| January 26, 2026 
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A Hollywood dramedy disguised as a superhero show | | Ben Kingsley, left, and Yahya Adbul-Mateen II in a scene from the newest Marvel series on Disney+, “Wonder Man.” Marvel Television/Disney+ |
Dear Watchers,The mini-series “Wonder Man” feels like a throwback to the early years of Disney+ TV shows set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, when series like “WandaVision,” “Loki” and “Ms. Marvel” delivered unconventional and surprisingly deep superhero stories. Although it is based on a long-running Marvel Comics character — who is occasionally an Avenger — “Wonder Man” is barely a superhero story at all. It is, above all, a funny, melancholy look at life as a struggling actor in Los Angeles. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Simon Williams, whose career in Hollywood has been stymied by his own self-doubts and his tendency to overthink his craft. Simon also secretly has superpowers — including super strength and the ability to generate an explosive force. That’s a problem given that the movie and TV industries have recently banned superpowered people from working on any production, for safety reasons. Ben Kingsley reprises his “Iron Man 3” role as Trevor Slattery, an actor who became internationally notorious when he took a job pretending to be the terrorist known as the Mandarin. After getting arrested by Agent P. Cleary (Arian Moayed) from the U.S. government’s shadowy Department of Damage Control, Trevor agrees to gather intel about how dangerous Simon could be. There’s a meta-textual element to this series’s eight episodes, most of which follow Simon and Trevor as they try to land roles in an expensive, arty remake of an 1980s superhero movie (also called “Wonder Man”) that Simon loved as a boy. The screenwriter Andrew Guest and the director Destin Daniel Cretton, who created the series together, serve up a wry, knowing take on modern Hollywood that may remind some of HBO’s “The Franchise” or Apple TV’s “The Studio.” But “Wonder Man” isn’t really a spoof, nor is it an action-adventure. If you’re suffering from superhero fatigue, don’t worry. Guest and Cretton are interested mostly in how Simon’s efforts to disguise his powers make it harder for him to relax around people — and thus harder to find success in schmooze-dependent show business. “Wonder Man” is also a surprisingly sweet buddy comedy. Abdul-Mateen and Kingsley have real chemistry, playing two broken men who genuinely love the art of acting, which allows them to hide from themselves for a little while. Put these two together in a scene and they don’t need superpowers to generate electricity. Also this week | | Yerin Ha and Luke Thompson in scene from Season 4 of “Bridgerton.” Netflix |
- If you’re in need of the kind of “therapy via sitcom” that only “Shrinking” can provide, good news! Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams and the rest of the gang are back for a third season, debuting Wednesday, on Apple TV.
- “School Spirits” returns for a third season of supernatural high school high jinks, concerning dead teens who spend their afterlives investigating mysteries. The new season debuts Wednesday, on Paramount+.
- “Bridgerton” Season 4 arrives this week, beginning a Regency romance story that riffs on Cinderella. The first four episodes debut Thursday, on Netflix.
- Kaley Cuoco (“The Flight Attendant”) plays a woman whose boyfriend disappears during what was supposed to be a romantic European getaway, in the mystery thriller “Vanished,” debuting Sunday, on MGM+.
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