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<\/p>\nThe first major release from Marvel Studios in 2026 is \u201cWonder Man\u201d, which tells the story of an aspiring Hollywood actor called Simon Williams, who is struggling to get his career off the ground. During a chance meeting with Trevor Slattery, an actor whose biggest roles may be well behind him, Simon learns legendary director Von Kovak is remaking the superhero film \u201cWonder Man.\u201d These two actors, at opposite ends of their careers, doggedly pursue life-changing roles in this film as audiences get a peek behind the curtain of the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n
This new eight-episode series is being released under the \u201cMarvel Spotlight\u201d banner, which is supposed to be a way of telling audiences that this is a standalone project that doesn\u2019t require any additional viewing from the larger MCU. However, I would suggest that watching \u201cIron Man 3\u201d is at least beneficial, as this show basically feels like a sequel for Trevor, aka The Mandarin.<\/p>\n
\u201cWonder Man\u201d is a strange show, and to use the stereotypical catchphrase to explain, \u201cthis is unlike anything we\u2019ve seen so far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe\u201d. The main focus of the storyline is watching Simon Williams go through the stages of trying to get the job of playing \u201cWonder Man\u201d. We get to see him go through the audition process and live his life as an unsuccessful actor in Los Angeles, along with his interactions with his family.<\/p>\n
Hollywood often misunderstands the general public\u2019s interest in making movies and TV shows, while to them, this is a normal way of life. Outside the entertainment business, people don\u2019t really care, and this show, unfortunately, spends way too long trying to tell a simple backstory that could be done within minutes. There\u2019s one weird black & white episode in the middle of the show dedicated to explaining the backstory as to why Hollywood won\u2019t employ actors with superheroes, which also could have been explained in less than a sentence. There is also a celebrity \u201ccameo\u201d joke that just goes on for way too long, which sums up this whole project of being made for people who work in the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n
If you are looking for an action-packed superhero adventure, \u201cWonder Man\u201d is going to be a massive disappointment. As there are literally only a few short scenes where we actually get to see Simon use his powers, and they never explain where his powers actually come from.\u00a0 \u00a0 There\u2019s also no big villain for Simon to face off with, while there is some threat from Damage Control, it never feels like he\u2019s in any danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Without doubt, the buddy relationship between Simon and Trevor is the cornerstone of this show, and their friendship building over the episodes is what makes it worthwhile watching. The TV show format allows them have that extra time to develop those characters and lets audiences connect better with them, which kept me watching.\u00a0 This is what the show is all about, if you like their dynamic, you\u2019ll really going to enjoy \u201cWonder Man\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWonder Man\u201d is a textbook example of a show that was dreamed up during an era when Marvel Studios was tasked with making as many shows for Disney+ as possible, but was actually created during an era when Marvel\u2019s budget was drastically lower than that of other Disney+ shows. I can\u2019t help but think that this show would not be greenlit today. In a world of superhero fatigue, this feels like a project that is just adding to that, as I just don\u2019t think the mainstream audience is going to enjoy this show.\u00a0 It\u2019s different, but it\u2019s almost too different.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
While this series consists of eight episodes, I was able to binge them all in one sitting in an evening, because each episode is about 30 minutes long, but by the time you take out the credits, intro logos and the \u201cpreviously on\u201d segments, the episodes are barely 20 minutes long. But even that feels too long. This whole series could have been a 90-minute TV movie, had they cut back on so much of the unnecessary filler. It\u2019s not surprising now to see that the show is getting a binge drop on Disney+, rather than a weekly release, because most of the audience wouldn\u2019t be returning after a couple of weeks.\u00a0 \u00a0There were several times during the middle part of the series, when I started to get bored because the pacing felt so slow, though it did pick up in the last couple of episodes.<\/p>\n
There was one shocking moment in the show that did make me generally excited (you\u2019ll know it when you see it), but I thought it was about to pick up the pace as it headed into its final act, and it kinda just fizzled out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the years, we\u2019ve seen Marvel try so many different shows, and I do think \u201cWonder Man\u201d stands out as something very different. We\u2019ve seen many different takes on superhero stories over the years and I think Marvel has done a great job in mixing things up with its projects over the years, but because \u201cWonder Man\u201d doesn\u2019t follow the typical superhero formula, such as doing the traditional storyline of a big evil villain, a global threat to destroy the world, or have the stereotypical mirror superpowered fight at the end. But by avoiding all of the traditional superhero tropes, it doesn\u2019t feel like Marvel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Overall: Unfortunately, \u201cWonder Man\u201d to me was a disappointing entry into the MCU. I was looking forward to a new show with a new superhero I didn\u2019t know, and setting it in Hollywood was hopefully going to make it feel a little unique to the typical New York crimefighter.<\/p>\n
Sadly, \u201cWonder Man\u201d just never lives up to the name, as anyone coming into this show hoping to see your typical action-packed superhero adventure will likely be disappointed.\u00a0 \u00a0I also doubt we will ever see this character on our screens again, but I\u2019m really glad Disney took the risk on trying something completely different, and the chemistry between the main characters is enjoyable.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad I\u2019ve seen \u201cWonder Man\u201d and would easily recommend Marvel fans check it out.<\/p>\n
Rating: 3.5 Out Of 5<\/p>\n
All eight episodes of \u201cWonder Man\u201d will be released on Disney+ on January 27th 2026, at 6 pm PT.<\/p>\n
Are you looking forward to watching \u201cWonder Man\u201d? Let me know on social media!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first major release from Marvel Studios in 2026 is \u201cWonder Man\u201d, which tells the story of an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[18,117,19,17,327,1142,68256],"class_list":{"0":"post-298976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-review","14":"tag-wonder-man"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115942950355307994","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}