Simon has felt totally different his complete life. He has no buddies to talk of, his household finds him a worrying curiosity, and he can’t keep a romantic relationship. When he finds out {that a} revered director is remaking Surprise Man, a superhero film he loved along with his late father, he begins to fixate on touchdown the lead function and finds an unlikely ally in Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), a washed-up actor who portrayed the Mandarin terrorist in Iron Man 3 and popped up once more in a pocket dimension throughout Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
The pair is an absolute delight to observe. Abdul-Mateen II’s neurodivergent-coded Simon is decided however hapless; an introverted man who has set himself the purpose of turning into a well-known actor however retains getting in his personal means and undermines his pure abilities in consequence. Kingsley’s Trevor enters Simon’s life because the extroverted affect he’s badly wanted for some time. It could be simple to think about Trevor as Simon’s excitable imaginary pal if we didn’t already know he was actual. He solely provides to the sensation that Simon might lose management, pushing and exploiting his new pal in escalating, precarious circumstances because the duo trots round Hollywood making an attempt to make their mark.
In the meantime, Simon’s caught the attention of the Division of Injury Management (bear in mind them?), who think about him a menace. His unexamined powers are actually a compelling drawback throughout the board, as a result of though Simon genuinely couldn’t give a single fig about them, the MCU’s model of Hollywood has additionally banned individuals with superpowers from performing below one thing referred to as “the Doorman Clause.” The query of how Simon can land the function of Surprise Man and preserve a lid on his powers hovers over the collection like a darkish cloud – finally, one thing should give.
For anybody involved about making a weekly dedication to this story, the excellent news is that every one of Surprise Man‘s episodes are arriving without delay, and so they common out to sitcom size. It would take lower than 4 hours to get via all the season, and many of the episodes (and their jokes) land completely effectively. There’s a standout episode within the center that pushes the present a bit of deeper into its personal lore, however there’s additionally a irritating episode that looks like pointless operating round and nearly derails its momentum.
Fortunately, it doesn’t. However for some time, it provides to the sensation that we’re caught in a little bit of an MCU segue. Surprise Man is certainly a character-driven venture, so it’s a lot much less involved with superhero fripperies. It takes place in a universe the place Rogers: The Musical remains to be doing enterprise, however audiences are nonetheless experiencing superhero fatigue, which is a meta method from Marvel which may be a part of its undoing – it’s quite unlikely that individuals who have change into much less within the studio’s output will see the present on their Disney+ menu and be thrilled sufficient by the premise to provide it a go, whereas those that are nonetheless dedicated to the machinations of the MCU may discover it charming however finally a bit forgettable.
Should you’re on the lookout for superhero cameos, CGI battles, and piles of easter eggs, that is positively not the present for you, however in the event you really feel like watching a healthful, humorous little present about friendship that occurs to deal with somebody with superpowers, you would actually do rather a lot worse than Surprise Man.
