Wonder Man is Marvel’s latest swing at turning another comic book hero into TV gold, but for a studio once known for thrilling, tightly woven storytelling, this new Disney+ series feels like another sign that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has lost its spark since Avengers: Endgame. Yes, there are heartfelt performances and a few laughs scattered throughout, but you have to ask, what happened to the Marvel magic that once held audiences in awe?
We’re now five years into Marvel’s grand experiment of TV spinoffs, and the results have been uneven at best. The studio once delivered fresh energy with WandaVision, Loki, and Ms. Marvel. Each had a clear identity. But Wonder Man? It’s part Hollywood satire, part origin story, part lost-in-translation. By trying to be everything, it ends up as little more than a confused curiosity.
Marvel Television’s Wonder Man | Official Trailer
At the center is Simon Williams, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, a struggling Los Angeles actor heading toward middle age with nothing to show for his talent. He’s his own worst enemy, self-conscious to the point of paralysis. In one of the show’s funnier bits, his big break, a bit part in American Horror Story, ends instantly when his character’s head gets bitten off. Within minutes, he talks himself out of that job by pestering the crew about his character’s emotional motivation. It’s comedy, but the sad kind.
Simon’s problems aren’t limited to Hollywood. He’s lonely, insecure, and hiding a dangerous secret. He can store and unleash explosive energy. When he loses control, things literally blow up. It’s a twist that should make this story soar, but the show takes so long to get there that by the time energy beams start flying, most viewers have stopped caring.
That creative indecision also shows up in the casting. In the Marvel comics, Simon Williams has been a white character ever since his 1960s debut. The decision to reimagine him here as a Black actor feels less like bold reinvention and more like another instance of Hollywood race-swapping for headlines. Whatever the motivation, it added nothing new to the superhero mythos, and risked alienating any longtime fans who knew and loved the original character. I know the argument for these decisions always leans into an ever present need for “more representation,” but choices like this come across as out of touch and are needlessly provocative.
That said, there’s a good idea buried in all this. Simon’s connection with washed-up actor Trevor Slattery, played by Ben Kingsley, gives Wonder Man its best moments. The two meet at a screening of Midnight Cowboy, bond over bad auditions, and form a quirky friendship that clearly nods to that classic film’s tale of struggle and connection. Kingsley, as usual, brings pathos to the chaos, and his strange, warm chemistry with Abdul-Mateen is the one part that actually lands.
But everything around them wobbles. Some episodes go nowhere at all, such as a weird birthday at Simon’s mom’s house, an audition at a director’s mansion, and a side story about a bouncer who becomes “Door Man” for Josh Gad. One episode barely features Simon at all. How can viewers root for a hero who disappears from his own show? How can a studio known for precision storytelling now feel this unfocused?
The problem isn’t just pacing; it’s identity. Wonder Man doesn’t know if it’s making fun of Hollywood or trying to say something meaningful about it. The show reaches for irony and sincerity at the same time, but the tones clash instead of harmonizing. Its humor is clunky, its drama unfocused, and by the time the finale offers a brief flash of real stakes, when Slattery risks himself to save Simon, it’s far too late for the emotion to resonate.
Simon Williams might have worked as a flawed, everyman superhero, but the series never gives him a heroic spine or a narrative worth following. He’s not inspiring, not bold, and rarely even interesting. Marvel wants to sell vulnerability as depth, but what we get here is uncertainty masquerading as storytelling.
Even Marvel executives admit this series was “caught in the middle” during the studio’s recent TV shake-up. You can feel that confusion in every frame. Wonder Man wrapped production in 2024, yet its delayed release in 2026 feels less like polish and more like damage control. The result is a show that looks afraid to commit to its own vision.
Five years ago, fans were still tuning in to see heroes face monumental stakes. Now, Marvel’s got a self-referential story about a man too nervous to act in his own film. Is this really the evolution fans were promised? Or has the studio that once shaped blockbuster cinema become trapped in an endless loop of experiments that never quite work?
Wonder Man is now streaming on Disney+.
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