Wonder Man feels like it escaped the MCU entirely and that is exactly the point.

Wonder Man did not feel like an MCU TV show, and the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that it is a major win. I did not close off the series, wondering how these episodes might tie into the MCU down the line or who is next in line for a crossover in another upcoming film or TV show. I simply finished it off by thinking about Simon Williams, Trevor Slattery, and why this story felt smarter and strangely braver than most Marvel TV lately.

In my opinion, this show didn’t even act like it wanted to be part of the bigger conversation for the MCU. And honestly, that is why I loved every single second of it. Wonder Man feels like it slipped through Marvel’s usual system, and it came out almost untouched. There weren't any major stakes to be handled. No big superhero saver moment. Just a character study fit inside the superhero genre.

The reason Wonder Man feels like it escaped the MCU is pretty simple. It does not matter to the MCU largely. It is not trying to move the chessboard. It is not pretending to be a "must-watch" either. Instead, it tells a complete story about ambition, insecurity, and performance, all from the perspective of someone who simply lives on the margins of a superpowered world.

It makes the show lighter but also way more honest, as the show trusts us to care about the characters without promising a big payoff later on in the show. Wonder Man does not feel disconnected by accident. It feels intentionally removed from the larger world of the MCU and that distance is exactly why it works.

Note: The views expressed in this article reflect the writer's opinion.

A Marvel TV show that shrinks the universe and gets better because of it

The biggest relief that I felt while watching Wonder Man is realizing you do not need to remember anything else about the MCU. No remembering phase-wise timelines. No post credit scenes for me to decode. No stressing about missing context from perhaps five other shows that the MCU has put out. I could just sit down and watch it like a normal standalone TV series. That alone already makes it perfect.

Marvel TV lately has felt heavy. Every show comes with the pressure of having to remember everything from either the past or from the comics. You are always wondering what it connects to, who might show up later, and whether this plot actually matters. Wonder Man throws all of that in the bin. The show does not care if you have seen every single MCU project or none of them. The story holds up on its own.

That choice changes how the show feels minute to minute. Scenes are allowed to breathe. The characters are not rushed to get to the next big reveal. The stakes are very personal and grounded instead of being high-level threats like perhaps the world ending. It feels closer to understanding a character rather than having to decode a superhero show, and believe me, that is not an insult.

This is not about saving civilians or fighting big bads. It is a show about a guy named Simon Williams trying to survive and find his way through Hollywood while hiding something that could potentially ruin his life. His superpowers are important, but they are not the main "wow factor"; they are the problem. That flips the usual Marvel formula completely.

By keeping the scale small, Wonder Man becomes easier to connect to. It feels grounded in a way most MCU projects are not anymore. You are not watching a setup for Avengers Doomsday or Secret Wars. You are watching a person struggle with ambition, ego, fear, and disappointment. For me, this was way more engaging than multiple versions of the same superhero coming down into different universes to solve one major multiversal problem.

This is exactly why Wonder Man feels like it escaped the usual formula of the MCU. It is not dragging the weight of the entire franchise behind it. It is just telling its own story, and that freedom is seen in every single one of the episodes.

Simon Williams is too human to be a typical Marvel lead

Simon Williams is not introduced as a hero or a symbol of savior. He is introduced as a struggling actor trying to make his way through Hollywood, and MCU's Wonder Man never asks you to admire him right away, but it rather asks us to understand who his character is as a person.

Simon is awkward. He overthinks almost everything. He takes acting way too seriously in places and spaces where nobody really cares. He wants this role so badly that it almost gets to a point of obsession. He does not want to save the world. He only wants to be seen by people.

What makes this interesting is that Simon already has his powers. He is not chasing it. He is hiding them. In this version of the MCU, being an enhanced person is a liability, especially in Hollywood. This alone grounds the show in a strange but believable reality where superpowers can very much so ruin careers instead of creating them.

The performance by Yahya Abdul Mateen II as Simon Williams never turns him into a joke, even when he is deeply uncomfortable to watch. You feel his isolation. You feel how alone he is by choice. You see him build walls around himself, and then you also see him complain about being trapped behind said walls. That contradiction is what makes him the human superhero in the MCU already.

Simon is also not written to be likable all the time. He does make selfish choices. He lashes out. He avoids conversations when they're hard. That human-ness also gives the story enough weight for it to differ from other MCU projects. If this were a traditional Marvel show, his flaws would definitely have been polished away by the finale. Wonder Man does not do that.

By keeping Simon imperfect, the show focuses on character instead of the mythology of the superhero. His powers matter only because of how they affect his life. That perspective is rare in the MCU, and it is exactly why this show feels so different from everything else that has been put out.

Trevor Slattery accidentally becomes the most honest character in Wonder Man

Trevor Slattery should not work this well. Like it is actually criminal. In theory, he is an unwanted punchline all the way back from Iron Man 3. An actor who accidentally became part of a terrorist plot and spent years being laughed at. In Wonder Man, he becomes something else entirely.

Trevor is not there for nostalgia's sake. He is there to reflect Simon. Both of the two men are obsessed with acting. Both have pasts that refuse to leave them alone. Both want a second chance without fully earning it yet. This relationship of theirs feels natural because it grows from shared insecurity and not just the convenience of having to spend time together on purpose.

Trevor (played by Ben Kingsley) is funny, but he is never hollow. You can see the weight of his failures in the way he talks about his craft. Acting is not a joke to him. It is the only thing that ever made sense in his life.

Trevor, in a way, becomes the audience stand-in. It is through him that we come to understand Simon a little bit better. He calls Simon out when it is needed. He supports him when nobody else does, and their friendship becomes the essence of the series without it ever feeling forced or pushed down our throats.

The finale also goes ahead and proves just how important Trevor really is. His decision to take the fall for Simon is the accountability he is willing to take. Trevor finally stops running from his past and uses it to save someone else. This completes his arc in a way the MCU rarely allows side characters to have.

This is another reason Wonder Man feels separate from the MCU. It treats its characters like people who can grow and change without needing a bigger payoff later. Trevor is not being positioned for another funny no-impact cameo, and his story is allowed to end in a meaningful place.

Marvel finally remembered what TV is supposed to be like

Wonder Man also fixes one of Marvel’s biggest recent problems that the franchise has had. It understands what television is really worth for. This is not a movie stretched into eight episodes. It is a show built for understanding character work.

Dropping all episodes at once helps too. The story flows better without cliffhanger pressure. You can sit with it, and the pacing feels intentional, too.

Marvel once treated TV as required viewing for the larger story, and this honestly burnt me out a little bit. Wonder Man is a show that lives on a self-contained arc. It is about characters who might show up again, but do not really need to.

This is what Marvel Spotlight should be. A space for experiments. A place to tell stories that do not need to justify their existence by teasing something bigger.

Wonder Man also avoids the trap of a forced action-packed finale. There is no massive fight just because the MCU demands one. The ending stays true to the story it has been telling all along, touching upon themes of redemption, performance, and identity to a point where even the final escape scene is very in-tuned to the characters on the show.

Marvel putting Wonder Man out is surprising, and it is completely off-brand in the best way possible. It suggests the studio might finally be learning that not every TV show and not every single movie needs to connect to the larger timeline.

Wonder Man does not feel important to the Marvel Cinematic Universe because it does not want to be. It just wants to be good TV. That confidence makes it stand taller than most recent Marvel projects.

By the time Wonder Man ends, I wasn’t thinking about what comes next for the MCU. I was thinking about how rare it felt to watch a Marvel project that knew exactly what it wanted to be and refused to bend for the brand.

In my opinion, this show understands something Marvel has struggled with for a while. Not every story needs to be important to everything else. Wonder Man proves that smaller stories can still feel complete and satisfying without dangling on future promises. Simon’s journey is important because it ends where it should, not where the franchise might want it to go.

If this is the only Wonder Man story we ever get, I am honestly okay with that! Not because the character lacks any sort of potential, but because the show already said what it needed to say. It gave Simon an arc. It gave Trevor closure. It lets both characters face who they really are instead of running from it.

Wonder Man feels like it escaped the MCU entirely because it was allowed to be TV first and franchise second. That separation is also not a flaw. It is the reason the show sticks the landing. If Marvel wants to regain trust, this is the direction that makes sense. Let stories exist without forcing them to justify their place in the universe!

Trending

Stay tuned to Soap Central for more such updates and breakdowns on Wonder Man and everything else related to MCU.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback