Marvel TV’s Wonder Man is a buddy comedy that subverts expectations, putting the focus on the relationship between Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery.
When the first trailer for Wonder Man debuted, there was speculation that the Marvel TV series would tackle the topic of superhero fatigue. It seemed like a novel and meta concept that could work for a TV show, and at the same time bring a new Marvel Comics hero into the fold. There was a fair bit of zip to the promotional material — it was a little cheeky, and that felt refreshing in an era where some audiences do genuinely feel superhero fatigue.
What you might think Wonder Man is about and what it actually is about are likely not one and the same, but the good news is that Marvel’s latest is a fantastic buddy comedy that does keep the hero stuff to a minimum. It leverages some interesting concepts surrounding the existence of enhanced humans in the MCU, but its focus is on something simpler in the grand scheme of things. When it comes down to it, Wonder Man is a buddy comedy that works mostly because its leads are so exceptional. The show surprises with how little it follows prior Marvel TV formulas, and what makes it different is what makes it special.
At its core, Wonder Man is a story about the struggle to make it in Hollywood.
