'Wonder Man' Review
- Josh Davis
- Jan 24
- 3 min read
Updated: 21 hours ago
Limited Series.
Aired On: Disney+.
Release Date: 01/27/26.
Genre: Action. Adventure. Comedy. Fantasy. SciFi.
The Verdict: A Must-See
Wonder Man is exactly the kind of show Seth Rogen’s character from The Studio would pitch with delighted, manic fervor: “It’s a superhero show, but it’s also a 1970s prestige picture and a character study about two deeply flawed people who just want to change the world – through the magic of film!”
At its core, the series is basically a two-hander. Ben Kingsley reprises his role as Trevor Slattery, a washed-up actor and former faux-terrorist Mandarin, opposite Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, making his triumphant debut as Simon Williams.
Simon has superpowers, but he’s spent his entire life hiding them. He doesn’t use them for good. He doesn’t use them for evil. He barely uses them at all. They only emerge under extreme emotional stress, something he’s managed to avoid often enough to keep his secret intact.
As a child, Simon’s father took him to see Wonder Man, a cheesy, Flash Gordon-adjacent superhero movie that helped a lonely, picked-on kid believe in something bigger. Instead of embracing his own abilities, Simon chose acting, becoming a deeply serious, borderline neurotic performer with elaborate backstories even for bit parts. Everyone agrees he’s talented. No one knows quite what to do with him.
Enter Trevor, a veteran actor who drifts into Simon’s orbit and begins gently steering him toward his potential, helping him become more present and less trapped in his own head. When auditions open for a Wonder Man remake, Simon nails it, and both men earn callbacks for lead roles.
Along the way, they bond over craft. Trevor tells stories from his long, strange career, quotes Shakespeare freely, and reflects on how addiction and bad choices derailed what was once real promise.
There’s a complication, of course. Trevor is secretly working for the Department of Damage Control, a bureaucratic superhero cleanup agency facing budget cuts and quotas. He’s pressured to keep tabs on Simon, at least until their bond grows deep enough that Trevor starts questioning the deal he’s made.
The espionage and superhero mechanics are the least interesting parts of Wonder Man. What truly distinguishes the show is how it looks and feels. Showrunner Destin Daniel Cretton shoots the series like the kind of 1970s character studies Simon and Trevor endlessly reference. Instead of cranes and CGI-heavy spectacle, there are handheld cameras, tight interiors, real locations, and, shockingly, real faces. Almost everything is practical. It feels tactile, intimate, and refreshingly human.
Not since WandaVision has an MCU project felt this bold. It’s further elevated by the chemistry between Kingsley and Abdul-Mateen II, which is so damned good it’s impossible to look away.
Kingsley, in particular, seems to be having a blast. Trevor is slowed by age and decades of substance abuse, but still armed with a lightning-quick wit and a mischievous twinkle in his eye. He sounds vaguely like a drunken uncle of one of the Beatles, and his dialogue flows so naturally it feels as though he’s delighting in each sentence as it tumbles out of him.
Abdul-Mateen II anchors the series with depth and sincerity. Simon is isolated not just by a dangerous secret, but by his own self-absorption and obsessive devotion to his craft. Until Trevor enters his life, real connections feel impossible. Once he opens up, though, things start to click.
Midway through the season comes a standout bottle episode featuring Byron Bowers as DeMarr Davis (aka the Doorman) and Josh Gad … as himself. It’s strange, funny, a little melancholy, and quietly revelatory. The episode cements Wonder Man as something closer in spirit to the best moments of Atlanta than to traditional Marvel fare.
That’s Wonder Man in a nutshell: It’s fresh and thrilling as a Marvel project, but familiar and lived-in as a character study, one that allows its leads real motivations, real growth, and real messiness without hiding behind capes, cowls, or endless action beats.
Is there a larger implication here, that Disney might benefit from making smaller, more personal stories instead of louder, emptier spectacles? Maybe. Is Wonder Man wonderful anyway? Absolutely.
By the midpoint of the finale – the series runs a tight eight episodes and is billed as a Marvel “Spotlight,” meaning it likely won’t continue – a familiar fear creeps in: how are they going to land this? The answer is simple. A clever twist. A well-earned, fist-pumping moment. And then it just … ends. No post-credit stinger. No forced setup. Just a satisfying conclusion to a deeply satisfying show.
What a marvelous little idea. And what a genuinely wonderful little series.
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