The Marvel Cinematic Universe has always been at its best when dropping its superheroes into a specific genre, be it a paranoid conspiracy thriller (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), a slick heist movie (Avengers: Infinity War) or a Star Wars-inspired space opera (Guardians Of The Galaxy). Wonder Man – a pleasingly low-key miniseries – places its characters in the most self-referential environment the saga has yet explored: behind the scenes of a Hollywood movie.
Like Daredevil and Hawkeye spin-off Echo, Wonder Man is being released under Marvel’s ‘Spotlight’ banner, which is shorthand for ‘no homework required’ – you can dive in without feeling obliged to commit to the sprawling franchise.
There are ties to the larger MCU with Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery – the down-on-his-luck Liverpudlian thespian roped into posing as the evil Mandarin way back in 2013’s clunky Iron Man 3 – but there are plenty of snappy flashbacks for the uninitiated. Slattery’s past misdemeanours are used against him by sleazy government agency suit P. Cleary (Arian Moayed), who blackmails him into learning more about jobbing actor Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). Williams is suspected of possessing dangerous powers and Cleary’s Department Of Damage Control needs a win to secure funding for a new prison capable of holding super-powered individuals.
Complicating Slattery’s mission is his burgeoning friendship with Williams, as the two actors quickly become fast friends when they realise they both want a part in the upcoming Wonder Man movie. Williams’ is particularly desperate to nab the lead role in the remake of a retro-campy sci-fi he grew up watching with his father. While it doesn’t reach the heights of Seth Rogen’s The Studio when it comes to skewering Hollywood, the setting provides a colourful backdrop that sets it apart from other MCU offerings. There is plenty of scope for smirking in-jokes too, with one notable Disney star getting an extended cameo.
Williams and Slattery meet at a screening of classic ‘60s blockbuster Midnight Cowboy. Wonder Man’s creators, Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings) and Andrew Guest (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), lean – albeit lightly – on that Best Picture winner’s pathos in this series’ central bromance. Both aspirational actors are outsiders with unfulfilled dreams and their connection leads to some genuinely moving moments as they deal with bad agents, audition rivals and a challenging director. They’ve also got to keep Williams’ abilities hidden due to a clause that decrees superpowered individuals can’t work on film sets.
OK, so Wonder Man is guilty of that modern TV affliction of spreading one movie’s worth of material over eight episodes. Episode five is particularly light, though it does follow a terrific ‘below-deck’ episode four which steps outside the main plot to show how DeMarr ‘Doorman’ Davis (Byron Bowers) inspired Hollywood’s in-universe reluctance to work with supes.
Luckily, Williams and Slattery make for a great hang. While there are plenty of laughs, Kingsley gets to do more than just joke around – switching on the gravitas and sensitivity when required though Abdul-Mateen (underused in films Aquaman and The Matrix Resurrections) gets the best showcase for his charismatic presence since TV’s Watchmen. By ditching standard tropes for something more character focused, the MCU manages to swerve superhero fatigue with this extremely meta standalone treat.
‘Wonder Man’ is streaming on Disney+ from January 27