Marvel’s Wonder Man reframes a superhero as a struggling actor

Marvel’s new mini-series Wonder Man on Disney+ stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley and recasts a comic-book figure as a struggling Los Angeles actor rather than a multiverse hero. In the comics Simon Williams is a second-tier Avenger and the son of an arms manufacturer; in the series he is written as the son of working-class Haitian immigrants and a devoted, full-time actor who suppresses his powers to obsessively pursue auditions.

The show, created by Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest, frames Simon’s life around his desire to play Wonder Man on screen rather than to be the hero in real life. At its center the series functions as a buddy comedy pairing Abdul-Mateen’s Simon with Trevor Slattery, the Marvel character first seen in Iron Man 3, here played by Ben Kingsley as a ruined bon vivant who is now sober.

Reviewers single out the chemistry between the two leads and note recurring themes of movie obsession — the characters bond over films such as Midnight Cowboy — while praising Kingsley’s softer, more emotionally complicated take on Trevor. To supply action the creators incorporate a sinister agency, a reworked back story for a minor superhero named Doorman (played by Byron Bowers), and a reprise of Arian Moayed’s Ms.

Marvel government agent; Josh Gad makes a cameo as himself.