(Mini Series) Wonder Man - Character Driven Drama Series About a Person with Super Power in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Two days ago, this latest super hero series set in Marvel Cinematic Universe was released on Disney+. To my surprise, all episodes were made available on the same day instead of the weekly one episode release. So I immediately started to watch on that day and finished it last night. Without further ado, here's more on the series.

Brief Story Line

Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II - Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, The Matrix Resurrections etc) had been struggling to become successful actor for years with the help from his agent Janelle (X Mayo - Freakier Friday, American Auto TV series etc). When he found out from actor Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley - The Thursday Murder Club, Locked Down etc) who used to be the terrorist Mandarin, that famous director Von Kovak (Zlatko Buric - Superman 2025, Triangle of Sadness etc) was doing a remake of the super hero movie Wonder Man, Simon was really interested in the role. So he tried his best to get into the audition without his agent's knowledge. 

Meanwhile Agent P. Cleary (Arian Moayed - Fountain of Youth, Nobody Wants This TV series etc) from Department of Damage Control was trying to capture people with powers that he believed was a threat. Cleary suspected that Simon was one of them and tried to look for evidence to capture him. Simon who actually had powers, tried to hid them as he would not get any jobs in the entertainment industry if it was found out.

So what would happen to Simon and how would the story conclude? You could find out in this series.

End of Brief Story Line

Well that was a bit unexpected. To be honest, I never knew about Wonder Man and the series plot but I was thinking it would at least have some super hero stuff. Instead this series was really drama heavy and character driven, focusing on the struggle of Simon to become actor while trying to hide his powers, combined with his relationship with Trevor & his own problems. There was almost no action and if it was supposed to be a super hero origin story, it really did not satisfy me. However, I did feel that as a drama series, this one was really good with convincing acting by the two lead stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley. It was supported by wonderful writing which understandbly made this series well received by critics. 

The series itself was created by Destin Daniel Cretton (director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings, The Glass Castle etc) together with Andrew Guest (writer & producer of Suburgatory, Marry Me TV series etc) who also served as the show runner. Destin Daniel directed the first two episodes while the 3rd & 4th were directed by James Ponsoldt (The Circle etc) and the remaining by Tiffany Johnson (The Beauty of Blackness etc) & Stella Meghie (The Photograph etc). The character Wonder Man was created by the late Stan Lee with comic artists Don Heck (co-creator of Iron Man, Black Widow and few others) & Jack Kirby (co-creator of Captain America, Ant-man and some others). I have no idea what the future will hold for this character as it was a limited series, though the ending did suggest they could explore his story further. Maybe even put him as part of the next Avengers movies. In any case, he was actually pretty interesting.

Aside from the excellent performance of Mateen and Kingsley, the series also had some support cast such as Byron Bowers (Kimi, Lady in the Lake TV series etc) as DeMarr Davis/Doorman, Olivia Thirlby (Oppenheimer, Goliath TV series etc) as Simon's ex girlfriend Vivian, Shola Adewusi (Can You Keep a Secret TV series etc) & Demetrius Grosse (Banshee TV series etc) as Simon's mother & older brother Eric respectively, plus few others. Since the series was set in the film industry, there were appearances by actors who played their fictionalized versions too like Joe Pantoliano, Josh Gad and several others.

Btw the series only had 8 episodes with roughly 30 minutes plus per episode. So it would not take long to binge watch the full series. The first 4 episodes felt a little bit boring for me and it only got a bit more exciting from fifth episode. I was actually waiting if there was any mid or post end credit scene, but apparently there was none in the end. It did have a nice enough ending, albeit a predictable one. Overall this was not exactly what I had hoped for. If I had been looking for a character driven drama series, I would have definitely enjoyed this one. But since I was in the mood for an origin story of a super hero with a lot of connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe & some actions, this one did not satisfy me. I have no doubt about the quality of the series and also understand why people love it. It's just not for me. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars