Marvel's latest series departs from its usual superhero fare, presenting a comedic drama centered on an actor struggling in Hollywood. The show explores the challenges of a Haitian-American actor with superpowers as he navigates the industry and attempts to overcome self-sabotage.
for Marvel ’s latest series was first released, it promised as much, showcasing a deep tonal difference from most other Marvel properties. The preview was akin to something you’d see for a prestige show on HBO or Showtime, about a lead character down on their luck, as opposed to the caped-hero escapades Marvel fans are used to.
This refreshing shift comes on the heels of Marvel’s previous phase of leeching from its movies to create Disney+ television spinoffs, which have gone on to have a. It’s no secret that the Disney subsidiary, though still dominant in many ways, is dealing with a crisis of, which follows the titular comic book character Simon Williams, though instead of a failson who inherits a munitions empire, this Simon is a son of Haitian immigrants who is struggling as an actor desperate for his big break in Hollywood. Simon’s luck changes when he runs into Trevor Slattery , a once prominent actor who is now disgraced due to his previous moonlighting as the terrorist The Mandarin in. What follows is a fun comedic two-hander that’s more about the struggles of Hollywood than about saving the world from ruin. It’s a good, solid show—even if it likely won’t be the thing that single-handedly resuscitates Marvel from its slump. Simon has been struggling to find some foothold in the industry for a long time, because of both his lack of landing roles and his penchant to self-sabotage when heland them. In the show’s opening minutes, Simon gets himself written out of a small part in a fake episode ofby being severely pedantic about the writing. Also fueling Simon’s intense stress about his failing career are his powers—something he tries to hide because of an ordinance that forbids superpowered individuals from working in entertainment—which become harder to manage the more pressured and upset he gets. But everything changes when he crosses paths with Trevor Slattery, the actor who is known in their world for playing The Mandarin, the iconographically racist terrorist who, besides being unmasked in, which Simon watched as a kid with his late father, by the Werner Herzog–esque legendary director Von Kovak . Trevor then becomes a close confidant of Simon’s, helping the budding actor get over his personal obstacles and internal struggles to become a better performer, and providing him an outlet to be honest about his powers. Little does Simon know, however, that Trevor is working for the Department of Damage Control—a government organization tasked with cleaning up superpowered humans’ messes and detaining superpowered criminals or threats—as an informant on Simon, whom the DODC considers a major threat. The show, refreshingly, is far more about a struggling actor than it is about a struggling superhero. In fact, Simon’s powers aren’t even something the Hollywood hopeful is attempting to reckon with at all, as much as he’s attempting to keep them out of sight and out of mind. Instead,is a character study that satirizes Hollywood and investigates the craft of acting more than it does anything else. Simon and Trevor bop around Los Angeles, encountering a number of funny, yet demoralizing, circumstances that only those who are intimately familiar with the way the industry chews you up and spits you out could reproduce. Trevor endures a patronizing speech from Joe Pantoliano about how the disgraced actor is so lucky he’s out of the business; Simon agonizes over being forced to submit a self-tape for a different project just so he can get closer to landing the lead as Wonder ManAt the same time, Simon is still hiding his powers while dealing with his family’s hesitance surrounding his failing career, and Trevor is floundering as a turncoat, best evidenced when he hilariously attends the very Haitian birthday party for Simon’s mother as a covert op., and as a result, its take on superpowers feels surprising, making them more of a trait than the plot itself. It works, even though the series is far from perfect. The first half struggles with pacing, and Kingsley’s shtick as Trevor works better when it plays off of Mateen II than it does on its own. As for Mateen II, he shines as our beleaguered hero, playing well with Kingsley and pulling off a series of delicious monologues as his character auditions around town. It’s nice to see a Marvel property tackle superhero fatigue in a meta way, while positioning superpowers as something that one can be burdened with, like mental illness. Simon only erupts when he’s frustrated, angry, or upset, and his powers are something that are societally looked down upon and discriminated against, so much so that they could cost him his job.It’s clear that Marvel is in a new phase of trying to get viewers interested once again. The studio isn’t producing the consistent stream of hits that it once was, as audiences are unevenly engaged with its new slate of heroes. It doesn’t help that some of the studio’s more interesting heroes have been introduced via both movies, with mixed results, and smaller TV shows that get little to no promotion. But this is perhaps not without intention. Marvel has been restructuring its television offerings, doing away with the shows that were simply spinoffs for bigger characters in their tentpole films (like. Instead of sticking audiences with one-season star-vehicle shows that you had to watch every other Marvel title to understand, this new model focuses on smaller, stand-alone stories about characters canonically considered lesser heroes, as Brad Winderbaum, Marvel’s head of television and animation, admitted to theIt’s Long Been Considered One of the Most Mysterious Places in the World. The Answer Was Hiding in Plain Sight.He Went on an Infamous Reality Show, Twice. Now He’s Written a Novel About … an Infamous Reality Show. In a way, it’s a return to form. This model of superhero TV is reminiscent of the golden era of the darker Netflix–Marvel shows of the mid-2010s, likeand reviving characters like Jessica Jones in those reboots. But it hasn’t entirely worked out for them thus far. No new show has come close to the prominence ofis a good show with a hero who is engaging to watch because he shows no interest in being one, and Mateen II is excellent in it. But, even if—it still probably wouldn’t be enough to move the needle for the studio. But maybe Marvel doesn’t need it to. Winderbaum toldstory, it really stands on its own as a beautiful piece.” And though the studio head hopes people want more, it’s pretty clear that he’s making shows for story instead of purely for their function within the larger MCU ecosystem. If anything, that might make
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