When the first trailer for Wonder Man debuted, there was speculation that the Marvel TV series would tackle the topic of superhero fatigue. It seemed like a novel and meta concept that could work for a TV show, and at the same time bring a new Marvel Comics hero into the fold. There was a fair bit of zip to the promotional material — it was a little cheeky, and that felt refreshing in an era where some audiences do genuinely feel superhero fatigue.

What you might think Wonder Man is about and what it actually is about are likely not one and the same, but the good news is that Marvel’s latest is a fantastic buddy comedy that does keep the hero stuff to a minimum. It leverages some interesting concepts surrounding the existence of enhanced humans in the MCU, but its focus is on something simpler in the grand scheme of things. When it comes down to it, Wonder Man is a buddy comedy that works mostly because its leads are so exceptional. The show surprises with how little it follows prior Marvel TV formulas, and what makes it different is what makes it special.

At its core, Wonder Man is a story about the struggle to make it in Hollywood. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Simon Williams, an actor who is over-prepared for every role he takes on, almost always to a fault. He’s in his own head regardless of the job, and can’t seem to get past a process that is off-putting to the creatives around him. Then he meets Trevor Slattery (Sir Ben Kingsley), who MCU fans will know as the fake Mandarin, and Simon finds a mentor and a friend.

That’s all you really need to know about Wonder Man. Yes, Simon has powers, and yes, the show tackles Slattery’s past exploits, but it is the relationship between the two that makes the series sing. This isn’t an origin story as we have seen in the MCU countless times before; it’s the origin story of a friendship where one man has superpowers and the other pretended to be a terrorist. It’s funny, it’s heartfelt, and it paints a perfect picture of what it’s like to be an actor seeking their big break.

The fun in Wonder Man is in watching how this relationship develops, and what colorful characters the duo comes across. We meet Williams' family, some of Trevor's colleagues, and the idiosyncratic director who is bringing Wonder Man back to the big screen, and each is more interesting than the next. You're along for the ride as soon as the two link up, and Wonder Man knows how to leverage their dynamic for laughs, and even a few emotional beats.

In this universe, Wonder Man was a classic movie that Simon Williams saw and loved as a child. It just so happens that he has similar powers to the fictional Wonder Man.

Perhaps the biggest criticism I had with the show is that one of the beats feels played out for this type of story, but it resolves in an unexpected way that feeds back into building up the Williams/Slattery relationship. And Kingsley and Abdul-Mateen II are just such a joy to watch together on screen. I know it has a lot of haters, but I loved how Slattery subverted expectations in Iron Man 3 and was excited to see him return for Shang-Chi. And now it's no surprise to see Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton go back to the Trevor Slattery well and mine some more comedic gold.

I love how Wonder Man never puts an overt focus on Simon’s powers. It is a key part of the story but it’s never what drives things forward. With two excellent leading performances, a brisk pace that carefully peppers in exposition and world-building, and a clear heart at the center, Wonder Man takes a big swing by not going big. A few years ago, you would have expected the show to conclude with some big action scene where Williams embraces his role as Wonder Man and enters the MCU proper. Instead, by the end, you just want to see more of the adventures of Simon and Trevor. And I hope we do.