I don’t normally do reviews of brand new shows that aren’t anime. BUT I’m willing to make an exception because this show was that worth watching, and I’m not normally one for live action shows.
Wonder Man is the newest entry in the MCU. The MCU has been going on for over a decade now with Endgame being for many the end of the Shared Universe. Outside of the second Spiderman MCU movie, the move to Disney Plus for shows and the Covid Pandemic meant many like me got disconnected from it, and the works coming out were mixed.
For many the magic seemed to no longer be there and some said how the craze was over and citing “super hero fatigue”. I, however, felt that it wasn’t so much fatigue and more a mix of bad decisions notably the push for a multiverse angle and poor continuation of stories over bad ones. Made worse is many high profile new films tied into the Disney Plus shows which unlike the movies had never been released on home media. That means important information was left inaccessible if you didn’t have streaming as no DVDs or Blu-rays were released and those that did, were limited and done so after the movies were released. The MCU got too cluttered and the direction wasn’t working.
That said there have been pushes since that have been working better. The show Moon Knight, the Fantastic Four movie, and a handful of other ones all showed when effort was put in and not made to tie into things we couldn’t see, they were still good.
Wonder Man does have some levels of continuity in it, but fortunately that continuity relates to the movies and not another show. And importantly, the story is focused and far more personal rather than a big adventure.
The Show is made up of 8 episodes that are roughly half an hour long each. I watched them in batches of 2 with a friend rather than binge watch it all in one go. This let us process the story rather than rush through, and it was a good story.
The story is about Simon Williams played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (he also played Black Manta in Aquaman) who is trying to make his break into acting, having grown up loving the art form. One day after his most recent part was dropped before getting his chance, to destress he went to see a showing of a film he watched with his father as a child, Wonder Man. It is there that he encounters someone we are more familiar with Trevor Slattery played by Sir Ben Kingsley and, if you saw Iron Man 3, was tricked into playing the role of the Mandarin.
It is the bond between these two characters that the strength of the story lies. It essentially is a new struggling actor meeting and befriending an older actor. The younger actor has talent but can’t get started, while the older one is trying to come back but in many ways is haunted by his old role as both try to get roles in a new remake of the film Wonder Man directed by Von Kovak played by Zlatko_Burić (who you will have seen as that bastard Vasil Ghurkos, so its nice to see he can play non evil characters).
The twist? well Im sure I can tell you as that’s at the end of the first episode. Simon has super powers. This is the MCU earth after all. But after an incident that is covered in the 4th episode those with super human abilities are all but barred from the field of acting. It is very easy then to, in your mind, replace super powers with being homosexual or other elements an actor in the past or present would have to hide about themselves.
There are many themes going on in the show such as Racial Profiling and the struggle to just get your foot in the door with a carrier. I suppose the closest parallel this show has is to the classic story “A Star is Born” notably the earlier versions before people remade it to be about the music industry (and then remade that again, and again by people who then claim super hero movies are unoriginal).
The show notably has the smallest budget of any Marvel studios production. However, because it is such a focused small scale story, focused on 2 characters that isn’t an issue, in fact it’s much better than many of those grander stories, this is way above the standard of story telling that many of the recent MCU works have done. You get interesting focus episodes like how episode 4 is black and white and is about the life of a different actor with super powers, or how episode 6 is just Trevor and Simon at a call back on the roles so it’s using a very limited number of sets and all in that location. It makes great use of what it has rather than try to wow us with special effects.
Hello everyone! This is Nephrite briefly making a reappearance – it’s been a while since I hijacked a review – to second everything stated above.
Wonder Man is truly a show worth your time. Myself and Sgathaich watched the show and genuinely found ourselves emotionally caught up in the story being told. Seeing Simon’s struggle to break into the acting world even with Trevor’s aid, it’s obvious the various artists and actors and writers etc working on the show added in stories from their own experiences.
Be it the days sleeping in cars or in tiny apartments, relationship stresses from not giving up on the Hollywood dream or the moment where many actors have to come to terms with the reality of the industry? It’s all in this show. And it’s all done beautifully. As stated above, the modern MCU post Endgame has its fair share of problems but Wonder Man pushes through those potential issues by the sheer heart behind it all. Without spoiling anything? You know a show is good when you find yourself tearing up watching it.
I could go on for days about how good this show is, the moments that made me cry, the sheer dedication displayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Sir Ben Kingsley to making it work, some of the more entertaining jokes and occasional references or running gags. But honestly? I’m just glad this show exists and I ask, purely as someone who appreciates the craft of acting? Watch this show. It’s worth every moment of your time. But don’t binge it. Let it sit with you. Let yourself ruminate on what it’s trying to achieve. The MCU needs more shows like this or Moon Knight if it’s going to continue. Now to return the floor to your regularly scheduled host. Thank you for letting me do this again.
Given I was one of many people that fell off the MCU due to a mix of Disney plus exclusives and the pandemic. This is a great show to watch. I’d love for more in this vein rather than try to do grand almost films but longer viewing time.
Oh if you’re wondering, my friend has Disney Plus, that’s how we watched it when I mentioned not having it.
