Is Marvel really giving up on heroes who aren’t guaranteed hits? That’s what some fans have asked after Wonder Man dropped its full season on Disney+ at the end of January. The show, which co-creator Destin Daniel Cretton says was nearly shelved during the Hollywood strikes, has turned into one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s strongest-reviewed titles, sitting near a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. Yet the debate continues: did Disney bury a winner or quietly try something new?
Speaking with radio station Majic 102.1, Cretton pushed back on online talk that Marvel Studios had “dumped” the series. “If Marvel didn’t care about this show, it wouldn’t be out in the world at all,” he said. “And it definitely would not be out in the world in the form that it is.” Cretton reminded fans that the show had been at risk of being written off completely while production froze during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. What saved it, he said, was belief from the top. “Everybody from Kevin [Feige] on down really loved the tone of the show and loved that it was different,” he added.
Cretton described how the series dared to test Marvel’s limits. “It’s a big swing for Marvel to take,” he said. “Everybody here loves movies, and that’s what the show is really about.” He admitted some of the online speculation was way off base but didn’t resent the passion. “The internet likes to make up stories and narratives,” he said. “But I love the passion behind it because people just love the show and want more people to see it.”
Marvel’s decision to release all eight episodes of Wonder Man at once raised questions since most past series (like Daredevil: Born Again and Loki) used weekly releases. A similar approach was taken with Echo, another show dropped in full under the new Marvel Spotlight label. That banner focuses on smaller, self-contained stories that don’t tie into the MCU’s bigger arcs. Streaming habits may also have played a role. Viewers have become used to binging, and Disney may have wanted the show’s critical buzz to hit all at once rather than stretch over two months.
But the idea that Marvel didn’t promote Wonder Man doesn’t really hold up. The first teaser arrived at New York Comic Con on October 10, 2025. Before that, in July, actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II even appeared in character as Simon Williams at the premiere of The Fantastic Four: The First Steps. The campaign leaned into the show’s Hollywood satire, even spinning up a fake podcast hosted by Turner Classic Movies’ Ben Mankewitz and featuring Ben Kingsley’s returning character Trevor Slattery. That effort shows that Marvel didn’t toss this series aside—they tried something creative to fit its tone.
As for the future, it’s not yet clear if Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery will return. Maybe the real story here isn’t about whether Marvel abandoned Wonder Man, but whether Marvel audiences are willing to embrace something that doesn’t fit the usual formula. After all, isn’t that what fans have been asking for?
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