Wonder Man on Disney+ was a wonderful surprise. I knew it would be meta and weird, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so good. Having said that, this show is not for mainstream Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans. It’s best for comics nerds that love clever writing, lesser-known characters, and obscure references on top of obscure references.
Here are three reasons why I loved Wonder Man Season 1.
Wonder Man Has Some of the Best Acting in the MCU
Marvel has had its fair share of incredible actors, but Sir Ben Kingsley might be the most accomplished of them all. The Sexy Beast is back as Trevor Slattery, the formerly substance-addled actor that terrorized the world in Iron Man 3. It’s funny to think that what seemed like a throwaway character played by a legendary thespian has returned to delight us thrice more (the “All Hail the King” short, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Wonder Man).
In Wonder Man, Sir Ben brings the humor Trevor Slattery is known for, but this time has room to show the character’s emotional depth. It’s a wonderful and impressive performance.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was also excellent as the titular character. While he has impressed me in some of his projects (he was fantastic in Watchmen), some of the other movies he has appeared in were…not the best (Aquaman, The Matrix Resurrections). Now that I’ve seen more of his work, it’s clear that he can be incredible when given quality material to work with. Thankfully, he had great scripts on Wonder Man and he knocked it out of the park.
The Show’s World Building is Next-Level Crazy
I loved how the show incorporated several levels of movie nerdiness. The adventures of Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery in Wonder Man had several parallels to the adventures of Joe Buck and Ratso in Midnight Cowboy. The show mentioned films that Sir Ben Kingsley and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II starred in, as well as a few of the former’s plays. There were also nods to Young Frankenstein, My Cousin Vinny, Oscar and Lucinda, Midnight Run, The Fly, and several other lauded films.
On top of the real movies mentioned in the series, there were a few fictitious ones as well. Posters were shown for a theatrical version of Rogers: The Musical, similar to how many popular Broadway shows eventually get theatrical versions (Rent, Wicked, Les Miserables, etc.) The show also had a poster for a Kingo movie, the Bollywood alter ego of one of the Eternals. Lastly, there was a poster for Zaniac, a fake movie shown in Loki Season 2 about an obscure Thor villain. Mixing these nerdy touches with classic films helped make Wonder Man’s version of Hollywood seem alive and authentic.
Lastly, I loved how Los Angeles was used in this show. In the video below, the venerable Paul Semel mentioned that the show was a bit like superhero Entourage. Some of the locations used were a few blocks away from the Koreatown apartment complex I used to live in. The restaurant where Trevor Slattery and Agent Cleary met is a restaurant where I’ve eaten several meals with Paul. Similar to its use of movies, I enjoyed how Wonder Man used Los Angeles to make the show feel more authentic than other MCU projects.
Wonder Man is Not a Superhero Show
This is the most divisive aspect of the series. Mainstream MCU fans that want to see elaborate action sequences filled with amazing superpowers won’t find what they’re looking for in Wonder Man. It’s not that kind of show. For me, it’s like many of the comics that I loved that weren’t necessarily about superheroes, but focused on interesting characters that happened to have superpowers.
Look at Tom King’s Vision, for example. MCU fans know Vision as one of the most powerful members of The Avengers, but his abilities have little to do with the book. Justice League International was one of my favorite comics as a kid; sure, it had the occasional superpowered battle, but the book was more about what superheroes would do when they’re not fighting baddies. I loved Beetle and Booster coming up with get-rich-quick schemes. Guy Gardner taking Ice out on a date and criticizing her “thigh cheese” was hilarious. And one of my favorite quirks was having Martian Manhunter develop an addiction to Chocos (DC’s equivalent of Oreos).
I loved that this show focused on Simon Williams’ struggle to connect with people and finally finding a personal connection with Trevor Slattery. While I hope that Wonder Man will kick some supervillain ass in Avengers: Secret Wars, I much rather watch more episodes about Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery.
Unfortunately…
…I don’t think we’ll see a series like this from Disney for a long time. The company appears to be focused on winning back mainstream MCU fans that loved Avengers: Infinity War and the like. That is completely understandable; Disney is a publicly-traded company that aims to maximize profits. There’s more money to be had in a blockbuster like Avengers: Doomsday than Wonder Man Season 2.
In many ways, it’s like the comics I enjoyed. Yes, I read the mainstream Batman, Spider-Man, etc. books, but the stories that I loved the most were more about character than spectacle. I love that Wonder Man was made and shall watch it again many times, but I doubt there will be a season two. For comics nerds like me, that’s too bad.