Interview: Arian Moayed Dives into His Portrayal of Agent Cleary in ‘Wonder Man’

Arian Moayed has portrayed Department of Damage Control Agent Cleary in three titles of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, introduced in film with Spider-Man: No Way Home, and further expanded in television in the shows Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man. When the actor portrayed him for the first time, he explains to Awards Radar on Zoom that he immediately wanted to showcase how great he is at his job and illustrate the complex operation he is a part of: 

“What I loved about Wonder Man is how it showed the inner workings of the bureaucracy, of what it must feel like to work at any of these organizations that do this kind of work, real or not. He has to somehow, some way, push an engine forward while being very good at his job. With all three of the appearances of Cleary, he’s always been right. He’s fired people that were abusing the law in Ms. Marvel. He knew from the jump that Simon Williams was enhanced. There was no chance otherwise. People forget that part. He absolutely was onto something, and in Spider-Man as well. Everything that he says in the beginning of that movie is the truth. There’s something about finding someone in this universe that’s very good at what he does and tells the truth that I’m a big fan of.”

What Moayed finds most compelling about the series, not only as an actor, but as an avid viewer, is how the characters are “not binary. They don’t fit into a box that you like, especially Cleary. Obviously, he is a shrewd operator and makes sure that Trevor [Slattery] gets on his team and all those things. I think that’s very true. At the same time, the evidence shows that he does still have a moral compass, and that kind of messiness that we live in is what’s not being said online. 

The system forces someone like Cleary to be like, “I don’t care who it is. Just go out and get them.” And obviously we know right now that is happening in our country and in the world, where people are now being hired to go after people, and it’s a really messy situation. Obviously, I don’t know anyone in my life that would choose money over decency. That being said, I have to think about holistically who these folks are and the same goes with actors. The journey that Simon Williams is going on is a journey of a discovery of who he is as a person. That is true if you don’t know yourself well enough. It’s going to be impossible for you to be a great artist, because it’s about unveiling all of the shit to the world so that people see the messiness of it all, and the way that Yahya [Abdul-Mateen II] performs that is so humane and so full of understanding, because every actor I know has these same issues. Sir Anthony Hopkins has always said, “I wasn’t a great actor until I was in my 40s. That makes sense to me as someone that’s in his 40s. Not that I’m great, but I know more things about the world. I don’t know if there’s some meta stuff that Andrew [Guest] is playing with, but it’s just so delicious and really captures the world we live in.”

There was, of course, so much more to talk about in our wide-ranging conversation, including how Moyaed is able to find new layers in his portrayal of Cleary, acting opposite Sir Ben Kingsley, showcasing the different sides of the character’s personality, and playing him in multiple genres. 

You can watch the full interview below and stream all episodes of Wonder Man on Disney+ today: 

[Some of the quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity]