When Marvel first announced that Avengers: Doomsday would be directed by the Russo Brothers and star Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, it seemed like the studio might be using the feature as a massive nostalgia play. Though the film will feature a number of characters from more recent projects like Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the studio made a big deal out of revealing that Chris Evans will reprise his role as Steve Rogers. It’s not clear whether Doomsday will bring back even more actors from the original Avengers whose characters either died or aged out of the team. But the project feels primed to work as a kind of reset that could give Marvel a way to reintroduce familiar faces and pivot out of its meandering Multiverse Saga.
Those aspects of Doomsday’s story — which will continue in Avengers: Secret Wars — are part of what makes the timing of Disney Plus’ new Wonder Man miniseries feel somewhat odd. Like Echo before it, Wonder Man is one of Marvel’s Spotlight projects that the studio doesn’t consider required viewing in order to keep up with the MCU’s larger ongoing story. At a time when Marvel seems more focused on reintroducing familiar faces in epic crossover events, Wonder Man stands out as an almost entirely self-contained character study that zooms in on the life of a comics hero that many casual fans probably aren’t all that familiar with. But as unusually timed as Wonder Man is, it’s also one of Marvel’s most compelling shows yet.
Set in sunny Los Angeles at some point after the events of Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Wonder Man follows struggling actor Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) as he sets out to book the gig of a lifetime. Simon is a talented performer who has been able to land jobs on major series like American Horror Story. But his tendency to overthink his roles makes it hard for him to find consistent work. When Simon is fired after giving a little too much feedback during a shoot, he doesn’t want his supportive motherr, Martha (Shola Adewusi), or disapproving brother, Eric (Demetrius Grosse), to know.
The news sends Simon’s agent, Janelle (X Mayo), into a fit of rage, but he’s confident that he can turn his luck around when he hears from disgraced actor Trevor Slattery (Sir Ben Kingsley) that a studio is rebooting Wonder Man — the classic (fictional, in-universe) superhero film that first sparked Simon’s passion for acting.
From the moment that Wonder Man first name-drops real-world entertainment like The Matrix and Twilight, you can start to feel the meta sense of humor co-creators Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest use to shape the series. In Simon’s bubble, people remember Slattery’s involvement in a bit of global terrorism, but they are much more concerned about what’s happening in Hollywood. That kind of tunnel vision makes it easy for Simon and his peers to believe that, after spending some time in prison, Slattery’s back in town and eager to find his next role.
Simon and Slattery’s shared love for the arts quickly turns the pair into unlikely friends who genuinely believe that they are both perfect for the lead roles in the Wonder Man movie — a cheesy sci-fi space opera that looks like a cross between Flash Gordon and Star Wars. Both men are shocked / elated when they receive callbacks for the movie, but Simon is uniquely concerned about what might happen if anyone involved with the production learns that he has been hiding real, innate superhuman abilities since he first hit puberty.
While Wonder Man (the series) doesn’t feature all that many firm connections to the larger MCU aside from Slattery, the show uses Simon’s powers to explore what life is like for “enhanced” but otherwise ordinary people who live in a world that has repeatedly been devastated by superhumans. Rather than worrying about violating the Sokovia Accords, Simon lives in fear of the Doorman Clause — a mandate barring superhumans from working in Hollywood because of the danger (and astronomical insurance costs) their powers might cause. He’d no longer be able to work in Hollywood if anyone knew what he could really do, and he would be imprisoned by the United States Department of Damage Control.
Though Simon’s super secret looms large in Wonder Man’s drama-forward story, the show is more about his relationship with Slattery and the psychological toll that hiding core aspects of one’s identity can take on a person. Here, Abdul-Mateen is clearly poking fun at himself and other actors who have signed onto splashy comics-inspired projects, but he also brings a quiet vulnerability to Simon that underlines his being a regular man who just wants to be recognized for his artistic talent.
After two turns as Slattery in previous Marvel projects, Kingsley finally has the chance to make the character feel like a real person whose ridiculous airs belie a genuine complexity. The two actors’ chemistry carries the series in moments when its The Studio-esque comedic subplots go a little off the rails. And by the end of the season, you get the sense that Simon and Slattery could go on to become one of Marvel’s more novel riffs on a superhero team.
All of that promise reinforces how curious the timing is. Marvel is premiering Wonder Man at a point in the MCU when it feels like significant portions of the franchise may be effectively reset in order to bring back actors and characters that first made the studio a massive success. Wonder Man’s release almost certainly reflects the way that Marvel’s long-term production scheduling has often shifted over the past few years in response to factors largely out of the studio’s control. But in a moment when the studio is making a big bet on another Avengers event to get audiences excited about this universe again.
Wonder Man is an example of how the studio can still put out strong stories that stand on their own.Wonder Man also stars Zlatko Burić, Arian Moayed, Béchir Sylvain, Olivia Thirlby, Byron Bowers, Joe Pantoliano, and Josh Gad. All eight episodes hit Disney Plus on January 27th.
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