Wow, we “wonder” how that happened! We talk about cancelled projects all the time at Nerdbot. We’ve seen completed films get completely scrapped. We’ve seen video games that were in development for YEARS suddenly get canned. Markets shift, public taste can change, and studios get scared. And while we don’t see this newly breaking situation as often, it can still happen. Despite announcing it would be renewed for a second season, Wonder Man has been cancelled for Disney+.
Wonder is Wearing Off
The term “superhero fatigue” has been tossed around a lot over the last few years. Some try to pass it off by pointing out the success of certain films. Take, for example, The Batman from Matt Reeves and Deadpool & Wolverine. The fact of the matter is that this “fatigue” is real but select characters have a relative immunity to this. There’s no doubt that Spider-Man: Brand New Day is going to do a killing at the box office because people generally love Spidey. And of course Avengers: Doomsday is going to be big because of the nature of the film’s premise.
That doesn’t leave something like Wonder Man in a good position though. Under the second tenure of Bob Iger at Disney, a lot of cuts were made. The idea of a flood of superhero content was now seen as a bad idea. All those prospective films and series? It’s creating homework for viewers that they don’t want to do. There may be a few series that people are going to be heavily invested in, but not many. And the idea what Wonder Man was going to be one of them may have seemed likely earlier this year, but not now.
An Unexpected Turn of Events
So what happened in the last few months? The premise of the show was unique. It features Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams. He’s a man with super powers who has to try and hide them so he can become an actor. Ironically, he’s auditioning for the role of a super hero. He ends up crossing paths with another character who is already an actor in this universe, Trevor Slattery. The Ben Kingsley character was the “villain” in Iron Man 3 and also featured in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. It led to strong critical reception but maybe it didn’t get the views or public discourse that other programs got?
Maybe Disney announced the renewal fairly early, hoping that the show would pick up a fresh wave of viewers. It makes sense from a marketing perspective. You release a show, let it premiere and then a couple months later you announce it gets a second season. That way it makes the news again and people get intrigued since the show won’t get the “one and done” treatment. Or, maybe Disney is tightening the purse strings after the high-profile letdowns of The Mandalorian and Grogu and the live-action Moana.
It’s not a great time to be a superhero and our hearts go out to anyone who was counting on this upcoming season for work.
