While Marvel fans have largely been busy anticipating upcoming MCU movies like Avengers: Doomsday and the X-Men reboot, Kevin Feige has taken some critical flak from the fandom recently for Wonder Man's cancellation. Two weeks after receiving an Emmy nomination, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II learned Wonder Man Season 2 had been nixed despite Season 2 already being confirmed. Since then, the lead actor has been addressing why he thinks the renewal was reversed, and has given his take on why he believes it takes longer for Black audiences to find projects like Wonder Man.
Part of the fans’ criticism is that along with Wonder Man, other Black-led projects have been shelved, which has many calling out an alleged pattern Marvel has. Tonya Mosley, from NPR Fresh Air, is one of many who have asked Abdul-Mateen his opinion on this pattern and how it connects to Black audiences:
I actually don’t know the truth of what happened. I’ve heard things about viewership. What I would say is that if that is the case, my perspective is that when you see Black-led niche projects, I think they need a little bit more time to cook, because I think Black audiences usually find out and gravitate to the niche projects a little bit slower, because they’re not always, that’s not always what is marketed to us.
In the case of Wonder Man, Abdul-Mateen was told that the viewership numbers couldn’t make the math work to balance against production costs. Many lapsed fans saw the series as the perfect show to return to Marvel for, so the loss hits hard. I’m still hopeful we’ll see Simon (and Trevor) again in a future project, even if it’s part of an ensemble. (Meanwhile, you can still watch the award-nominated first season with a Disney+ subscription.)
However, fans are also pointing out canceled plans for Armor Wars (which was supposed to focus on Don Cheadle’s Rhodey) and the shelving of the Blade movie. Mahershala Ali has since been candid about Blade going nowhere, though he harbors no ill will toward the studio, and has moved on to other things. But it still isn't the best optics for Marvel's part. Especially after another project led by a Black star, Ironheart, had poor viewership for its first season, while the animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur was canceled after two seasons.
Seeing all these projects gone so soon, Abdul-Mateen admits:
When you look at the history of those projects and when you put them all together, there’s no way around it. It does not look good. That’s what it looks like. So I’d be, you know, willfully blind if I chose not to make that observation.
Despite the unfortunate outcome, the actor continues to feel “thankful and blessed” to be part of the series. Abdul-Mateen feels the love from fans and believes it’s because people “love that show.” He has since shared what his dreams were for a Season 2 and at the time, stated his believed solution: “So our show does deserve some study and some real, hard information about why a show like this did not continue forward.”
Additionally, Wonder Man co-creator Destin Daniel Cretton has defended Kevin Feige after the news was announced. He said that he believed, “If it were up to Kevin, we’d be doing that show,” and spoke about how much the Marvel CEO loved the series. Hopefully, this means we Simon and Trevor’s adventures will live to see another day.
Hopefully, Marvel will produce plenty of future projects led by POC talents. And if that includes bringing Abdul-Mateen back in some way, that's just fine with us.
