Debuting this week on Disney+, with an uncharacteristic release of all eight episodes at the same time, is the latest in theMarvel Universe Television landscape, Wonder Man. The streaming service took some wild swings with their television content in the past, like  WandaVision or She-Hulk: Attorney at Law‘s penchants for non-traditional style stories. Following that ‘tradition,’Wonder Man may just be the biggest swing of them all. Wonder Man is a Marvel story without a superhero at all.

Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is a struggling actor that has an issue. He cannot help himself from over analyzing every aspect to the minute detail of his character, even for a one line reading, that he works himself out of most every job he lands. Simon was named after his late father’s favorite on screen hero, Wonder Man, a 60’s style film that Simon himself becomes obsessed with after watching a revival matinee with his father as a child. So when a remake of the film is announced, with “Oscar” winning director Von Kovak (Zlatko Buric), Simon breaks every rule to gain an audition. It’s at this audition when Simon meets and befriends the MCU’s resident thespian Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), who offers to help Simon through the audition process.

But by the end of the first episode we learn that Trevor meeting Simon wasn’t exactly an accident, as a face that audiences have seen before, Agent Cleary (Arian Moayed) of the Department for Damage Control, is behind the scenes directing Slattery’s moves. You see, in the MCU version of Hollywood, people with powers are banned from being actors. This links back to the tragedy of Doorman (Byron Bowers) and Josh Gad (playing a very funny parody of himself). And, as you can guess, Simon’s biggest secret is that he is indeed superpowered, and barely in control of it.

Wonder Man is not a superhero series – no, in fact it’s something drastically different. Its a bromance that intricately weaves its way through the entire process of the acting profession. For people that nerd out on films about the acting process, this one is for you. It also, delightfully, is a stark contrast to a series like The Boys, where basically only superheroes do the acting in big budget, propaganda laden fare. But for fans simply looking for more traditional action fare, they are likely to be very disappointed, the action set pieces are few and far between and there is ONE, yes just one fight scene in the entire series. Instead, Wonder Man is basically a sitcom about acting with a more dramatic undertone, episodes all running around the 30 minute mark that is easily digestible in one sitting.

The main drawing factor for the series is the bromance between Simon and Trevor and that is helped tremendously by a sparkling chemistry between Kingsley and Abdul-Matten II. The pair bounce off each other effortlessly, and it’s hard to imagine this show working as well with two other actors. Of course, Kingsley has been around the MCU for over a decade now, but Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is a wonderful addition. All that said, it’s the Doorman episode that nearly steals the series with a brilliant turn from Bowers and a delightfully meta Josh Gad performance.

The 30 minute aspect of the show keeps the pacing brisk, which works better here than in predecessor She-Hulk, and helps drive home the sitcom style feel. There isn’t much in the way of special effects this time around. And somehow, this feels almost liberating as the series steeps us into the lore and feels of this alternate Hollywood. From self tapes to grungy little offices for in person auditions, to agents and the more public side of the star machine, Wonder Man spends time in all of it. The show also features cameos galore that I won’t ruin here, but they help flesh out the feel of the Hollywood setting. But at the heart of the show is Williams and Slattery, and if you can buy into their frenetic bromance then what follows should satisfy the most ardent of fans.