Marvel's Deep Bench: A Review of Wonder Man

 Showrunners: Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest

I was pleasantly surprised to read about how good this series was, considering that, when it was announced, I was at best mildly interested.  I was slightly worried that it would a bit like HBO's old show Entourage with superheroes, but fortunately, my fears were completely misplaced, and instead, Marvel, through showrunners Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest have brought us something really special in these eight compact episodes.

Wonder Man is the story of struggling actor Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen), who's hiding a terrible secret that could sink his career before it even starts; he has extremely destructive super powers that get triggered when he is under extreme stress.  He's also somewhat obsessive in terms of how he approaches the characters he plays (mostly bit roles) which makes it challenging for him to hang on to a job for more than a few days.   However, a chance meeting with Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), once known for playing the terrorist The Mandarin years earlier, may change Simon's life forever as he may get the chance to play the role of a lifetime, that of superhero Wonder Man, in a remake of a movie that Simon loved as a child. A friendship is struck as the pair of them audition for the roles of Wonder Man and his best friend Barnaby, but what Simon doesn't know is that Trevor still has a secret that he's keeping to himself.  

It is a testimony to how well Marvel Studios has handled the vast majority of its characters that it is able to turn to another D-list character for some quality stories. For the uninitiated, Simon Williams aka Wonder Man is actually an ex-villain co-created by Stan Lee and Don heck who turned good and actually joined the Avengers, of whom he has been a member since the 70s.  He's been around for quite some time, in short, but has never really been regarded as an A-lister. I'd argue that made him an ideal candidate for this adaptation because it meant minimal noise from the gatekeeping community.  To the best of my knowledge, the depiction of Simon's powers is comic-book accurate: he basically manipulates ionic energy to perform a number of superhuman feats such as displays of superhuman strength and others. 

In truth, we barely get to see any feats of superhuman derring-do, and yet it is utterly compelling. The way the super stuff is framed is actually quite fascinating; when Simon's powers show up, it's bad news for him, which kind of flips the whole super narrative on its head, and even makes for some pretty harrowing moments.  In one episode Simon and Trevor chase down a kid who has captured footage of Simon using his powers to take out thugs.   The show's greatest strength is the utterly magnetic performances by Abdul-Mateen as Simon and Kingsley as Trevor as well as their chemistry as student and mentor. It's a really great buddy comedy, and apart from the two leads there are some brilliant supporting turns from Zlatko Buric as the Oscar-winning director of Wonder Man Von Kovac, MCU veteran Arian Moayed who reprises his role as Damage Control's Agent Clearey which he first played in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and X Mayo as Janelle Jackson, Simon's beleaguered agent. There are also some hilarious performances from Joe Pantoliano and Josh Gad, who play some really unpleasant versions of themselves.

I love how this show introduces deep universe characters like Wonder Man and his brother Eric, who in the comics is known as the supervillain Grim Reaper, and even Doorman, an obscure 80s character created by John Byrne when he was writing the West Coast Avengers book.  It's interesting seeing someone struggle with super powers as opposed to reveling in them, or using them to do the more "traditional" superhero thing. The Doorman episode, apart from being laugh-out-loud funny for its depiction of Josh Gad as a complete jackass, is particularly instructive as it explains the "Doorman clause" that makes it impossible for a super-powered individual to get work in the MCU's version of Hollywood.    I still have my thoughts on the kind of projects Marvel should pursue, for both the big and small screen, and this show reaffirms my belief that they can do great things if they're willing to step outside of their Avengers/Spider-Man comfort zone.   

10/10

*SPOILER ALERT: Close to Home: A Review of Daredevil: Born Again

created for television by: Dario Scardapane, Matt Corman, Chris Ord

showrunner: Dario Scardapane

Since the original Daredevil show on Netflix ended in 2018, Daredevil: Born Again was something that I, like many fans of the original Netflix show, had hoped for but remained unsure of ever getting.  When Season 1 finally debuted last year I was able to watch two episodes before tuning out due to the demands of the  real world.  I meant to get back to it but then Disney Plus lapsed, and it would be a while before I reupped it.

Well, having bulldozed through the remaining episodes of Season 1 and all of Season 2 in a week, I have this to say: nice save, Marvel.

Yes, DBA S1 quite violently kicks off with a shocking death at the hands of notorious assassin Bullseye (Wilson Bethe) and Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) getting his vengeance by throwing Bullseye off a roof, four stories to the pavement.  Years later, Matt has gone full time in legal practice, having retired his superhero alter ego and is shocked to discover that his old nemesis Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) has not only managed to stay out of jail after the events of Season 3 but is actually running for Mayor of New York.  Fisk wins, much to the chagrin of people who know who he really is. Of course, a leopard will never change its spots, and the newly-elected Mayor Fisk trains his sights on vigilantes, forming a task force full of cops with anger and disciplinary issues and giving them carte blanche to solve the "vigilante problem."  The emergency of a new serial killer, the gruesome Muse who drains his victims' blood and paints with it, complicates things further for Matt, who has sworn off being Daredevil but cannot continue to the cry for help to deal with this killer, even with the Anti-Vigilante Task Force keen to claim vigilante scalps.  It doesn't help that apart from targeting vigilantes, Fisk has other, more sinister plans that might even have something to do with why Foggy was killed in the first place.

In Season 2, Matt stumbles on Fisk's plans to smuggle guns through his Red Hook property, which protected from scrutiny by a little known, archaic charter, and has to brainstorm with Karen to stop him, all while Fisk and his bloodthirsty Anti-Vigilante Task Force are gunning for them both. Will they run out of time, or will they be able to turn the tables on the once-and-forever Kingpin of Crime?

To be clear, the Netflix Daredevil series which ran for three seasons was far from perfect. Season 1 was sublime, Season 2 was a hot mess, and Season 3, while a conspicuous improvement, still didn't quite match the magic that Steven S. DeKnight and Drew Goddard had woven with that magical first season. But overall it was a really satisfying adaptation, especially when compared to the disastrous 2003 movie. It was a really high bar for Born Again to clear, so to my mind, so it was almost inevitable that it would fall short. That said, by the send of Season 2 they had really reestablished the quality for which this series was well-known when it bowed out in 2018.

There's a lot I like about this series, including some new characters introduced. I didn't quite care for Dr. Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva), the therapist who goes from Matt's frustrated girlfriend in Season 1 to full-on antagonist in Season 2, with a still bigger role planned for Season 3, but I liked the other new characters like Daniel Blake (Michael Gandolfini) the ultimate Fisk yes man with a surprisingly moving story arc, Sheila Rivera (Zabryna Guevara), Fisk's Chief of Staff, Kirsten McDuffie (Nikki James), Matt's new law partner, Cherry (Clark Johnson) an ex-cop who helps Matt and Kirsten out with as their investigator, BB Urich (Genneya Walton) the niece of the late Ben Urich who's followed in his footsteps as a guerrilla journalist, and Buck Cashman (Arty Froushan) as Fisk's deadly right hand.  Of course, it was a treat to Cox return as the character for which he will undoubtedly be best remembered, and D'Onofrio as his nemesis. It was also nice seeing old favorites from the old series like Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page and Wilson Bethel as Bullseye, even though they sat out most of Season 1.  I admit to being mildly disturbed that at one point I was actually cheering Bullseye on (there is a context for it).  There's a nice walk-on from Jon Berthnal as the Punisher but it is regrettably brief, and quite clearly just as setup for his one-shot special Punisher: One Last Kill, which in turn will lay the groundwork for his appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. 

The writing and character work take a while to find their footing, but the acting, particularly from Cox and D'Onofrio is very much on point all throughout both seasons, as is the incredible fight choreography, though wonky swinging CGI makes an unfortunate (but thankfully, rare) appearance.  This is still a Marvel production, after all, so action is very much a cornerstone of the storytelling, though, it does veer into the silly fairly often, between Wilson Fisk's superhuman strength and Matt Murdock's apparent ability to shrug off gunshot wounds as if he were Wolverine or Deadpool.

More than just fisticuffs, though, Daredevil: Born Again hit close to home for me with its disturbing themes on gross abuse of authority, which as outlandish as some of the storytelling can be, is actually one of the more plausible aspects of the series.  If the first season back in 2015 contained a story like this, with Kingpin basically taking over New York with a violent good squad, I would have dismissed the writing as utterly implausible, but unfortunately, these days, it feels all too real. 

Overall, Marvel have, to my mind at least, successfully transitioned Daredevil into the larger MCU (where he was supposed to be in the first place, given that the very first season referenced the alien attach from the Avengers), which was the main mission, and have expanded on the character's lore in pretty memorable fashion.  The setup for Season 3, which is currently being filmed, is pretty darned tantalizing, and I've certainly enjoyed this series enough to say for sure that I will definitely be back for more in 2027. 

8.5/10 

The Very Best for Last: A Review of Spider-Man/Superman #1

written by Brad Meltzer (main story), Dan Slott, Joe Kelly, Geoff Johns, Louise Simonson, Stephanie Phillips, Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Jeph Loeb

drawn by Pepe Larraz (main story), Marcos Martin, Humberto Ramos, Gary Frank, Todd Nauck, Phil Noto, Sara Pichelli, Russell Dauterman, Jim Cheung

colored by Matt Wilson (main story and one back-up story), Muntsa Vicente, Edgar Delgado, Brad Anderson, Rachelle Rosenberg, Phil Noto, Federico Blee, Jay David Ramos

lettered by Clayton Cowles (main story), Joe Caramagna

Well, Marvel actually went and did it. They took this expensive anthology format in which all of the recent Marvel/DC crossovers have been published and produced a book that, in my humble opinion, at least, deserves a perfect ten.  I didn't think it possible, but I'm happy to have been proven wrong. 

The main story, featuring Spider-Man and Superman, opens with our heroes caught in an apparent death trap set by Lex Luther and Green Goblin, and with a big chunk of Kryptonite having incapacitated Superman, Spider-Man struggles to keep the death trap, from crushing them. Not all is as it seems, however, and the plan hatched by the villainous purple-and-green clad duo may prove to be even more catastrophic than Peter Parker and Clark Kent could have imagined! Will the red-and-blue clad pair of heroes manage to save the day?

Backing up this absolute gem of a story are some really fun stories of varying lengths, including a retro adventure featuring Spider-Man Noir and 1938 Superman, an entertaining conversation between Gwen Stacy and Lana Lang, a Thing/Superman story, a Supergirl/Ghost-Spider team up, a meet-up between Superman from his trunks-less, New-52-era and Miles Morales, and many more.   

Every single story has A-list caliber talent working on it. I know I said something similar about the DC published Superman/Spider-Man, but in the case of that book some of the talents were clearly outshone by the others, and the score I gave the book was mainly on the strength of the main story by Mark Waid and Jorge Jimenez and the novelty of seeing Jim Lee draw Spider-Man. 

Brad Meltzer, a DC superstar whose only previous work on Marvel that I know of was a brief Spider-Man story in the Marvel #1000 anthology from a few years back, and his collaborator Pepe Larraz, the current main artist on The Amazing Spider-Man, are still very much the stars of the show.  Their story has action, humor, and some nice character moments between Peter and Clark.  Mild spoiler alert: I really like Meltzer's somewhat novel take on why Peter does what he does, basically taking the trope that Peter acts purely out of guilt and chucking it out the window. Meltzer, in my humble opinion has just made the case for a regular gig writing The Amazing Spider-Man; he truly gets the character in a way quite a few writers and more than a few editors over the last few years have failed to do.  His pairing with the outstanding Larraz was inspired, and I will grudgingly give it to Marvel editorial for making that call. Also, this story is a couple of pages longer than the main DC story, which gives it yet another advantage. 

The backup stories are uniformly excellent, with highlights for me being the story by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank featuring the Fantastic Four's Thing and other Marvel and DC heroes who team up to rein in an out-of-control Hulk. It was a short but sweet story about finding civility in a world eternally at conflict, and Johns and Frank, who actually worked on an Avengers story over two decades ago, made more than a few fans, myself included, wistful for their return to the House of Ideas. I for one, would love to see them do a run on the Fantastic Four monthly book.  They captured the essence of Ben Grimm in their brief story, and given that the Thing is often the beating heart of the team, I think they'd do a bang-up job on Marvel's First Family. There are plenty of other treats, like Dan Slott's and Marcos Martin's 1930s noir caper, and Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman's lavishly illustrated Jane-Foster-Thor and Woman Woman team-up.  Like I said; every back-up story has A-list quality, which is not something I could honestly say about the stuff over in the DC counterpart.  

With this, I'm guessing Marvel and DC are done with crossovers for the time being (maybe), but even though I preferred oversized, prestige format works like the mammoth Justice League/Avengers crossover, for the most part, I quite enjoyed this latest batch of company crossover comics. While I think they got off to a sluggish start with Deadpool/Batman, at least Marvel finished off on a nice, strong note with this modern classic. 

10/10