Admittedly, I suffered from ‘superhero fatigue’ and fell behind on watching Marvel movies and TV shows. Recently, I returned to the Marvel Cinematic Universe by watching Thunderbolts, which was an enjoyable movie. But a recent Marvel TV show was a breath of fresh air, and it did something completely different.
Warning: This article has spoilers for the Marvel TV show, Wonder Man.
Wonder Man is one of Marvel’s most recent shows, and it breaks the mould from your run-of-the-mill superhero TV show. From the very first episode, you can tell you are in for something different.
Simon Williams (played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen) is an actor who is unable to hold down a job. He is a perfectionist who sometimes gets in his own head. We find this out from the beginning, when he is fired from American Horror Story for holding up the shoot by rewriting and adding things to his character, which is only a small part. The day doesn’t get any better for Simon, as he gets home, he finds his girlfriend is moving out.
Escaping reality, the only way he knows how, Simon heads to watch a screening of Midnight Cowboy. It is here that he runs into Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), who fans will remember from Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Trevor and Simon strike up a friendship, which becomes a core part of the show.
However, Trevor has a secret. The Department of Damage Control (DODC) told him to get close to Simon; otherwise, he would return to jail to finish his sentence. The DODC have been after the actor ever since he emerged unscathed from a kitchen fire as a teenager. They think Simon is dangerous, mainly because they don’t know the extent of his powers or whether he is on their side.
Of course, Simon is hiding the fact that he has powers because superpowered individuals are not allowed to be in movies. This is due to Demarr ‘Doorman’ Davis, a man who becomes an overnight sensation after gaining powers that let him pass through doors, walls, and other solid surfaces. People can also go through DeMarr and get on the other side of solid surfaces. There is a whole episode dedicated to the rise and fall of Demarr, which actually adds to the series.
In 2023, a UCLA study showed that Gen Z wanted less sex on tv, and more shows about friendship and platonic relationships. That is exactly what Wonder Man delivers. But it’s not only the friendship between Simon and Trevor that stands out. In the episode about Demarr ‘Doorman’ Davis, he strikes a friendship with actor Josh Gad (yes, that Josh Gad, playing himself), which would have made just as good a bromance as the main one if there had been a chance to explore it more.
Not only is the friendship between the two main characters what makes the show a good watch, but Wonder Man also uses action sparingly, choosing style over substance. The story is not told at a frantic pace. That is the beauty of doing a TV show: you can take the time to tell the story and build the characters and relationships.
The other thing viewers will notice about Wonder Man is the way it is filmed. If you’ve watched the Apple TV series The Studio, you will notice some similarities, such as the cinematography and the trials and tribulations of making a name for yourself in Hollywood.
Overall, Wonder Man is a show that will break up that Marvel/superhero fatigue, and who knows, maybe you will once again find the joy in the MCU. Three out of five stars.
Surprisingly, Disney has put the first episode on their YouTube channel. Watch below.
