Wonder Man

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been in a bit of a rut since Endgame. While there have been some standout entries on both the big and small screen, they all generally adhere to the same superhero formula. The newest instalment in this always-expanding franchise, however, is vastly different to the point that it barely counts as a comic-book outing. It’s enough of a departure to give fans a much-needed breath of fresh air while still moving the overarching narrative forward in its own way.

The show stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams, an aspiring actor striving to make it big in Hollywood. After being fired from a small role in American Horror Story (which makes Ryan Murphy’s anthology part of the MCU now), he runs into veteran actor Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), who was previously hired to portray Iron Man 3 villain The Mandarin. The pair strike up a friendship and end up auditioning for the leading roles in a remake of Wonder Man, a Flash Gordon-esque film from the 80s. However, Simon is concealing his own superpowered secret, while Trevor has been coerced by the government into spying on him.

Abdul-Mateen and Kingsley are astoundingly good together, better than any other pairing in the MCU. Their chemistry is at the heart of this buddy dramedy as their relationship grows and evolves into something that feels grounded. Instead of stopping a world-ending event, the biggest stakes they face are finding a place to film an audition and avoiding embarrassing themselves in front of a renowned director. Everything about this show is so stripped back that when something action-oriented does happen, it consequently hits that much harder. There’s one moment that comes so far out of left field that viewers will need to take a beat to process what just happened.

The series also functions as a slick meta-commentary of Hollywood. Although the amount of Disney references is a tad self-serving, there’s no shortage of jokes and celebrity cameos that poke fun at the industry. One of the most memorable is Josh Gad, whose bizarre fate is the centrepiece of one of this show’s best episodes.

Wonder Man is unlike anything the MCU has done before. It’s funny, smart, and carried by excellent performances that make viewers want to become invested in this small-scale superhero story, which isn’t really about superheroes.