This article contains spoilers for “Wonder Man” season 1.
Marvel’s ‘Wonder Man’ grounded is not your average superhero show. For one thing, it doesn’t feature any superheroes, since Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and DeMarr “Doorman” Davis (Byron Bowers) both pursue acting craft rather than costumed heroism. Comparing it to other Marvel Cinematic Universe projects, the show’s comedic, winking tone more closely resembles “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” than the bombastic antics of, say, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” However, there’s another reason for the unique nature of the series: “Wonder Man” doesn’t care about the superhero’s origin story.
Superhero movies have struggled with origin stories for ages. Early MCU films like “Iron Man” and “Captain America: The First Avenger” focused heavily on the origins of their main characters. However, at this point, even Kevin Feige had to address the concept of superhero fatigue – and even if he doesn’t seem worried, watching endless versions of “how [X] got their powers” is getting boring. Luckily, “Wonder Man” has found a perfect solution to the origin story dilemma: the show completely ignores the origin.
At no point do we learn how Simon obtained his incredible powers, and the closest we come is when the character briefly notes that he doesn’t know the answer himself. The origin of the porter does not attract much more attention. He just came into contact with a strange substance in a mysterious trash can, and boom! Powers of the portal. The fact is that everything is perfectly fine. “Wonder Man” understands that viewers fully expect to see superpowers and that there is no need to justify where those powers come from beyond the bare minimum. It’s a great approach that serves the series well and could very well solve the origin story problem for the entire franchise.
The MCU is starting to understand that less is more when it comes to superhero origin stories
The MCU has tried truncated origin stories before. Perhaps most notably, “Captain America: Civil War” gained points by understanding that Spider-Man (Tom Holland, who recently revealed the first look at his “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” costume) The origin has been filmed several times before, so the film condensed it to the bare minimum. However, the way “Wonder Man” flatly refuses to discuss Simon’s origin story is truly refreshing, especially since it fits so well with the character’s nonchalant attitude toward his powers.
This successful experiment in not touching on the origin story is an encouraging sign that the MCU is now at a point where it no longer has to waste time on origin stuff unless it’s truly crucial to the plot. Considering the fact that massive multi-character films like “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars” are on the way, this could still prove to be a game-changing – not to mention time-saving – addition to the MCU’s toolbox.
Season 1 of “Wonder Man” is streaming on Disney+.
