Over the years, we’ve repeatedly heard that each Marvel product is different than the last and pushes the boundaries of what the gargantuan franchise is capable of. Be it Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness adding more overt horror, Daredevil: Born Again turning up the brutality, or Thunderbolts* adding a more psychological edge to the usual superheroics, the MCU has constantly been looking for ways to break out of the limitations of simply being a superhero story. However, no matter how well it mamages, the studio always seems to end up reverting to form for the standard, huge, special effects finale, but as it stands right now, I’m hard pressed to imagine how Wonder Man will end up in a big, CGI-fuelled brawl.
It’s this extreme break from the norm that’s helping Wonder Man continue to be so intriguing. Sure, there’s plenty of callbacks thanks to the presence of Trevor Slattery and his terrorist-tinged past, but right now, this is a Marvel show that’s comfortably flying at its own speed.
With Simon Williams’ audition for the remake of Wonder Man in the bag, we take a little zip back in time to the darker days of the career of Trevor Slattery. After arriving back in America after spending twelve years as the prisoner of Xu Wenwu (aka. the real Mandarin), Trevor is arrested at the airport for the simple fact that his abduction from prison by the Ten Rings means that he never served his full sentence for portraying a fake version of the terrorist leader. That’s how we find that he’s now working for Agent Cleary of the Department Of Damage Control to try and smoke out Simon Williams. It seems that the DODC are convinced that Williams has unregistered powers and due to a currently unexplained law, is not allow to work in show business, so Cleary has recruited Slattery to create a complex sting operation to expose that mysterious power set.
However, while Slattery’s mentor role has been fabricated, the audition for Wonder Man is 100% genuine and while Simon’s agent is furious at her client’s subterfuge, she lets the overjoyed actor know that the casting director needs a taped reading, pronto.
Falling immediately into Slattery and Cleary’s hands, Simon contacts Trevor to ask for more help, but recording a simple scene weirdly proves to be more difficult that you’d think. For a start, a previous, super powered outburst from Simon has trashed his apartment, so that’s a no-go and no matter where else they try, something is there to thwart the mood.
Even a trip to Trevor’s old professional nemesis, Joe Pantoliano, proves fruitless and even opens up a few old wounds in the process, but after they finally return to Simon’s apartment and nail the scene, Slattery finally gets an idea of his protegé’s true abilities.
I feel like I’m going to be saying this at the start of every Wonder Man review, but even though those waiting for typical superhero stuff to kick off will no doubt be getting fidgety round about now, I’m genuinely becoming utterly enraptured with the actor’s journey that the show is taking us on. Riffing on the history of movies much in the same way that WandaVision was television literate (although in a much less surreal way), the endless name drops, movie worship and random anecdotes may mark the show as one of the more quieter entries in the MCU, but the core relationship between Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Williams and Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery may be the MCUs most touching double act since Loki and Morbius. As a matter of fact, it’s astounding to find that Slattery in particular has come such a long way from angering fan boys back in 2013 when his Mandarin twist was revealed.
Ah yes, the spectre of Iron Man 3; a movie I feel has been genuinely misrepresented by people since the day of its release. Simply put, Shane Black and Ben Kingsley did nothing wrong and it’s seems that Destin Daniel Cretton knew it more than anyone else after not only tackling it head on in Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, but giving us even more of an insight into the bumbling actor than we’ve ever thought we’d get. While some might argue that Cretten and Marvel has been papering over past mistakes, I’d counter that they’ve actually strengthened Iron Man 3’s legacy by giving the Mandarin twist so much focus and it’s reminiscent of past attempts to make less-loved MCU entries vital such as including Thor: The Dark World in Avengers: Endgame and endless mentions of The Incredible Hulk all the way through the last two phases.
However, let us not let the cavernous continuity of the MCU draw our focus away from what’s important and let’s get back to the fascinating accention of Tevor Slattery as “Self-Tape” provides a wonderful amount of back story for the guy that even manages to exceed Drew Pearce’s All Hail The King One-Shot. For a start, listening to the loveable dope tell his stories of his early roles and stealing things from Richard Burton (Coronation Street is now cannon to the MCU whether you like it or not), is utterly beguiling and better yet, we discover that Slattery has a sizable, decades grudge against Joe Pantoliano that’s bolstered further by an extended cameo by the actor who isn’t afraid of portraying himself as a patronising fake who just sees acting as a job. This isn’t the first time “Joey Pants” has openly mocked his own image on a TV spinoff of a long running franchise when he sent himself up on Chucky, but not only does it remind us that despite being a muddled goof, Slattery does truly believe in the craft of acting will all of his surprisingly large heart. Further more, when Williams defends his mentor from the more famous actor (“Baby’s Day Out sucks!”), we see that a bond is genuinely starting to form despite the fact that Trevor is only here to keep his butt out of jail. While other superhero shows usually benefit by capitalising on their momentum, it seems that Wonder Man’s greatest asset is the fact that it’s in no hurry to get to the noisy stuff, which, frankly is a something of a relief because the wit and comic timing on display is insanely refreshing.
Two episodes down and Wonder Man has confidently found it’s niche with style in an episode that’s as dryly funny as it is weirdly touching and Destin Daniel Cretton further proves that that hooking up with Marvel hasn’t dulled his ability to focus on the smaller, more intimate moments after crafting a massive, effects laden, martial arts epic with an affinity for karaoke. Whether the growing presence of the DODC or the threatened emergence of Williams’ abilities ultimately upset the apple cart will become apparent over the coming episodes – however, with episode 2, Wonder Man has found it’s perfect take.
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