Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Mike Redmond | News | August 5, 2026
In case you can’t tell, we’ve been obsessed with the cancellation of Wonder Man. The Marvel series was a delightful gem that rightly earned Yahya Abdul-Mateen II an Emmy nomination. The whole thing was full of surprises from nailing the finale to somehow scoring a Season 2 renewal. At least for a while.
For some reason, a decision was made to pull the plug on Wonder Man just days before the show’s co-creator, Daniel Destin Cretton, lit the box office on fire with Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Surely, that news could’ve waited, but here we are. Since then, we’ve heard from Abdul-Mateen and showrunner Andrew Guest. Now, Cretton has weighed in on the cancellation, and his remarks are extremely telling.
Via 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,” Cretton said.
Cards on the table: Until I saw this quote, I would have bet cash-money that Wonder Man was yoinked to free up Destin for a new billion-dollar Spidey movie as quickly as possible. I’m sure there were other factors in the mix, but now, I’m convinced those other factors were a much more significant factor.
Buried in Cretton’s quote is the reveal that the decision was made above Kevin Feige’s head, which is rarefied air and clearly means Disney brass. Cretton also alludes to the state of the streaming business, which is not great as far as Disney+ is concerned. You see, something notable did happen between Wonder Man’s Season 2 renewal and now: Daredevil: Born Again sh*t the bed.
The first season of Born Again never once cracked the Nielsen Top 10 streaming charts, which is not great by itself. Season 2 had the same problem plus the added bonus of reportedly bringing in only half the streaming views of Season 1. Yikes.
What does that all mean? Well, not only did the Disney+ experiment dilute the Marvel franchise by making the MCU a homework-laden mess with too many disparate threads, but people were barely watching the shows. Essentially, Disney was dumping money down the drain on two fronts: The shows that nobody was watching, and the lost box office because of said shows.
As of this writing, Marvel only has two live-action shows in the pipeline: VisionQuest, which premieres later this fall, and Born Again Season 3, which will presumably hit around March/April 2027. After that, crickets, and I’m guessing it’s going to stay that way.
