This gem of a series, about an actor with superpowers, is a clever, tender take on male friendship and the film industry. It’s a triumph of storytelling – and a masterclass in acting
W
e are back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you feel fatigue stealing over you already, banish it! It’s going to be OK. Even though Wonder Man is (by my incredulous reckoning) about the 30th MCU series produced by Marvel Television and companions – from the dizzying heights of WandaVision to … well, She-Hulk – it is a little gem.
And it is quite little, in MCU terms. Not only are the eight episodes only around half an hour long but they also eschew spectacle in favour of storytelling. It’s a radical idea, but you never know, it might catch on.
The story is that Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who plays the DC Comics’ character Black Manta in the Aquaman films) is an actor who has been trying to make it in LA for the last decade. Alas, his inability to stop overthinking a role makes him an utter pain on set and gets him fired even when he does manage to land a part. But he has loved the Wonder Man character all his life and when the chance comes to audition for a role in a superhero film about him, Simon leaps at it. There he is befriended by Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley, who plays Trevor in various MCU films, a washed-up, drug-addled actor who is hired by Iron Man 3’s baddie to play “the Mandarin”, who is the terrorist leader of the Ten Rings – do keep up).
