The lion’s share of superhero properties tend to understandably focus on the bigger, city smashing events. Even the more street level characters spend more time slugging mountainous crime bosses and scientists with robot tentacles then they do trying to balance their own complex, civilian lives. Sure, Peter Parker and Matt Murdock has jobs and relationships to hold down, but the likes of Captain America or Black Widow rarely get a moment to have some meaningful downtime.
However, in the corner of the MCU marked “Wonder Man”, things are allowed to breathe a little freer and in the episode titled Pacoima, we get to know the enigmatic Simon Williams a whole lot better when we take time from the actor’s quest to score the dream role of Wonder Man to attend his mother’s birthday. There may not be any conventional villains present in the show yet, but that doesn’t mean that Williams isn’t under constant attack.
Due to budget issues within the Department Of Damage Control, we discover exactly why Agent Cleary is pushing so hard to discover if Williams has unregistered powers or not – his job is on the line. But if he’s under a lot of pressure, it’s nothing compared to the strong-arm tactics he’s using on former accidental terrorist Trevor Slattery to get him the evidence he needs. As a result, Trevor manages to invite himself to a family gathering to celebrate his mother’s birthday with the express intention to get some dirt on his protegé from his loved ones thanks to the wire he’s wearing.
However, as the day wears on and everyone gradually gets used to Slattery’s presence, he does start to get a greater understanding of how the prickley Simon is and where he’s coming from. From heartbreaking childhood stories involving a young Simon thanking his mother for loving him, to the aggressive demeanor of his exasperated brother Eric, we see that not only is Williams possibly coded a little on the spectrum, but his passion for movies and acting have are most likely a lonely outlet for having few friends for most of his life.
Of course, this isn’t why Trevor’s there, but while he gets a lead on Simon’s possible power-set with a childhood story of a 13 year-old Williams burning up the kitchen despite not turning the stove on, all the evidence he needs is provided when, in a fit of anger at the latest character attack by his brother, he shatters his mother’s new kitchen with a single, frustrated blow. With all the evidence he needs to get his fst out of the legal fire, Trevor has something of a conundrum on his hands – can he trade in the good soul of Williams for his own freedom?
However, a single phone call potentially changes the landscape when both Simon and Trevor gets a potentially life changing callbacks.
While not packing quite the surprisingly emotional punch that the previous episode had, Pacoima still manages to go all in when we shift our attention from Trevor’s rather sad existence to Simon’s. Up until now, Simon himself has been something of a mystery thanks to his awkward nature and his tendency to overthink all of his roles, but with the benefit of meeting his family and hearing tales from his mother and brother, it’s becoming quite clear that this version of the character carries more than a few autistic traits such as a lack of friends, awkardness in social groups and seems to rub certain, non-understanding people,up the wrong way. Just as the previous episode gave us a look at Trevor’s existence through the eyes of Simon, Pacoima does the reverse, offering us a more intimate look at our hero’s existence from the point of view of a legally compromised Slattery. However, while the show continues to be admirably insular, focusing almost entirely on its two leads, there’s a sense that Wonder Man in finally starting to overtly expand into the greater MCU beyond the occasional character set up and reference to Iron Man 3. For a start, we get a brief, but telling look at the inner workings of the DODC beyond Agent Cleary being a bit of a dick as we discover that the department is in crisis thanks to their very expensive prison only being half full. With budget cuts looming and Cleary’s track record of letting both Peter Parker and Kamala Kahn slip through his fingers, the Agent is certainly feeling the pinch which is why he’s so deadset about catch Williams on the “Doorman” clause. Of course, we don’t know exactly what the hell the Doorman Clause is yet, but it’s serious enough for Cleary to bet all of his chips on the notoriously unreliable Trevor.
Elsewhere, the introduction to Simon’s family manages to open up the character’s personal array of side characters which, if you’re familiar with comics continuity. But while we’ve already covered some of the genuinely sweet stuff that comes from his mother, Martha, those on the know that the real interesting stuff will potentially come from Demetrius Grosse’s disapproving brother, Eric Williams. While the character is still a long way from achieving his comics birthright of replacing a hand with a scythe and dramatically renaming himself the Grim Reaper, there’s still plenty of sibling rivalry going about to technically class Eric as the closest the show has to a central antagonist. He certainly can push his brother’s buttons enough to cause Simon to lose his cool and give us the biggest showcase of his powers to date.
It’s probably a good time to discuss those comic differences as Wonder Man thus far has wisely strayed from being too slavish to his origins. While wannbe Marvel historians are no doubt pointing out Simon Williams’ connections to such other Avengers such as Vision and Scarlet Witch (now there’s an angle for a possible love triangle), the beauty of the Marvel Spotlight label – previously only claimed by Echo – is that it is supposed to focus on shows that aren’t burdened by too much connective tissue. Clearing out all the unnecessary continuity in order to focus directly on what’s important means that the central pairing of Abdul-Mateen II and Kingsley and the constant outpouring of love for cinema has all the space it requires.
Of course, the threat of more standard MCU fare is ever present, but for now, Wonder Man still has two glowing eyes focused on the aspects that’s still giving us one of the most refreshing spots of Marvel telly we’ve had in ages.
Once again, the newest face in the MCU takes his time laying down character rather than laying out a bad guy (which as yet, there still are none). But with both Slattery and Williams both receiving an episode apiece that focuses on their issues, surely the promising callbacks they’ve just received mean that the ante is about to be upped.
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