Less heroics, more story

No expert knowledge needed to understand and enjoy Marvel TV series 'Wonder Man.'

- ROBERT LLOYD TELEVISION CRITIC

SIMON WILLIAMS (Yahya Adbul-Mateen II) is also the titular character in "Wonder Man" on Disney+.

Marvel Television

Don’t stop me if you've heard this one before, since I'm admittedly something of a broken record on the subject, but I very much prefer Marvel's television series, which tend to be fleet, original and unpredictable, to its movies, which tend not to be. “Loki,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Moon Knight,” “Echo,” “Wanda-Vision” and its spinoff “Agatha All Along” — all (among others) are worth watching, even the ones that are dumped after a season.

Developing longer stories with less money, the TV shows’ makers need to be inventive, creative with their resources, so they invest in characters and ideas rather than special effects and action. They focus on secondary or ensemble figures who would never be given a theatrical feature of their own to carry, are particular about culture and family and place, and are often less contingent on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with its phases and stages, its crossovers and cross-promotions and long-range marketing plans. At once higher concept and more grounded than the movies, they're interesting on their own, to the point where, when they finally hitch on to the Marvel multi-mega-serial train, I find them disappointing.