While attempting to enjoy the new season of Daredevil: Not So Foggy, I hit the wall. I didn’t see that the current season was being rolled out weekly…because I accidentally started it when four episodes were live. Frustrated, I turned back to the main hallway of Marvel offerings on Disney+ to find something already completed that I could successfully binge in my normal “one a night until I’m done” method. Staring back at me first? Wonder Man.
Prior to clicking into the eight-part miniseries from the prestige micro-brand within the MCU (“Marvel Spotlight”) my knowledge of the actual comic book hero was as thin as the newsprint he was printed on. I knew he had nebulous ion-based superpowers that always made him sound way more powerful than he was ever depicted. I knew he was a West Coast Avenger — making him as valuable as a designated hitter on a National League team in 1983. I vaguely recall him being an actor. And that wrapped up my entire knowledge of the character. Let’s go.
After the first episode credits rolled, I went ahead and pressed “skip credits” to consume the next thirty minutes of story. And then again. Keep in mind kiddos: I typically will not binge a series in this manner. Ever. One-a-night has served me well ever since my home-with-gout Breaking Bad overdose marathon of 2014 (I was a late-comer to that series too). Something about this well-crafted carefully executed superhero farce simply compelled me to over-indulge instead of politely dosing out the enjoyment.
For those not in the know: Wonder Man is a mostly powerless-romp buddy-comedy/drama that sees our titular ion-powered titan join perennial punch-line Trevor Slattery, aka The Mandarin of Iron Man fame, on the pair’s quest for respect and work in Hollywood.
We begin with then day-player Simon Williams, punching above his weight class in his pursuit of the art of acting. In our cold open, He offers notes to the director and writer on the set where he is only meant to be a warm body asked to deliver a few lines before being murdered by the monster. His desire to show off how well he knows his character is met with a sudden change in the script from on-high. Seems his well-versed-in-Aztec-mythology professor was murdered off screen. And that’s a wrap for Mr. Williams. He heads home to his Hollywood-adjacent motel-esque apartment to find his girlfriend moving out. Seems his commitment to craft has left him too cold to be loved. No job. No girl. Cue the title card.
Elsewhere in LaLa Land, Trevor Slattery — still on the lamb following his Shang-Chi prison break — is immediately recaptured and under the thumb of a hungry Damage Control agent. Seems the DC has an inkling that Simon Williams is an unchecked superpowered individual. Given his public profile as an actor, they see the synergy in using the mercurial (and sober) Slattery as bait to get confirmation of Simon’s powers before staging any kind of action. Happy to not be behind bars again, Trevor is more than happy to comply. A few plot devices to get the ball rolling, and we’re off to the races.
What makes Wonder Man so good though, is the intelligent construction of the series as a whole. It’s a veritable matryoshka doll; with nesting layers of scripting that builds a universe from the inside out. Early in the series (and trust me, this is going to be spoiler free kiddos), Simon and Trevor find themselves at a screening of Midnight Cowboy. As the credits roll, they find themselves the only connoisseurs remaining in the dimly lit cinema. A friendship is born. One can instantly feel the synergy forming.
That feeling compounds upon itself the longer the series goes on. See, in the MCU, “Wonder Man” itself was a sci-fi movie of yesteryear that a young Simon (né Samuel) was introduced to by his father. He clearly becomes enamored with the vintage victor. While we’re only given tiny snippets of the flick, we get the broadstrokes: Wonder Man has an elder friend, Barnaby, who helps in whatever eventual victory occurs. Serendipitously, within Wonder Man, a remake/reboot/whatever-they-call-them-now of “Wonder Man” is being spun up by a beloved virtuoso filmmaker in our present day. The twist? In this remake, Barnaby turns on his cosmic compatriot. And with plenty of episodes to work through, the stage is set. Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery will vie to become their super cinematic counterparts… while Trevor works to betray Simon in order to save his own skin.
Oh, and yeah, Simon absolutely has ionic super powers he has to hide from the public — lest he be ousted from acting due to the liability insurance studios cite by never employing superpowered beings. But you probably figured that out from the trailer.
In the four or so hours we have within Wonder Man, we are treated to a superhero adjacent story. One that makes clear early on: there will be no sky beams, hordes of CGI aliens, or bombastic set-pieces. Instead, we get a thoughtful storyline that treats every character like a human being (save only for some Hollywood cameos I will not spoil for you). We get action, but never how you’d imagine. And we get laughs. Lots of laughs. Big, full-bellied guffaws earned through witty banter, smart editing, and impeccable timing.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II — perhaps familiar to most fanboys as Black Manta in DC’s Aquaman movies, or Doctor Manhattan in the HBO Watchmen series — creates a completely new comic-book-universe-worthy performance as Simon Williams. Yahya plays Simon as a driven man, who respects the art of acting perhaps a shade too much for his own good. And behind that drive is a maelstrom of ionic power forever waiting to be unleashed. We see it through every choice made by the actor — both in the series and the movie-within-the-series. It’s hard to describe, but Yahya is able to perform as a would-be actor… perfectly nailing the insecurity colliding with passion at every line of dialogue he delivers as-Simon-as-an-“Actor”.
The performance though would be hollow, if not for the forever entertaining muse that is Sir Ben Kingsley returning to his layered Trevor Slattery. Sometimes a buffoon, other times a con, and yet other times a sweet and well-meaning man who sees so much of his former self in his newfound friend/target. As audience members, Kingsley deftly navigates the murky waters forever tricking us into caring before snapping us back to the dangerous reality. I know this all sounds incredibly artsy-fartsy… but it all checks out when you check it out.
Wonder Man reminded me that we continue to live in a gilded age of comic book inspired cinema. Now where some characters are directly pulled off the page and given new dimensions to live in, and here, where they are wholly reinvented to offer us something new for when they might otherwise languish. In eight episodes, we get all we could have hoped for and then some, in a small show that punches above its weight class with barely a misstep. Among the Marvel brethren on the app? It’s a diamond in the rough worthy of your attention.
