Marvel’s Wonder Man finally arrives on Disney+ January 27, and somewhat belatedly has received a trailer that actually gives us an idea of the show. And it looks really good! The new trailer, that introduces the three main characters, is delivered with wit and—at last—some action. We’ve got Wonder Man himself Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), former Iron Man fake terrorist Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), and maverick director Von Kovak (Zlatko Buric), in a program that intends to send up the production of superhero movies, while telling a superhero story of its own.
Previous trailers have been weirdly shy of showing Simon Williams at all, instead peculiarly focusing on the secondary leads, and absolutely avoiding showing even a hint of Wonder Man’s wonder. Thank goodness that’s now over. The promo playfully riffs on Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, introducing us to the main players, and then at long last setting up the actual ongoing story of the show. Things begin with Williams auditioning to play Wonder Man in a remake of a (fictional) 1970s cult hit, while hiding the fact that he himself has superpowers. The director of the movie is the eccentric Von Kovak, a former Oscar winner now lowering himself to the popularism and tired field of superhero movies in an attempt to revive the genre. Meanwhile, actual Oscar winner Ben Kingsley reprises his role of Trevor, the actor hired to play terrorist Mandarin in Iron Man 3, who then also appeared in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, as well as his own one-shot All Hail the King.
We get to see Williams’ powers appearing, from his purple sparkles in his eyes (perhaps rather unfortunately reminiscent of DC’s Black Lightning), and then an awful lot of rumbling, wobbling rooms, and explodifying a table.
I’ve not quite known what to think before now, mostly because the preview coverage has seemed so afraid to show us Wonder Man at all, making me suspicious it was trying to hide something. But seeing Abdul-Mateen II at last shows anything but. The actor, best known for playing Manta in the Aquaman movies and Morpheus in the lackluster The Matrix Resurrections, demonstrates excellent comedy chops in the short clips.
There’s only a few weeks left to find out if it all comes together, and if Marvel can add a new compelling live-action Disney+ show to its slate following eight months of nothing, to accompany last year’s splendid Daredevil: Born Again, but following the confused and disappointing Ironheart.
