Wonder Man creator Andrew Guest has acknowledged the "important conversations" that fans are having following word of the show's cancellation, and after Blade star Mahershala Ali slammed Disney for fumbling Blade.
Last week, Marvel fans were left stunned by Marvel's abrupt U-turn on a second season for the Emmy-nominated Wonder Man, which had previously been announced as renewed. Days later, Ali voiced his strongest criticism yet over Marvel's failure to make his long-promised Blade reboot, which now looks unlikely to ever happen.
While both of these projects were scrapped for separate reasons, Marvel fans have highlighted the current situaton as a "terrible look" for the company's support of projects starring Black actors, and called for better care to be taken going forward.
"Between this and Wonder Man, TERRIBLE look Marvel," one fan wrote in a lengthy thread on reddit. "Oof this really hurts," said another. "Marvel has to get their s*** together," wrote a third.
Numerous comments have highlighted the varying issues impacting the quality or release of other projects featuring Black characters in recent years. Announced in 2020, the Don Cheadle-starring Armor Wars has been left missing in action. After finishing filming in 2022, Ironheart's launch was held back until 2025, impacting the series' momentum. Samuel L. Jackson's Secret Invasion series saw Nick Fury get a solo project after 15 years, only for it to turn out as one of the lowest-rated Marvel projects ever, with no plans announced for his return. After earning Captain America's shield in 2019, Anthony Mackie's six-year wait for a movie ended in the messy and disappointing Brave New World, while some fans have criticized the subsequent reintroduction of Steve Rogers. And after crossing over to the X-Men universe at the end of The Marvels, Monica Rambeau has, so far, been left out of the Avengers: Doomsday marketing.
Of course, other Marvel projects have also hit issues or been poorly-received — both Thor: Love & Thunder and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania quickly spring to mind — but, again, fans have pointed to the above list being an unfortunate look — and Guest appeared to agree.
"I've been listening, I appreciate you all, I feel how you all feel," Guest said in a video posted on TikTok.
"I appreciate everyone getting out there and letting your voices be heard about how you feel about this," he continued. "I think there's important conversations being had online about the kind of stories we're prioritizing and the kind of shows that platforms want to make."
Looking to the future, it's unclear to what extent Marvel still plans to make live-action Disney+ shows. Other than Vision Quest and Daredevil: Born Again Season 3, which have already been filmed, no other projects have been announced. The same is also true of Disney's Star Wars wing, which also has no confirmed further series in the pipeline now it has finished filming Ahsoka Season 2.
As for Marvel's movie projects, the company has Black Panther 3 and the Ryan Gosling-starring Ghost Rider coming in 2028 following Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Marvel has reserved a third 2028 release date, too, which is likely when the company's X-Men reboot will arrive.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social