TV review

“Wonder Man,” the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest series, is a quieter, sweeter affair compared to its predecessors, its gaze fixed on the loneliness and resilience of its excellent lead characters. But it’s this focus, coupled with stunning performances from Ben Kingsley and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, that transforms the show into one of Marvel Studios’ most charming efforts to date.

“Wonder Man,” which premieres Tuesday on Disney+, introduces us to the ion-powered Simon Williams (Abdul-Mateen II), who keeps his superhuman abilities hidden as he pursues a career in Hollywood. He quickly runs into Trevor Slattery (Kingsley, in tip-top form), the disgraced actor and escaped convict who posed as a supervillain in “Iron Man 3” and has since played a more limited role in the MCU at large. Both are gunning for top billing in a remake of the in-universe superhero classic “Wonder Man,” a film to which Simon feels especially connected. Trevor and Simon befriend one another, the latter unaware that his only friend is a reluctant spy for the Department of Damage Control. Thus, Trevor’s biggest hurdle becomes convincing Simon that their bromance is genuine.

Clear-eyed and big-hearted, “Wonder Man” knows exactly what it wants to be, even if that means skimping on action and spectacle. Anything working on adrenaline, really. Series creators Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest instead explore how the prevalence of real-life superheroes would impact and shape Hollywood, elevating what easily could have been a cute but forgettable story to a shrewd and sweeping examination of modern artifice.

The show smartly keeps its assault on the inauthentic two-sided; while it is indeed a plea for sincerity in a relentlessly insincere world, it also recognizes artifice as something necessary and conditionally beautiful. In its purest form, this falseness is art with the purpose of circling back to some sort of truth about the business of being human.

Here, the MCU’s methods of story propulsion — big drama, breakneck pacing, city-leveling action — make way for an everyday type of resonance. One scene early on illustrates this beautifully: After tagging along with Simon to a family gathering, Trevor learns from Simon’s mother (a fantastic Shola Adewusi) that Simon has never had a friend. She recounts a moment from Simon’s childhood in which he fell off his bike. Her voice breaking, she recalls how after she bandaged his scrapes, Simon thanked her for loving him. “All that time, I thought he didn’t mind how alone he was,” she says sadly. “I thought, ‘OK, he has his acting, his Criterion DVD collection, all those movie posters on the walls … maybe he doesn’t feel alone. But he was, and he felt it.” The exchange is short, happening as they’re washing dishes after the party, but it’s one of the series’ standout moments. This is where “Wonder Man” shines. This is what Cretton and Guest know it needs to be, and what makes this story so resonant.

But despite his struggles, Simon doesn’t wallow. He’s sad, but he stands tall and tackles the world with alacrity. It’s the people around him, namely his mother and ex-girlfriend (Olivia Thirlby), who speak to the pain he won’t talk about. Abdul-Mateen II proves the brilliance of his casting again and again, communicating Simon’s pain while keeping up with Kingsley’s comedy.

Here, though, Kingsley is more than his comedic chops. Trevor’s Mandarin-divorced charm was evident at the outset; from the moment he hurried out of that bathroom and found himself cross-eyed with a handgun pointed at his face, the character affronted all five senses with ease and endeared himself immediately. The screen feels superfluous, even nonexistent, when Kingsley pops into frame. Most important, he’s able to grow and challenge his character without forfeiting his intrinsic greasiness. Kingsley is one of the MCU’s greatest assets, even if Kevin Feige and other studio heads have yet to realize it.

“Wonder Man” is an all-timer for the MCU, partly because it isn’t as beholden to overarching continuity. It isn’t perfect, but it’s closer than I ever imagined. A prevailing sense of withholding plagues Marvel’s post-“Endgame” efforts, most of which seem to aim not to satisfy but to segue into the next thing — projects that invariably feed the same machine in the same way. “Wonder Man” avoids this approach simply by being; it’s more than happy sitting off to the side while mindlessness cheapens its sister shows and films. What Cretton and Guest have created is special, and hopefully Marvel knows why.