Wonder Man might be Marvel's most unique TV show yet. Its hero, Simon Williams, is also an actor in the comics, but beyond that, creators Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest have massively diverged from Wonder Man's arc in the source material.
There's no affiliation with the Avengers here, no big superhero fights to speak of. This Simon, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, just wants to succeed at acting. But in the fourth standalone episode, the writers give Simon a break between auditions to focus on another super-powered story instead, one that also feels unique but actually draws surprise inspiration from The Simpsons (of all places).
Episode four begins with the origin of Doorman, all shot in black and white. It's a somewhat fitting colour palette given that Doorman's costume is entirely black and white, too, in the comics. Here though, we're first introduced to DeMarr Davis (Byron Bowers) as a literal doorman who's working in LA one night when he stumbles across some black goo that changes his life forever.
One door opens
Comic book Doorman was born with the power to teleport people and objects through his body as a portal of sorts. Whatever the Roxxon corporation threw away in the skip, DeMarr comes across gives him this same power, but Wonder Man's version of the character has no goal to be a superhero like his comic book counterpart.
This Doorman is quickly taken under Josh Gad's wing — you know, the guy who sings the snowman song in Frozen — to provide a swift escape route when fame becomes too overwhelming. But it's not long before DeMarr's proximity to so much celebrity pulls him in.
Before he knows it, a small movie role catapults Doorman to the big time. The words "Ding dong" can suddenly be heard across America as DeMarr's viral catchphrase takes hold of the MCU. It's the kind of fame Simon Williams can only dream of at this point, except it's not built to last.
Trolls online soon start asking when Doorman's fifteen minutes of fame might be up. DeMarr then appears on a talk show, discussing his need to be taken seriously as an actor, before it turns out that this is all a skit for him to "ding dong" his way through Hamlet. This downward trajectory gets worse before it gets better, eventually tying into Simon's story in a big way. But the whole time I was watching this episode, Wonder Man couldn't have been further from my mind. All I could think about instead was The Simpsons.
Catch-22
Longtime fans of The Best Animated Show Ever Made™ might recall a classic 1994 episode from season five called "Bart Gets Famous," where Bart Simpson does indeed get famous.
What starts out as a deathly dull school trip to the local box factory inadvertently throws Bart into the world of showbiz during a shift working as Krusty the Clown's production assistant. Live on TV, Bart accidentally destroys a stage prop and suddenly blurts out four unforgettable words: "I didn't do it!"
Wonder Man is so good, it's convinced me that Marvel should only do Spotlight shows from now on
Just like DeMarr, Bart instantly becomes the most famous person on the planet thanks to an immortal catchphrase that carries him all the way to talk show TV. In both cases, the interviewers only want Bart and DeMarr for their gimmick, failing to take either of them seriously as entertainers in their own right. All people want from them is their catchphrase, and even that soon grows tiresome.
While Bart doesn't end up accidentally killing Josh Gad, or anyone else for that matter too, the parallels between his and Doorman's story are weirdly similar to the point where you have to wonder if the Wonder Man writers' room had Disney+ on in the background while they worked.
The Simpsons writers have said (via commentary on the season 5 DVD box set) that they deliberately made Bart's catchphrase "lousy" to show how "really crummy things can become really popular." That's clearly the driving force in Wonder Man, too, which pokes fun at the fleeting, often vapid nature of fame right as the show's star, Simon, is in the midst of its pursuit.
Also bear in mind that Wonder Man very consciously refers to other stories owned by Disney, including Twilight and American Horror Story, so perhaps some direct inspiration from The Simpsons isn't such a reach, after all.
Wonder Man is streaming now on Disney Plus. For more, check out our Wonder Man review and stay up to date on all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows that are currently in the works.
