Even as Marvel and Disney are celebrating the box office behemoth Spider-Man: Brand New Day, whose success can be heavily attributed to director Destin Daniel Cretton, the MCU took a hit when the Emmy-nominated Wonder Man was canceled, despite having previously earning a Season 2 renewal. Cretton was also behind the camera on the Hollywood-skewing series, which is perhaps the most critically adored Marvel show without any witches in it, and not even he fully understands why the plug was pulled.
When speaking about his disappointment regarding Wonder Man’s fate, and also championing star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as a class act, Cretton made sure not to lay the blame at Kevin Feige’s feet, saying he doesn’t think the studio boss would have canceled the show without it being mandated from those above. He told The Wrap:
I love that show to death. If it were up to me, we would be making that show. And I do believe that if – and I know this sounds weird – but if it were up to Kevin [Feige], we would be doing that show. And I’m just talking, I don’t fully understand the business of streaming, but if the business was right, we would be making that show because I know [Feige] loves that show as much as I do. It’s a bummer. I’m heartbroken about it. But I need to fully understand the why.
Kevin Feige was directly responsible for helping convince Abdul Mateen to take on the role of Simon, as the actor was wary about potentially wasting his Marvel hero shot on a bum deal. So that speaks to Feige having a lot of confidence in the show. The Marvel bigwig has also spoken highly of bringing the show's specific comedic tone to the MCU. It's too bad he apparently wasn't the one with the final say in the matter.
Rumors have surfaced claiming Disney+ is pulling back on live-action MCU TV series to avoid oversaturation and keep anticipation high for theatrical drops. It's also been reported that despite the somewhat early season renewal, no forward progress had been made on getting a writers room started. Whether or not either or both of those claims is legitimate, one has to assume that the total viewership also weighed on execs' minds. Not that anyone outside of the company will ever know those numbers.
Destin Daniel Cretton addressed that detail when asked if he'd ever be interested in directing a Wonder Man feature, saying that his interest would be piqued for a specific reason:
Because then we can clearly know if it’s a success or not. It’s just very clear numbers.
In the immediate aftermath of Disney reversing course and axing Wonder Man after its lone season, some fans speculated that it meant the superpowered Simon Williams was getting his own movie, or was being brought into Avengers: Doomsday. Co-creator Andrew Guest confirmed it wasn’t a marketing stunt or anything of the sort, and that for the foreseeable future, the character has been shelved.
In the meantime, at least one more adult-skewing MCU TV show is coming soon, with VisionQuest set to debut via Disney+ subscription on October 14, 2026.
