Right now, on Disney+ is a Marvel TV mini-series worth looking into for a couple of reasons. The eight episode series is Wonder Man starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Sir Ben Kingsley. Abdul-Matten previously portrayed Black Manta in the two Aquaman movies and he won a Primetime Emmy Award for acting in the HBO series, Watchmen. Sir Ben’s award winning resumé is even more impressive having won a Academy Award for the movie, Gandhi and having been nominated three other times. These two men combined to give us just over 4 hours of superb television.
Let’s talk about what this TV show isn’t. It’s not a costumed action film in the vein of The Avengers. It’s not a Marvel TV series like Cloak and Dagger or Ms. Marvel where the hero is discovering how to use his powers for good. If you’re expecting those types of genre characterizations in this series, you will be sorely disappointed. Yet, it contains elements of all of these and, to me, that’s part of what makes this show work. The other part? The outstanding chemistry between Abdul-Matten and Sir Ben. This? This is what keeps you involved in this mini-series.
Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ) is a struggling actor who is trying to reconcile his career and personal life while hiding his super-powers as he tries to land his dream role. At an audition he meets Trevor Slattery (Sir Ben Kingsley) who had portrayed the terrorist leader of the Ten Rings known as “The Mandarin” (Iron Man 3). Convicted and sent to prison, Slattery was later broken out of jail by the real leader of the Ten Rings, Xu Wenwu, to be punished for imitating him (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings). Slattery and Williams become friends as the pair attempt to land acting roles in a remake of a superhero film entitled: Wonder Man.
Look, each episode last about 32 minutes which is short for serial TV. Yet in those 32 minutes, Sir Ben as Trevor Slattery steals every scene he is in. We know from the first episode that Trevor is under tremendous Government pressure to betray his friendship with Simon. And yet, Trevor tries to be the best friend he can be to Simon. Make no doubt about it: This is a Trevor Slattery redemption story. That 
might make some people angry, but I’m not one of them. After Iron Man 3, Trevor Slattery was a drugged out, drunk actor who didn’t know he was causing harm. He needed redemption and this mini-series does that. The finale of the series leaves many questions unanswered and sets up a possible second season which, I for one, would be happy to get.
I do have a nit to pick and I’ll pick it here. Disney did a horrible, almost criminal, job (intentional or otherwise) of advertising this mini-series. This show could have been one of Disney’s superstars with a little advertising push. Fortunately, it found an audience by word of mouth and is one of Disney+ top streaming products as of the date of this post.
As I said before, there’s a lot of things this mini-series isn’t. But it is entertaining and a great character study of the two leads, Trevor Slattery and Simon Williams. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Sir Ben Kingsley give a master class in acting and we are the better for it. This show is on my short list for an EMMY this season. Therefore, I have no problem recommending putting Wonder Man on your viewing list for 2026.
