The Reel Rejects - WONDER MAN EPISODES 5-8 - A PERFECT ENDING TO MARVEL'S BEST SURPRISE?! – REVIEW & BREAKDOWN

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

THEY ACTUALLY STUCK THE LANDING?! Wonder Man Full Episode Reaction Watch Along:   / thereelrejects   Visit https://huel.com/rejects to get 15% off your order WONDER MAN Eps 1 - 4 Reaction:    • WONDER MAN Episodes 1–4 REACTION – WE DIDN...   Gift Someone (Or Yourself) An RR Tee! https://shorturl.at/hekk2 With the first Coy Jandreau, Aaron Alexander, & Greg Alba react to Episodes 5–8 of Marvel Studios’ Wonder Man, closing out the season with a bold mix of Hollywood satire, superhero spectacle, and deeply personal character drama. Starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen, Aquaman) as Simon Williams, the series continues to follow a struggling Los Angeles actor hiding extraordinary powers while chasing the lead role in an in-universe superhero film. Mentored by the unpredictable Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley – Iron Man 3, Gandhi), these episodes push Simon into the spotlight—and into serious danger—as fame, secrets, and surveillance collide. Follow Coy Jandreau:  Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coyjandreau?l... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coyjandreau/?hl=en Twitter:  https://twitter.com/CoyJandreau YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwYH2szDTuU9ImFZ9gBRH8w Intense Suspense by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  Tik-Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reelrejects?lang=en Twitter: https://x.com/reelrejects Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ Music Used In Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Happy Alley by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you to Huell for sponsoring this video. More on them in just a bit. And hopefully they stick to landing because I really, really like the first four episodes. Yeah, man. Let's find out if they do. Let's go. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have watched. What have we watched?

We've watched Wonder Man. Wonder Man. Episodes 5, 6, 7, 8. And thanks to everyone who's joined our Patreon for this show. Let's get the full reaction watch. I'll be stick it with your own copy. Of course, watch us off the D plus And also great way to support the Chanel

Rejectnation shop.com Look at all these t-shirts we have. We have T-shirts. T's like these. Represent the channel. I'm going to go to one of you guys first. I'll just say I thought that was really fucking good. That was great.

Oh, wow. Aaron, my man, you'd be exclaiming a lot. Did you go first last time? I go first again. Go for it, buddy. That was great. I think they did a really good job of sticking the landing on a very grounded, character-driven, street-level show.

And Yaya was phenomenal on the show, as was Ben Kingsley. And I think the arcs they set out for them really were done in a way that was very patient, very authentic. And you watch the show in one go as they release it. And it does pay off in a way. way that feels very resonant and feels very honest and I think that it's very cool that we see him at the end. He's

using his prowess and his money as an actor to then also do things that are more investigative, at least within the instance of Trevor, but I think that could be a really cool way in which how he operates outside of when he's not doing movies and stuff. And yeah, I think this is a really great entry

into Wonder Man as he is now in the MCU, but he doesn't feel like he's super integrated into the larger part of it and I think that's a good thing I think that allows him to stand out on his own without the pressures of it being tied into everything else that's going on I really appreciate them finally being able to do something that makes us care about the characters and I feel like that's what a lot of people's I mean that's that's part of people's concerns like the the quality in which we're they've been putting out has not been up to snuff

in combination with the expectation that there needs to be this larger thing, but also I feel like they have not been servicing their characters in a way that allows the audience at large to care about most of the new characters in the way that's endearing. I think there's a few that exceptions

to that as Shang Chi, Kamala Khan, and Simon Williams. And yeah, I just thought it was great. And I look forward to getting into the larger conversation about it. Oh, yeah, that's beautiful. Well said. Well said.

How you feel, man? I think, I think for me, it's Loki, Wanda Vision, Wonder Man for the hierarchy of great Marvel TV. The DC universe. It has changed. So for me, this was a show that I was excited. It's interesting. What I was excited about is exactly what it delivered. I just didn't think that would be the show.

I was excited about Wonder Man because of Yaya Abdul Mateen II and because of Destin Daniel Cretton. And I was afraid that me being fairly casual about Simon Williams would be a problem. I was excited for the show because I like the Trevor Slattery twist, and that turned out to be a double twist. I was excited for the show because I feel like the more grounded characters can be a lot more interesting than the big, bold, cosmic ones. I like Cosmic at Marvel in large part because of James Gunn, and he is very satirical, but honest and earnest in how he makes Cosmic. But those aren't the characters I'm drawn to. I am much more Spider-Man than Captain Marvel. I am much more Wolverine than the Beyonder.

And this managed to make a character that I wasn't that invested in so much more interesting. Simon Williams, the acting element of Simon Williams is usually in the backdrop. Occasionally it comes to the foreground, occasionally it's referenced.

Occasionally we even see him on set. Occasionally we have him as like a movie star, but it's usually like a piece of the puzzle. So when they said this was a show that's about him as an actor, I was really curious if that was going to be like the first two episodes. And then when they announced it was, you know, alongside Trevor Slattery, I thought it was going to be more of he's an actor, something goes

wrong, he has to be a superhero that was an actor and leaves all that behind. I was so happy that we didn't come back from Doorman and suddenly everything was different. I was a little afraid because where Doorman is in the show, I was afraid it was going to be like a part one, part two. Doorman allows him to come back and suddenly it's a superhero show. It never became that. and this was so much more gratifying to end the show very consciously on their brotherhood arc. It didn't end on the movie's arc. If this was a traditional narrative when the movie came out, it would have ended there. But it would have left us unfulfilled on the real arc of the show, which is someone finding a friend,

someone finding someone that they identify with, someone that has felt lost their whole life that discovered a place they belonged through art to find someone else that discovered where they belonged through art and made sure they never betrayed each other. And as someone who has found people that I love through art and has discovered a kinship in finding people that make me not feel alone, I really loved that this show never lost that while being a superhero show.

Yeah, that's a really good point. I fucks with it. Yeah, it's like a love story in that way, a potonic love story between two friends. I'd someone talked to me about how Shawshank is, kind of like that and it's like about a platonic love story between two guys forming this brotherhood and i feel like in a very different sort of execution but i feel like in the same way it's about these two lonely guys who have uh feel isolated their whole lives who yeah who find each other and

and in and are really loyal to each other that's beautiful yeah that was uh i thought that was i mean i feel like people will talk a lot about the dormant episode for being that really good one-off but i think it's a complete package i feel like the show got really strong as stronger as it went It was already strong in the beginning, and it progressively got stronger. I appreciated its commitment to what it set out to do, and it never right down to the very end. Even they managed to get a little bit of superhero stuff in a way, but they didn't sacrifice what they were doing in order to have a payoff. like it was thoughtful and how they went about that ending

because it treats its audience with a clever like you picked up on really quick that it would be a security guard but they really they really lived with it you know like it's a very patient show it's kind of like Vince Gilligan like where

they're not laying it out for you right away they're not telling like here's a setup and here's what he's doing now he's going to go do it like they're just like let the audience pay attention for a while and then we'll discover what's going on It was the setting for me. It was when the area was so desolate, I was like, I'd put a prison there.

Like when they kept showing how, like, it was desert, I was like, that guy. Yeah. But I love how it. But the idea of, like, interpreting and getting in with a guard is a trope in a way. But using the idea that he's an actor to go in there and do the whole character study, like, they kept the metanus of what's going on. Yeah. In a way that was clever.

There's a sense of wonder to the idea of what if these people who we watch, play superheroes are actually people with powers. Like there's a cool sense of wonder to that. And then they kept that metanus going with, well, what else do actors do? Oh, they pretend they go and hang out with people and live their lives. And now he uses a way to be like undercover. And not only does he just go about it in like a secret agent kind of way, he ends up giving this guy a new life where he's able to financially get away from a job that he hates. And that is causing like, that is actually ruining his life.

we literally saves this guy's life. And then he ends up saving Trevor, who has earned his chance at redemption for this, because we see how he's been, like, used. And there's so much that happened in these last four episodes that it's a lot to go into it. Like with Trevor Slattery, you know, like that's one veil to pull back a little bit.

I like how they had the scene where they showed him audition. Yeah. And without conveying too, without using too much. That's what I mean. Like, there's a lot of restraint. with this show. And they showed that he was actually being used in that moment. He was being taken imagine. He never quite knew exactly what happened, but they saw like he's a guy who's addicted to drugs and is falling apart and here, read this, do this, do this, you know, and in a way, like,

making him dependent on the situation. So it was, even though they have the dialogue there of, of course he's got to take accountability. Of course he kept following through with it. Yes, there's his own actions and all that. So it's not entirely, Trevor was only, taken advantage of, but he also was taking advantage of. So I loved it. I, I, I really loved this a lot. This, this is a, I had

almost no faith in the show. I'm not going to lie. I was like, I'm sure, yeah, yeah, Abdul Mateen's going to be great. That was about as far as I thought this show would be. I did not really have faith. The narrative, because from what we've seen with Marvel and anything, really

in television, when they push something like this for this long, you're like, it must not be that good to just quietly release it. Like it must not be as bad as people think it's going to be, but it's probably not great. And then sure enough, this is one of the best things they've done. Yeah. And I'm really surprised with it.

But yeah, we kind of got to zigzag around here a little bit. Who's got something more specific they want to dive into first? I think it's as far as, well, two things I want to say. One, I like that this is a show. this is not a Marvel show, so to speak. This is a show set in the Marvel universe, like the most literal sense. Like it says, it doesn't have to anything to do with literally being a superhero,

but just figuring out how to be a person, figuring out how to be oneself. And then the perseverance and struggle he's gone through to get to the top. And now that he's made it and he's gotten the validation for the skill and talent, He's always been, I'm sure that he had within him. What does he do from there? And what he does from there is give back in a way that is meaningful. I thought that was very cool.

The other thing I wanted to say was, I think that was it. That was all I want to say for the time being. I want to commend the way they had each arc mapped out so well that every relationship got its own closure. So I love when a character study allows other characters to feel lived. in and I pointed that out really heavily with the mom monologue in the kitchen. And I really thought that was a special way to contextualize his history without making it her just being a character that exists for him to exist. And I really like how in the final half, they give everyone a little bit more sauce so that

it doesn't ever become, this is just two leads and these ensembles serve them. They certainly are supporting characters. That is important. But at no point did they feel like they were just, I now. enter like when I was an actor it was always interesting to get sides that felt like this character has no lived in history and I only exist to serve this line and they acknowledge that in the american horror story joke if the show was so much about characters feeling lived in that the Simon Williams character is always about detail detail detail it would have made the show feel so much more

artificial if every member of his family didn't also have those kind of details so like they the lived in Haitian element like when we went to the family that felt very important and lived in and then even in the second half, the girlfriend getting her own part and him still having the same problems, but growing on it and her immediately clocking that he was making the mistake he always used to, but then being patient enough to forgive him

for making that mistake and then being the one that put him at ease about the whole interview. And then they very smartly followed up that one two punch with this is the person you worried about. It's not a problem. Let's going to give you one more person you worried about and the brother. It's not a problem. And then we get the betrayal.

trail of the best friend. Like the writing was always about other things going on behind. So it always felt like the world was moving. And it always felt like there was psychology to every choice. So it would not have been good if the show was so like, good writing is and then like had bad writing. So I was really impressed at every character getting an arc that fulfilled Simon Williams's journey along with Trevor Slattery's without sacrificing either.

Yeah. The writing is so good. There's a respect for the craft actually. You know, this show kind of sets itself up at first that it might be. be something that's just going to make fun of Hollywood and the craft, the pretentiousness. And they take their jabs. They take their meta jokes and whatever.

But like the whole improv scene at Kovac's place with the auditions, I love that they really made a Wonder Man movie. Like they must have had like some additional script or something that they had to work off of. Like when they have to like write these scenes that are scenes, like you know what I mean? Like they're the writing fictional scenes. Yeah. that are within the scenes, but they're, like, so committed to letting that entire scene play out

and letting, like, all the dialogue go there, but they're not like, let's just write shitty dialogue. They're writing, like, good dialogue. It's, like, distinct to the genre that they're doing in this moment. And it's relevant to the story at large. Yeah, the betrayal. One thing I kept writing down was it doesn't work unless the acting is so good that they can act badly and we can tell.

And that's all the other part, too, is, like, whenever. Trevor or Simon had to do a scene, they were doing good acting, doing the acting. And it wasn't like, I would find myself going like, damn, they're doing a good job. In a way that's, because sometimes when actors are doing a scene and it's kind of like when you watch DiCaprio and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,

that scene where he finally like nails it. And that's what they had to do a lot here. It's like actually do good acting when they're doing acting, you know? And acting bad well. so hard and like acting in a scene where you're acting badly and find it and become good while also acting the scene where he found pretty woman in the moment after not being able to find the character and then he had to be like believable in the pretty woman line but not quite there like how do you in your head as an actor go I need to be 80% good because a hundred

percent good is me in the show but I also was just doing 60% good like yeah the skill that that is is incredible yeah it reminded me a paralleling of the uh the poetry not poetry scene but the monologues when they were like monologing at each other to show like acting is about the lived experience like you don't need to be in a movie to act like you need to live your life to act and that informs these monologues like those monologues were so much about the life experience they had and going into that but simon's whole arc had to be letting people into his life and had to be about that so the choices of those monologues couldn't be too personal but they had to be the growth of him as a character and then they had to illustrate through writing him finding moments

to let people in and having the writer crack him open a little bit, having Trevor be the one that surprised us with the double blind, having the girlfriend, all of these things, but he had to act differently about exposing himself in different ways while giving himself this arc as an actor to become more open as both Simon Williams and a friend. Yeah. That's great point.

Yeah, that's really true. And with the craft respect of it, there's so much acting things I've, just from listening to actors for so long that you hear. And it seemed it was becoming apparent, like right from the episode when they got the call back and they were heading to Kovac's place. And it's like, okay, right now, dude, you're trying to present yourself as something you're not. And the whole point, like when I say they have respect for the craft, it's, it's, they're showing like actors have to really come from a real place at the end of the day. And every time he was trying to put up an actor be performative, it wasn't good acting.

And it was about getting to the truth of what he was always really feeling. right there in that moment, not what he's feeling in the scene. What he's feeling right now is Simon and having to use that. And we watch over the course of these four episodes that the more he gets honest with himself as Simon, the truth there. Right. And then learning how to use what he's feeling as Simon, the better of performance he does as Wonder Man. Yeah. Yeah.

Because, yeah, the entire beginning of the show is him trying to be too in his head. trying to escape who he is and both within the fact that he's playing a character but also the fact that he has these powers he's trying to to keep under control and the the fact that through the experience of Trevor and him accepting him and learning him he was able to yeah be be more himself and even that uh when when he was having the dream of the actor talking shit about him that was his biggest fear not only being called out by the fact that um Um, his biggest fears are being validated by people saying he was a freak, but also being uncovered through punching the guy in the face and everybody seeing him being afraid. Yeah. And I thought that was, that was wonderful. Also, the fact that this show is so intuitive and so patient, like seeing them, there were different responses in the car just acting in their faces without dialogue. Um, after they got the call back. Trevor is, you already see the immediate concern by the fact that this is something that they've achieved.

Well, Simon is just in disbelief. and then immediately following that up with him getting snatched up. Yeah, I thought it was wonderful. In speaking to the patients of the show, I thought it was an interesting choice to, one, not reveal how the dad died and two, not reveal how he got his powers

because that wasn't the most important piece of information we learned about the show. It's not the cause of the thing. It's what those specific events affected within his character. And, yeah, at least room for us to discover stuff in season two as well. And the ions thing was clever, because his powers are pretty like, whatever works for the writer.

But, like, you know, the ionic element is the through line of all of his powers, like flight, invulnerability, strength, telekinesis-ish, like that ripple. I like that we got that at the very end so that we can have him be a superhero in something else. Like, because they gave that little line of dialogue about ions, that was just enough of an origin retroactively that we can put him in a superhero thing. And you're like, the ion powers. And they also gave us the Trevor Slattery origin at the end in its own way of him becoming the Mandarin. So I love that even their arcs stayed in kind of parallel throughout, even down to the last episode. And that I think it's so important when you have something that's about L.A. to make sure L.A. is a character. I love watching things. I mean, Greg and I watch a lot set in New York.

And we're always like, we love New York. Like there's something to a city that if you love that city and people make that part of the character of the film, it really pulls. you in as an audience. Shane Black says he always does things set at Christmas because it automatically connects the audience. Whether you love or hate Christmas, you have a connection to it. So that's why so much of Shane's work is set at Christmas because it allows you to get extraordinary quickly because the ordinary is established.

I love that this is a town that is around movies and it takes itself seriously, sometimes too much so. It also can take a jab. Like, there's so much about L.A. and movies that's meta. And this made sure that it loved on Highland Park and Eagle Rock and downtown. down like I it did such a good job placing culture in a way that felt really authentic so it had like you know the selling those candies that you see on the street here and they had that be a plot point it had you know where the premiere was uh where the premiere was where the premiere was where the premier was where the premier at the l-cap um it was at the bruin and the fox theater which are across the street from each other ironically his premiere was where sony usually has their premiere is not barb yeah which is currently closed which by they had the premiere at the l cap um at no at the chinese of the day. But I think the whole experience of loving on art and appreciating what it takes from the director, the crew, the actor, but also the city is important. The more we have strikes

and the more, you know, the things leave town. L.A. feels a little bit more hollow. And I think this kind of let L.A. shine in a way. I don't usually get to see, especially when you shoot something like in Nebraska and pretend it's L.A. Like this felt like it lived here. And that was really nice for a show that's about here. It didn't feel like it was a scapegoat to L.A. It loved it. Yeah. It captures that vibe of when you don't have money, but you still are a huge cinefile trying to

experiment. Matt and $7.00. Yeah, yeah. I know that vibe. And it's a couple more things like just from both of what you guys were talking about the idea of the powers how that, I love how the powers were a representation

of acceptance for him at the end, you know? Like, because the entire time he doesn't have control over the powers. The powers are something where he feels like there's a rage boiling over him because that's a secret. And when you have something that's a secret that you're ashamed of, eventually just kind of overtakes and comes out. But through acceptance, he's able to actually use it for good at the end. So it really does commit to the idea. I thought I was worried that it might feel like a gimmick in the latter half of, nah, it's really a superhero show pretending to be a character study. But really, it is a character study that takes place in a superhero world. Yeah. And that's why I love the last. of it so much. And then to the DOC side, this is the most I've ever hated them. I don't feel like that was even if they wanted us to do

here, because this is a spotlight show. This is something that's just a character study show. But because it was so specific to this one asshole who was just doing his job, really, but it's specific to this one guy. And because we cared so much about Simon and Trevor, and we saw

how much it was ruining these two people who we cared about so much, it made me hate the DODC and suddenly understand them as a real threat versus how they've been pitched before in the movies. I was like, yeah, they're just another fucking thing. Then I forget. Yeah, I forget who they are all the time or what really they do. But now, but this was the first time where I was like, oh, I really like don't like these guys.

And I think that's, I feel like that's just my proxy. And so it's kind of funny how something that's just meant to be an isolated focus show does feel like it serves something bigger. and I hope they don't forget about these things in terms of linear stuff when it does come to the bigger part of the MCU because now we know all of like Trevor's backstory and all this stuff with Wonder Man

I really hope that they honor everything they did here because it was a beautiful time I was really I was really connected to it when he's called his mom I started tearing up you know like that was such a beautiful heartbreaking moment because everything about I love how flawed he was

yeah we know Trevor's flawed but they didn't such a good job on having Simon be flawed in ways where it's like yes he was self-centered but he was never self-centered to the point where he became an unlikable character. When he's like

when people, when we're together people like me but when I'm alone people think I'm a dick I believe that. I can see why people would think that about him even though we spend so much private time with him that I'm like I don't think he's a dick but I get why everyone else

would think he is you know. I was not kidding. Greg and I have had that conversation. Reject, gang, I have been thinking an awful lot lately about what does health truly mean for me. I don't just mean aesthetically, because last year I made this whole big ordeal about like dropping 50 pounds because I just wanted to try to get those photos for the first time ever in my life. I did it. Then afterwards, I was like, well, I kind of want to go back to eating whatever the heck I want, which has led to a lot of ups and downs in my journey. And now I'm at this point where, well, I'm realizing I kind of need sustainable energy. And I am older now. And I am older now.

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And yes, is this an ad? absolutely however it is something I decided to go back to before to ever partner back up with us so thank you Hewell for being a part of my life in more ways than one I like I was saying how much I identified with this character in our last review for the first half it grew so much because I totally identify with like I don't remember names well and it's not because I don't think you're important because I get hyper focused and it's not because like I think you know I the set doesn't run without a crew for example but I don't have many interactions

and so all of a sudden I don't remember someone's name and I feel like a dick. Like the way that was conveyed without him being a bad person was such a high wire act of like, no, no, some people could easily misread this as him being a bad person

because of his aloofness or hyperfocus or his neediness or all those things that I totally identify with and I really like that. Yeah. The thing I told Cole, I said like,

would you do in interviews? Do that in real life? Yeah, yeah. That way you listen and care about every little detail. Try that. And you ask questions, you know? you listen.

I love that. That's why you said that in exchange. Yeah, when he says like, that bullshit actually works. Yeah, Greg had to give me that phone call. I'm like,

by the way, rub it off a little bit, badly. I also, I wanted this to be a thought I had near the end for the people that are rocking out in Stanwis for a little bit

because it is a, it is a statement that's going to cause some people to get ruffled. But I'm prepared to ruffle those people's feathers. I really, really like that

Simon Williams was a black man because when a white man does something wrong and kills his family, they show him on a jet ski. And when a black man does something wrong, they make sure he dies on the street in the cold. And I think it's important to show how much the layer of hiding his anger and suppressing and him feeling alone and isolated. Like I have never been a black man. Do not misinterpret what I'm saying here. Spoiler alert, I think empathy is the superpower that we all need to work on more. And I think it's the thing we're discovering more and more as time goes on that we, we are really good at going like, that problem got solved. And more and more, it's like, get it. And I, the trope of the angry black man is a really terrifying thing that puts everyone in a bad position of not being able to express, not being able to find like a through line, not being able to like have a moment of understanding and connection. And I, as a guy that loves working out, that really, really enjoys looking scary. I love the feeling of being so jacked people across the street because I'm a nice person. But there is something that's nice about like, and I can't imagine being someone

who's six foot four that people are like either subconsciously or consciously racist towards. I wanted you to take this baton because I was like, I don't want to start this combo, but it's important to me. But I think it's really interesting because of there's so much subconscious racism in this country. There's so much about like the way we put people in media for years that we're getting better about the way that stories are written that we're getting better about the way that there's the subconscious thing that people don't even realize they're being racist and I feel like again I've never been in this position but I feel like being a person of color and having anger or any strong emotion having to like bury that was a really beautiful metaphor for

simon williams having to bury his emotion even on top of the layers having to bury his superpower so uh i would love to know erin's thoughts but it really hit me emotionally having not lived it Yeah, I think I might have either said it during the episodes themselves or during our last review, but I thought it was very powerful, the fact that he was not only a black man in America, a black man in L.A., a black man of heritage, of Haitian heritage. I talked about being an immigrant, yeah. Yeah. But I also thought it was very interesting that he had to not only hide his anger, his stress, because we're not allowed to really feel, but also the fact that he was very interesting. that he had to not only hide his his anger, his stress, because, you know, we're not allowed to really feel, but also the fact that they had a government organization who were trying to find evidence to kidnap people and were doing so to fill quotas. And a black man who they perceive as dangerous was definitely not a decision they've done on accident.

But also, I'm going to speak back to the Ironheart. of it all than just how things have been done at marvel lately uh we need to stop having our marvel led black shows all release in one day or two days because i think it undercuts the importance of it of having representation when you're giving things like daredevil eight or however many weeks to to air hell spider man even got a week to week release why is this show being released all in one and you know and i think it was in i have a strong feeling it was intended to be a show that was released week to week. So the fact that it was undercut by it all just being a conversation that happens with

the course of a day and then forgotten and a blip is a huge disservice because it doesn't fit into the larger narrative of what Marvel is setting up. And this is one of the strongest things they've put out. I feel like this show, even though I liked the thing I'm about to compare it to, I feel like this is the antithesis to something like a Fantastic Four where they're just trying to play it safe and get all the origin and get all the character stuff out of the way quickly, whereas this, even in its eight episode run, even if it is something that's half an hour roughly per episode, it allows the character to lead and allows the character to be front and

center in a way that is not tropey, but is complex and that is honest and that is real. And I really appreciate the creative team behind this show for allowing that to take center station. Thank you to Yaya for being in this role and showing. that black characters can not only be specifically within the black bubble but can be complex full dimensional humans so thank you

for Marvel Studios for making it release black things better in the future and thank you for Yaya for being awesome. Yeah that's such a good point because I didn't like you guys are both talking about this subject and

there's like some channels of course you can when I say that with that tone you could take a Yeah, so what channels I'm landing at here That would make fun of the fact of like Oh, this show will fail because they've done like Black Wonder Man And the entire time Save that subject

Until later in our review Definitely yeah And the entire time I've been watching this Of course like I love all the stuff When you go to his fan Like I was moved by all that But I didn't actually think of all the interpretations And allegories

Of all the things you guys are speaking on During it Because the show doesn't take a moment like to turn to the audience to be like this is what we're doing it's there but it's not heavy-handed it's an honest way yeah it does but then when you talk about I'm like oh yeah it's totally there yeah like when

it is there I was when you guys were speaking like oh yeah totally so I appreciate what you guys were saying because I didn't think about it but it was effective and I was and I was like but that's like the power of the of the show because I was so connected to Simon and feeling everything he's feeling and I wasn't even like thinking at all about like this is a

they're dealing with struggles that black people will go through. And yeah, I was like, really I feel like more shows you to have that level of quality writing. Well, the subtlety. They have that level of subtlety. So it doesn't, like, because I feel bad when a show

has a really good message, but it's an after school special. Because no one's going to take the message well, if it's like, this is our point. Yeah. Like, the subtlety that you didn't pick up on it inherently, but then you felt it after it was pointed out is the goal. Yeah. Yeah. They like that people will often take the She-Hulk moment when she's like, women.

whatever the fuck she says in that that episode i like she hulk all right i really like i thought the show was fun um except for a few episodes and they were really annoying but i thought the show was fun and um the i forgot my sorry interrupted to bring up the subtlety i got caught up in the fucking she hulk park as i was like right now just she hoke's twirking and gregg's mind throwing him off oh yeah like we're to your point like when this stranger things will moment of how that got like good god after school special when yeah when will comes out and it's like we need everyone that he ever met even briefly to stand in a room why the world is ending because it's got

to be an 18 minute. We get it. It's an important message handled poorly. This I thought was handled masterfully and you mentioned Fantastic Four as kind of the opposite. I would say it's crazy that this did so many things I wanted Captain America to do well. To me this felt like what Captain America

was when it was first made and I don't know what came out. I mean a Grave New World? Yeah, yeah. Like Brave New World was like... Strip of all of his heart and character. What if we've got a man who was wrongfully accused of a crime twice. That was the first Captain America twice. Then there's a red rage monster in the White House. We won't touch that though. Like that movie was

saying so much and then it came out and it was like we're going to whisper it though. It was like it was like a one of those laqua flavor. It was like we're just going to have the idea of the flavor. Drink it. I think that's why they dumped all this out once because it's saying something. I mean there are those people

who make the comments of what I just said about like oh this will fail because it's Black Wonder Man and or they might not say that directly, but they No, they'll say it's heavily implied. No, they'll put it in the thumbnail. They'll say it directly and then others will. The whole wonder woke.

Yeah. Oh, dude. Woke man. Yeah, for sure. Do something like that. And also, I feel like they probably didn't have risk. Because there was a part of my, in my producer brain when I was hearing this. Because you're right.

Like, they have done that with all the black shows, haven't they? All right. And but my producer man was like, well, maybe the audience. I think I said in the last time, actually, is that the, I wonder if the audience would stick around for a show like this week to week because there's an expectation when you watch something that's Marvel Studios, you know, that, oh, when's the superhero shit going to happen? But then you're getting this like real thoughtful piece of being an actor in LA. That's what it's mainly about. And I don't know if like the audience would stick around week to week

for that. I usually don't know the answer to that. I don't know if the audience that's been prime for like 50 Marvel properties. to suddenly be like, yeah, I'll be patient with this week to week. And it never turns into the thing they probably thought it would turn into, you know? Or I don't know. Because like, this is like an Apple TV kind of thing, you know? Yeah. This is like of the week to week type of show.

I mean, you made a Dr. Doom joke, and I guarantee if this was week to week, there is something that we didn't catch while watching it that had a thing that could possibly elude. Like, I guarantee there's like, the green. That's the cloak. Like, so in some ways it might work to its benefit that it all came out at once because people might just watch it as one whole piece. But it's going to get a 72-hour conversation.

But then you can't also argue that. But they also tend to do this with the show set more about the black people. I just hate the fact that it'll have a conversation for 72 hours. And then unless it gets greenlit or he appears in something else, this will be the entire Wonder Man conversation. I hate that as opposed to like other shows got a chance to find an audience. Other shows got a chance to grow if word of mouth was good. Like this can't find an audience unless it's,

strikes immediately. Well, I wonder if maybe it's not going to like be popular at first, but then the word of mouth on this is rather strong, I believe. And I wonder if that'll make more people actually tune in because Marvel's narrative right now is it's real flailing outside of its hardcore fan base. I keep showing up. Yeah. So maybe this will be an opportunity for people actually be like, you know, let me give this a chance because everyone's saying the show so damn good. I hope so. Oh, yeah. Because I'm all fair. Like, like, what were the two other shows? Like eyes of Wakanda and Ironheart were not like that beloved and this is like getting a lot of praise right so perhaps that might make a difference in that i hope so because it it deserves a lot yeah it really does it's a

getting disservice just being straight up being honest um and yeah it deserves a lot better and it is up to us the the people who are reacting and word of mouth to let marvel know we want stuff like this and I hope that a show like this will give them the insight to know that, oh, we want character-driven narrative. We want to be invested in the people we're following. We want to be able to learn the idiosyncrasies and the little small things of their life. We want to be able to follow full characters that are flawed. We don't need our characters to be goody-to-shoes or admirable all the time.

Sometimes we want to relate to the people we're watching. and I think that's hopefully the thing that Wonder Man does. I relate to Steve Rogers. He's very, I'm a very steep Rogers kind of guy. I think of Greg, I'm like that man. Yeah. People don't know with the Steve Rogers around here. I'm conditionally good and sincere at all times.

I got a theory. Yeah. I think Glenn Howardton and Joseph Gordon-Levitt both went out for Reed. And that's why the names were on the zeitgeist, because those were two reeds I thought were going to happen. When he listed those two actors in particular, I was like, I think those were the. almost read Richards before Pedro got cast

and that timing lends up. Okay, that'd be interesting. Not an Easter egg, but that's an in here Easter egg because those are two of my, like I think in an ideal world, either Glenn Howard or JGL would be a perfect read. I can see it. I think if they also meant to mention Adam Driver, I'm like, what? Yeah, yeah, yeah, wait a second.

I heard he was up. Yeah, I guess some of my very, very last thing I'll say is this is a sign of maturity for Marvel. Yes. A lot of times people talk about the audience has been aging, right? with, I mean, hell, you could look back to just even real rejects. I'm only saying that because I did it like two days ago

where I was like, oh shit, man, me watching these like Captain America trailers way back in the day amazing Spider-Man, you know? Shit like that of how much Marvel has changed and like how much younger, I'm looking at this video of me, I'm like, damn, I was like 10 years ago, it's fucking wild. And audiences change and they grow up

and for some reason that's translated to, make our rated movies. That's not the real case here. This is an example of that. It's like, make our rated movies is yes a part of that i think truthfully like blay make it R rated if they ever fucking make that uh or like when they did Deadpool and Wolverine

R rated cool like do those things Dared of a born again R rated but something like this is something where they can show respect to their audience of like we are willing to watch shit that is more of a slow burn that is patient that is a character study because as we grow it's like we don't we get bored of just the same old same old

and sometimes these shows seem like they're trying to and like the thing i said earlier i was afraid of it turning into was like, oh, this isn't a real character study. It's just pretending to be. This remained that. And clearly the love is there for something like this. And I think that's why it's being praised so much. So yeah, do that.

My last thoughts are very similar, but it is financial. You guys out there in the ether, whether you're on the side of loving Marvel or watching them just to be part of the conversation, everyone seems to be saying that Marvel is just doing nostalgia. and if we keep deciding that's all they're going to do because that's the only thing that makes money, that's what they're going to do. If you look at Deadpool making all those billions of dollars and you look at what Doom is doing

with every time they put out any footage and people knowing those of the nostalgia things, you can't blame a company for going, well, that's working and that isn't. We should do more of the things that aren't. They're going to go to the thing. They've got shareholders. They've got all the stuff that I hate about art

and capitalism tying so intentically. At the end of the day, it's show business. The business side is going to trump, the show. Thus, if we want things that are mature and introducing new ideas and introducing new characters, things like this need to be supported even louder. The fact that Doomsday is this year and this got released in a day and Doomsday is going to have a year of press. Dumesday literally started their press a year before it came out and it's causing all sorts of records. This is getting put out in the day and I barely saw any ads. If stuff that is good and slow gets nothing

in ratings and then things that are good but nostalgia farming, we're going to get memorabilms. We're Burraries for the rest of Marvel. But also on a financial sense, like, if you have a streaming service, you want qualitative shows. Yeah. And this is so much cheaper to make. Yeah. Like, there was people talking. This has to be cheaper than most of the shows they've made.

There's no fucking way this show is like a $200 million. If it is, I mean, so, like you guys are going to something wrong with your budget. I would rather have 10 of these. Exactly. People would fucking watch that. And that's what comics are. Comics are picking up individual issues to build a story. Do your intimate pieces.

In between the big spectacles. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like Marvel Studio has kind of, it's been a blessing and a curse to be able to be exposed to individual pieces that have formulated the Avengers. But because it's become our expectation, they started making content with the expectation that they've established, which has ruined the quality overall. And I feel like if they continue to make individual pieces of art, rather than puzzle pieces, I feel like they'll be rewarded in turn. Because even though this has nothing to do with anything else going on in the MCU, I look forward to watching this character connect with other characters, even if it doesn't all all allude to it at all. But I think the fact that we are establishing a universe, which means that it doesn't need to be all interconnected. Granted, are there pieces that are familiar?

The Trevor's Laddery, sure. The Department of Damont Control, sure. But it doesn't have anything to do with the large. And I like that. Yeah, we can sit in that. Let's get things. And I feel like also fan expectations and breaking down things every week also lead into that sense of disappointment. And hey, because we have to pick apart every little thing.

And I feel like if we allowed things to just be the thing they're intended to be and make art that allows it to live in its full intention, we will in turn get rewarded with things that don't necessarily need to be a set up in a long game kind of way. Yeah. All right, guys. Well, that's it for Wonder Man. What are your thoughts on the series? Leave it down below. Tell everyone in the comments why you think I'm the Captain America. Tell your friends.

Go watch it. Like, oh, Greg's definitely. Steve Rogers. I'm Wonder Man. I wasn't going to go there, actually. Believe it or not, I wasn't going to go down. I'm Bishop. Yeah, that's wrong.

I feel like because I look like, blonde and stuff, people are always like, yeah, a cap. And they've never connected to a character less amongst them. Like, for me, Tony Star, I was team Iron Man in Civil War. But I think of every MCU character now, the one I relate to the most is Simon Williams. And I can say that with my full chest. Like, of the entire MCU, this was the one I was like, I've lived this, I feel this, I've been called this, I've had this conversation. Like, Simon Williams is my guy now.

Yeah, I'm Matt Murdoch, not Daredevil. That's me. Getting every hot girl in hell's kitchen. I got all the flaws. bruises. A lot of of capital guilt. You should see his

Thanksgiving art. Very captain Guilt heavy. All right guys. Thank you so much. We'll see you guys. We'll see you guys soon.

Deuses.