie says he met with department heads to guide everything from wardrobe to location to the cars each character drives to help show what a lived-in Haitian experience looks like on screen. “They took a lot of my notes, and they utilized a lot of it,” he says. “So it was really cool to see the imprint of the Haitian culture in a huge way like that.” The show is not without critique: on social media, some criticized aspects of the show, such as its lack of authentic Haitian food and some of the accents, which Elie has responded to online. Talise says folks have also been curious about a moment when guests enter the party, and we see them place their clothing and shoes into blue bins. This is called “barrel packing,” carried out by Caribbeans in America who fill them with clothing, food, and other supplies. Marvel’s large audience is now familiar with it, too. “It’s an image that people could point to in reference to what Haitian culture could look like on TV, versus the stereotypical where we’re always poor or do voodoo and witchcraft,” Elie says. “One of the coolest things outside of our culture is seeing this is that other cultures are able to watch it and identify with it, which brings us closer together as people.” Immersing the audience in worlds from Ta Lo to Jersey City is a Marvel specialty, and this time, my actual world was represented on the screen; It made me feel that my own life had a little more wonder. Sak pase, Wonder Man.
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