#213 – I Was Wrong About Wonder Man

Welcome back to Marvel Maniac and MCU After Show. This is your host, Eric Cicada, aka Mr. Honest. And today's episode is different. Not because I'm doing something experimental, not because I'm trying to chase a trend. It's different because I'm here to admit something that does not come easy for me. I was wrong. I was wrong about Wonder Man. I didn't just underestimate it. I almost skipped it entirely. I'm gonna say that plainly because it matter. I clicked Play. I watched the opening, and I felt that familiar Marvel TV dread creep in. The kind that whispers you already know where this is going. The kind that makes your brain start writing the last scene before you even finish the first act. And I turned it off. Not because the actor was bad, not because it was ugly, not because I hate the idea of Marvel doing something small. I turned it off because Marvel released it in a way that looked like they didn't believe in it. And I didn't want to waste a night of forcing myself to care about a show the studios seemed to treat like an obligation. And then I came back. I came back because I respect storytelling and because I respect my own instincts enough to reconsider them. And I'm telling you right now with total confidence, Wonder man is one of the greatest Disney shows Marvel has ever made. Not pretty good, not surprisingly decent. Not a fun little side thing. I'm talking about a show that understands character. A show that understands pain and ego and ambition. A show that understands how people become who they are and how one moment of betrayal can crack open everything you've been holding in this whole time. And in an era where Marvel sometimes forgets the human heartbeat in the middle of all the connectivity, Wonder man is a reminder that Marvel at its best is still Marvel at its best. So this episode is not a recap. I'm not going episode by episode listing plot points. You've got plenty of that online if you want it. This is an appreciation and analysis episode, prestige style. A calm, confident reflection on why this show works, why it matters, why it hit me the way it hit me, and why the way Marvel released it still deserves criticism, even if the show itself is a masterpiece. Honestly. And if you skipped it like I almost did, I'm going to do my best to convince you to come back. Because skipping this show would be a mistake. The first thing we need to say, Marvel released this like they didn't care. Let's address the elephant in the room before we even talk about the story. Marvel dumped this show Or Disney plus one of the two. All episodes at once. Minimal promotion, no week to week event structure. And I need to say this carefully because I don't want to be negative for the sake of being negative. I rarely am. The release strategy was disrespectful to the work. Weekly drops aren't just a marketing trick, especially on Disney plus. Weekly drops are a statement of confidence. Weekly drops say, we believe in this story. We think it deserves time. We want it to be an event. A dump, especially from Marvel, often reads like, here, it's done. Please don't ask any questions. And Wonder man is the exact kind of show that benefits from time because it's not built around a mystery box. It's built around character transformation. It's built around a relationship that evolves slowly. It's built around a person learning the difference between passion and control. And it's built around an emotional rupture that only lands if you've actually sat with these people long enough to care. So yes, Marvel still deserves criticism for how they rolled this out, because you can feel the irony of it. This show is about artists fighting to be taken seriously, and the studio treated it like a checkbox with. Which makes it even more poetic because the show itself is literally about proving people wrong. Wonder man works best because it's not trying to be big. Marvel has had a problem for a while now. Not always, but often they think the answer is bigger stakes, bigger cgi, bigger universe consequences. And Wonder man does the opposite. It's not trying to be the next Loki, which we all love. It's not trying to be the next WandaVision puzzle. It's not trying to convince you it's important. It just tells a story. A human story. At its core, Wonder man is about this. A man who is too much because his world has been too small for too long. And if you ever felt like you were stuck inside the cage of other people's expectations, if you've ever felt like the world keeps asking you to become smaller so you can be easier to manage, then you understand Simon Williams. Before the show even asks you to, Simon is introduced as an actor who can't stop pushing. He wants the light adjusted. He wants the backstory explained. He wants the scene to mean more. He wants control. And it's easy to watch that and feel annoyed because we've all met people like that. But the show is smarter than that. Simon isn't controlling because he's a jerk. Simon is controlling because he's terrified. Terrified he'll be overlooked, terrified he'll waste his shot, terrified that he's not enough. And the show gives you the key very early. Even as a kid, his emotional outlet wasn't talking, it was the screen. He watches Wonder man and you see the look in his eyes. This isn't fandom. This is refuge. This is the feeling of that's who I'm supposed to be. That's where I belong. So when adult Simon pushes too far, it isn't because he loves hearing himself talk. It's because some part of him believes that if he doesn't fight for every inch of space, he'll disappear. That's the first layer. The second layer is his powers. Because Wonder man doesn't do the powers are cool thing right away. His powers are initially a problem, a secret, a threat. His emotions ripple into the environment. He tries to calm down and instead the walls shake, things fall, there's a crack in reality, like the world is splitting from the inside. And what's brilliant is this. His powers feel like anxiety, externalized, not metaphorically, literally. You can watch Simon and understand he's not just afraid of being rejected, he's afraid of what happens when he loses control. Because when Simon loses control, things break. And the show builds that pressure slowly until it finally explodes. Let's talk about the show's secret weapon, Trevor Slattery, the soul of the series. Because Wonder man does not become what it becomes without Trevor Slattery. And this is where I think I need to give Marvel real credit. Because they didn't bring Trevor back as a cameo. They didn't bring him back for a wink, they made him a pillar. And not only is he a pillar, this might be the best work Ben Kingsley has done in the mcu. Trevor is funny, yes. He's theatrical, yes. But Wonder man finally treats Trevor as something the MCU has flirted with for years. A real person. A man with shame, a man with history. A man whose talent and self destruction collided at the worst possible time. And instead of mocking him for it, the show gives him dignity. Trevor is sober and they even do a detail I loved. He orders non alcoholic Bloody Marys. Because he's still Trevor. Still weird, still dramatic, but he's committed. And yes, there's an underlying irony in his sobriety being connected to incarceration and the consequences of his life. But the show doesn't cheapen it. He doesn't go, haha, look at Trevor. It's not like a big joke. It goes, this is a man trying. This is a man grateful to still exist. And then the show makes the most important decision it can make. It makes Trevor the thing Simon has never had. A friend, a grounding presence. Not a hype man, not an enabler. A real counterweight to Simon's spiraling mind. Let's talk about episode two and three and why their friendship works. There's a stretch early in the show where you realize what you're watching. You're watching two men at different ends of the same pipeline. Simon is hungry and scared and ambitious. Trevor is seasoned and bruised and trying to be grateful. And they shouldn't fit, but they do because they speak the same secret language. Acting. To Simon, acting is escape and identity. To Trevor, acting as purpose and redemption. And the show is constantly threading this idea. When the world doesn't know what to do with you, art is the place where you become real. And that's why their best scenes aren't about superhero stuff. They're about acting. Self tapes, line reads. Finding the truth. Beneath the words. There's an entire episode where the plot is basically, they're trying to find a place to record a self tape after Simon's powers have literally wrecked his home. And it sounds small, but it becomes profound because the self tape becomes a major metaphor. Simon is trying to perform control. Trevor is trying to teach him presence. And that moment when. When Simon finally nails it, that's when he stops pushing and just says the words. The show pauses. It lets you feel it. And then there's this quiet reveal of the hole in the wall, this giant, impossible hole. And instead of turning it into a melodramatic what are you? Moment, they do something better. They just let the friendship continue. They let the show tell you you can know someone's darkness and still stay, which makes the betrayal later hurt so much more. Now I have to talk about Doorman because this is the episode that makes it undeniable that Wonder man is something different. The show goes black and white. It becomes its own film. It shifts tones completely and introduces a cautionary tale. Demar Davis Doorman, an ordinary guy who gets powers and becomes a sensation and then becomes a liability and then becomes a tragedy. The show uses Doorman as a myth inside the myth. A story that everyone in this world knows. A story that explains why superpower people are feared in Hollywood. A story that explains why Simon has hidden himself and the fact that Josh Gad plays himself. Josh Gad, the celebrity Book of Mormon. Olaf and Frozen. I think that's his name. The fact that he gets pulled into this story, swallowed into the unknown. It turns Doorman into a cultural event inside the MCU itself. Not because it's loud, because it's weird and specific and memorable, and it serves a purpose. Doorman is the ghost that haunts Simon. It's the reason Simon says nobody can find out. Because if the world finds out, it won't see him as an actor. It will see him as a risk. And the show makes the risk feel real. Episode six, the Callback is the audition episode Marvel never knew it needed. By the time we reach callback, the show stops being good. It becomes great. And the reason is simple. Callback is not about an audition. It's about identity. It begins with Trevor in a flashback, auditioning, shrug out, needing work. And then the script changes in his hands. The Mandarin. And you see the moment Trevor finds that voice, which is such a smart choice because it reframes him. Trevor isn't a clown who stumbled into history. Trevor is a gifted actor who made a catastrophic choice. And now we cut to him. Present day Trevor driving Simon to the Wonder man callback. Simon is exhausted. He hasn't slept. He's running lines like he's trying to do surgery on himself. And Trevor says something that becomes the thesis of this episode. If you plan to be spontaneous, it becomes forced. That's Simon's entire issue. He's always acting like he's acting. Then they arrive at the callback house and the show turns into a pressure cooker. Other actors waiting. The anxiety, the overthinking about shoes outside the door. Simon spiraling over tiny social cues because his nervous system is on fire. Then Von Kovac enters. What a character. And he's not a typical Marvel director character. He's an artist. A strange, intense autour type. He has a vision board full of chaotic imagery. And what matters is that Simon sees superhero imagery on it. Cap, Thor, Iron man, like the film itself, is haunted by the MCU even when it's trying to be its own thing. Then Von Kovac plays the group, the opening song. He narrates the vibe, flying toward a planet. It's Earth, not an alien planet. It's Wonder Man's homecoming. And he watches reactions. Some actors nod like they understand. One actor smiles and Simon looks like he might die. And Trevor does that absurd, hilarious, tubed instrument gesture completely out of place. And it's. It's funny because Trevor is trying to perform his way into belonging. Then the most important creative decision Von Kovac makes, he throws away the script. He says, don't say the words. Be present. Use the whole house as you're said. And suddenly the audition becomes therapy. Trevor, paired with another actor, plays the man's wife. And he does it with such a natural grace that it doesn't even feel like a stunt. It feels like craft. And then Simon gets his turn and he's told he's having an affair. His scene partner fears losing him, Simon fears losing himself. And Simon panics. He makes a choice that feels like a beginner trying to show their talent instead of trusting it. He plays it a lot like Pretty Woman. He throws dishes, he goes big, he goes cringy. And Von Kovac stops him and says, simon, I am disappointed. That line is brutal because it's funny and humiliating at the same time. And then it gets darker. Simon has a nightmare where his powers erupt, where he punches through the man's head like sand. He wakes up, steps outside, and for a moment you think this is the point where he breaks. But then Trevor does what makes him the soul of the series. He grounds him. He tells him, without pity, without softening the truth, that he is not his condition. He is a person who has lost someone. He's a person carrying fear. He's not a monster. And Simon cries. Not ugly cries, but he cries. And not because he's weak, because he finally feels seen. Then they run the scene together, truthfully, and Von Kovac just chooses them because it was natural. The scene they had together worked. Simon is Wonder Man, Trevor is Barnaby. It gives you the chills. And Von Kovac says something that sounds insane but feels like faith. We're going to make the last movie on Earth because no one will have the guts to make one after this. That line is Von Kovac's version of Simon's dream, and it's over the top, but it's sincere. Then the other shoe drops. Trevor gets pulled into a damage control car. The handler asks where the recording is and Trevor says he lost it, but we know he broke it. He's threatened with jail and he bargains. Simon is dangerous. You need me to close. And the handler agrees. Brilliant work by Trevor at the moment. That's the tension line going through to the end game. Trevor has the role of his life, but he's on a leash. Episode seven, Kathy Friedman, is the penultimate for a reason. It begins with the purest version of Simon. Young Simon, his dad skipping school, going to see Wonder Man. And his dad tells him so simply it hurts that he believes in him. That belief becomes the backbone of everything. Then we jump to the movie set and we see something uncomfortable. Simon is becoming picky. Not evil, not arrogant. For fun. But he's sliding into the same pattern. Control equals safety. He's requesting changes. He's giving notes. He's nitpicking props like the Wonder man glasses, wanting them closer to the original. He has so many options. You can see von Kovac's patience is thinning. Then the industry temptation returns. A Netflix lead is offered to Simon like it's nothing, and Simon asks Trevor what he thinks. He's at the table. Trevor says, do theater. The agency is stunned because they're chasing status and Simon is chasing meaning. Then Kathy Freeman enters the critic. And that's what makes Kathy interesting, is that she isn't the villain. She's a mirror. She's doing research. She's talking to Simon's ex, his mom, his brother. And Simon is terrified because he's hiding something that could destroy his life. But then the shock. The people in his life protect him. His ex knows, but she doesn't expose him. His mom doesn't betray him. His brother, despite their conflict, speaks with pride, and Simon is disarmed by kindness. Then Kathy turns to Trevor and she asks the question that blows everything open. How did you go from being arrested at the airport to being here? Did you make a deal? Trevor storms out. Simon follows. And now Simon asks the same question. And Trevor can't dodge it. He confessed. He confesses about damage control. He tells Simon everything. And the performance here, Simon's actor absolutely sells, isn't cartoon rage. It's devastation, because Simon didn't just gain a friend, he gained his first friend. And now that friend is revealed as an informant. Then Simon walks out, and you feel what's coming. The ground shakes, the building trembles. His emotions become weather. He loses control completely. The warehouse collapses into darkness. A crater forms around him. And when the sirens come, he's standing in the center, alive. That's the cliffhanger, not will he live? We know he'll live. The cliffhanger is, can his life survive being seen? And now we're at the finale, episode eight, Yucca Valley. The show opens with Simon and his dad leaving the theater. And his dad tells him he's talented and he can't wait to see him on screen one day. And then the needle drop hits the California from the show. The O.C. california, here we come, Right back where we started from. Very powerful song. I haven't heard it in a while. It's not just a song, though. It's a thesis, because this finale is about circles closing. Simon wakes to the news. The explosion is everywhere. There's a manhunt Damage control thinks they've got their guy. They're coming. Simon calls his mom, tells her he loves her, tells her he's sorry without explaining, because he truly believes this is the end. And then Trevor calls. Simon, hesitates, but answers. Trevor says, I figured it out. And what Trevor means is he figured out how to save Simon. And this is where Wonder man becomes a Marvel masterstroke. Trevor says, in essence, I will not let you lose your one opportunity. I've blown all of mine. This is. This is for you. And then Trevor does something that is both insane and perfect. He puts the Mandarin costume back on. He uses the voice. He delivers a speech about actors in Hollywood. And he takes responsibility for the explosion. He becomes the monster again so Simon can stay human. Trevor is arrested. Damage control takes him to supermax. And the handler even says in so many words, we know what you're doing. We're still looking at him. Trevor in character says, why are you calling me Trevor? I'm the Mandarin. And it lands as the final twist of his arc. The Persona that once humiliated him becomes the tool that redeems him. And it's such an epic callback as well. I mean, Iron Man 3 is a jam. Then, brilliantly, the show fast forwards to a theater. We're watching Wonder man, the movie with an audience. Simon's family is there, front row. His brother is crying. His mother is overwhelmed. And. And if you ever wanted your family to see you and understand even for a second what your dream really is, that scene hits hard. Because it's not about fame. It's about proof. Proof that the child with the obsession wasn't delusional. Proof that the years weren't wasted. Proof that he wasn't crazy to want it. Then Von Kovac talks the sequel with him in that meta, half serious way. A wink, but also not a wink, because the whole show is meta commentary about storytelling itself. Then time passes again. Simon goes to Yucca Valley. And at first, it feels like he's doing actor research, shadowing a regular everyday guy, learning his day to day, taking notes. You think, okay, Simon is trying to humble himself here, trying to reconnect with ordinary life. And then, plot twist, the horizon reveals it. Damage control facility. This wasn't research. This was infiltration. Simon used the regular guy as a pass to get inside. And it's not played as cruel, it's played as desperate. And by the way, it's good how he takes care of this guy and gives him a ton of money so he doesn't have to work for damage control. Anymore. I mean, that's kind of helps the audience feel like Simon didn't use him as bad stuff. Like he does even lose his job. He has so much money to live on. We don't know how much, but it's right. Call by Simon. In my opinion, Simon is not going to leave Trevor behind. Inside, we learn why damage control cares so much. They revealed the destruction at the film set was ionized. They framed Simon as an asset or a threat because he can manipulate matter at that level. He's bigger than they thought. That line is intentionally vague in the show because it isn't about science. It's about the implication. Simon is not just someone to contain, he's someone to exploit. Simon finds Trevor. Trevor is shocked. He's almost angry. He says, essentially, you were free. All you had to do was stay away. And Simon says, I'm not leaving you. Then the final reveal of Simon's growth. He controls it now. The particles, those ion like motes, float around him with precision. His eyes shift. He isn't raging, he isn't panicking. He's focused. This is like, reminiscent of when Luke Skywalker shows up to Jabba the Hut's palace and Return of the Jedi, in my opinion. He tears open the door, guards come, or at least are on their way. Trevor says, we can't go left, we can't go right. And Simon says, we're not going that way. He grabs Trevor and they fly through the roof. A controlled ascent. A clean escape. No chaos, no accident. A man who once destroyed rooms by spiraling now chooses his power with purpose. And that's the end. No post credit scene because the show doesn't need one. It ends on a statement. Wonder man isn't a teaser. It's a story. Wonder man matters because it proves Marvel can still do this. It proves Marvel can still make something with restraint, something with taste, something that trusts silence. It proves that Marvel doesn't always need to be loud to be powerful. And it matters because I saw myself in it. Not in the literal details, in the emotional rhythm, the fear of being dismissed, the desire to be taken seriously, the paranoia that the world is always one step away from deciding that you're not worth it. And then the moment when you get it, when you get the role, when you get the recognition, when you're in the theater and your people are watching and the child inside you finally goes, see, I wasn't wrong to want this. And that's what Wonder man is about. And Disney plus Marvel releasing it like it didn't matter is the only reason it didn't become a weekly national conversation. Because if this had dropped weekly, I'm telling you, this would have been snowballed. This is a show that grows in your chest, and I'm glad I watched it at my pace day to day, because I think that gave it the respect it deserved. So here's where I land if you skipped Wonder man because Marvel didn't promote it, I understand I almost did. If you stopped early because you assumed it was going to be generic, I understand I literally did. But if you love character, if you love redemption, and if you love the MCU when it remembers that heart comes before the fireworks, come back, meet it where it is, and let it earn you. Because Wonder man isn't just good Marvel tv, it proves Marvel still has the ability to make something special, even when they forget how to treat it like it's special. And as for me, I love Marvel and I'm never giving up on this podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, follow or subscribe wherever you're hearing this and rate the show. Write a little review. It goes the longest way. Join our Discord server in the description where we can have conversations about episodes, shows, theories, and all that good stuff. And if you want more Marvel Maniac, you know where to find me. I appreciate you being here. It means the world. And until next time, keep Wonder alive.