Wonder Man

This should’ve really been the aim from the start for marvel within their Tv off branch, telling serialised contained stories about characters that don’t make sense for the big screen but find better justification through this TV format lens, tv is a space for real creative risk & when you’ve got the right people involved things just click into place and if marvel had committed to this after endgame when they were planing on getting into the tv scene, I genuinely think they could’ve had one of the best TV ecosystems out there but it’s too bad that this show has came at a time when marvel have completely pivoted at from what they want from their franchise to be now, most of their TV shows are abject failures largely because they are made by people who just don’t know how to make television,this show does none of things that you’d expect this show to deliver, no big action set piece or ties to the multiverse, it’s a character lead show, a show about people instead of events, about working in an industry that chews people up and just the struggles of being an actor working in Hollywood, an institution that you may love but it doesn’t always love you back. This is a show about something & they’re not forcefully trying to put that across either! It’s a decidedly diffrent take on the superhero genre! It’s funny at times but not forcefully( Coming from a franchise that have spent years undercutting every emotional moment with a joke, this doesn’t really do that, it slows most of everything down & lets the audience just watch what is being shown, they’re finally respecting their audience!) & entertaining take on the superhero takeover of our culture & just the way Hollywood works, has that clashing of the inherent ridiculousness of acting in Hollywood with something larger than life in this case being super powered( very Barry esque) and that element barely evens enters until later on,you could dispense with that cause the characters are interesting enough that you don’t even really need that element, they don’t even bother to tell you how he got those powers and it uses the superhero conceit to tell a different kind of story, it’s fun that it’s lurking in the foreground & the background for a change. Yahya is just great here! He’s been around & done some other superpowered projects but you just immediately attach yourself to his character here, he doesn’t wanna just succeed in this industry, he wants to be the best and it’s all round some of the best acting they’ve allowed in years! Ben in his comedy bag is untouchable! His timing & that lack of self awareness he does so so brilliantly done! Maybe could’ve been bolder & had some real teeth with its satire but I’ll happily take this type of content once every decade from them! Bravo