This article contains spoilers for “Wonder Man” season 1.
Marvel’s grounded “Wonder Man” is not your average superhero show. For one, it doesn’t feature any superheroes, since Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and DeMarr “Doorman” Davis (Byron Bowers) both pursue acting instead of costumed heroics. Comparing it to other Marvel Cinematic Universe projects, the show’s winking, comedic tone bears more resemblance to “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” than the bombastic antics of, say, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” However, there’s another reason for the show’s unique nature: “Wonder Man” couldn’t care less about the superhero origin story.
Superhero movies have struggled with origin stories for ages. Early MCU films like “Iron Man” and “Captain America: The First Avenger” focused extensively on their titular characters’ origins. However, at this stage, even Kevin Feige has had to address the concept of superhero fatigue – and while he doesn’t seem worried, watching endless versions of “how [X] got their powers” is getting boring. Fortunately, “Wonder Man” has found a perfect solution to the origin story dilemma: the series outright ignores the origin completely.
At no point do we learn how Simon got his amazing powers, and the closest we get is when the character briefly notes that he doesn’t know the answer himself. Doorman’s origin doesn’t get much more attention. He just comes in contact with some weird goop in a mysterious trash can, and boom! Portal powers. The thing is, this is all perfectly fine. “Wonder Man” understands that the viewers fully expect to see superpowers, and that there’s no need to justify where said powers come from beyond the bare minimum. It’s a great approach that serves the show well, and could very well crack 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 dabbled with truncated origin stories before. Perhaps most notably, “Captain America: Civil War” earned brownie points by understanding that Spider-Man’s (Tom Holland, who recently revealed the first look at his “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” suit) origin has been filmed multiple times before, so the film condensed it to the barest of minimums. However, the way “Wonder Man” outright refuses to discuss Simon’s origin story is truly refreshing, especially since it fits the character’s own nonchalant attitude about his powers very well.
This successful experiment of not addressing the origin story is an encouraging sign that indicates the MCU is now at a point where it doesn’t have to waste any time at all for origin stuff unless it’s truly crucial for the plot. Considering the fact that massive multi-character movies like “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars” are on the way, this might yet turn out to be a groundbreaking — not to mention time-saving — addition to the MCU’s tool box.
“Wonder Man” season 1 is streaming on Disney+.
