Marvel’s New TV Show Is Winning Over Critics Despite Quiet Release

Marvel's Wonder Man has opened to strong reviews from critics, despite Marvel downplaying the show's release with very muted marketing.

The show follows a Hollywood actor named Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who auditions for a role in the MCU's in-universe "Wonder Man" movie but finds himself thrust into the world of superheroes for real once he develops powers of his own.

The show also stars Ben Kingsley, Demetrius Grosse, Ed Harris, Arian Moayed, and Zlatko Buric. All eight episodes will be released on Disney Plus worldwide on January 27 at 6 p.m. PT.

‘Wonder Man’ Has Been Praised by Critics Ahead of Its Premiere

Although general audiences will have to wait until the show's wide release before making their own minds up, critics have been very favorable towards Wonder Man. The show currently sits at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, already overtaking MCU entries like Loki and Daredevil: Born Again.

As part of the "Marvel Spotlight" banner, Wonder Man has been marketed as a lower-stakes, more grounded entry in the MCU—and this is clearly working to its benefit. Without the expectations of groundbreaking cameos or dense world-building, the show is reportedly able to forge its own story and succeed on its own merits.

SlashFilm remarks on this in their review: "These smaller-scale projects… remind audiences that the MCU wasn’t built solely on crossover events, but on compelling individuals whose personal journeys made those larger moments resonate."

Additionally, GamesRadar+ calls Wonder Man "a low-key gem that's up there with the MCU's best work", while Empire agrees that it's "one of the best shows in the MCU to date."

'Wonder Man's Marketing Had Been Overshadowed By Avengers: Doomsday

Marvel is typically one of the leading studios in the industry when it comes to marketing their new projects, but Wonder Man wasn't given that treatment. Beyond a few trailers in the weeks leading up to release, there was very little to indicate that Wonder Man was even coming out.

One of the most obvious reasons for this is that Marvel didn't want to divert audiences' attention away from Avengers: Doomsday, which has been at the center of the MCU's marketing for months now. The studio has been releasing small, character-driven teasers for the upcoming team-up movie that have dominated pop culture for the past months, and there hasn't been much room for Wonder Man to steal the thunder.

However, Wonder Man's reviews seem to indicate that this may have been a mistake. Perhaps Marvel wasn't anticipating this new show to be such a massive critical success, but the reviews prove otherwise. All that remains to be seen is how Marvel's low-key marketing strategy affects the show's viewership when it releases on January 27.