While Wonder Man would eventually be lauded by critics and fans alike, for a time, it appeared the project might never see the light of day.
Originally pitched in 2021, Wonder Man was developed during an era when Marvel was willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on its television series, tying them directly into the broader MCU.
At the time, the studio was essentially creating streaming shows as if they were movies broken into multiple installments.
Photo: Marvel
Forgoing the traditional serialized television format, as well as standards such as show bibles and showrunners, Marvel made television the same way it made blockbuster films.
The Big Change
After the disastrous results of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Secret Invasion, however, it became clear that something needed to change.
Photo: Disney+
Eventually, Marvel decided to overhaul its television production. To that end, it shifted to a more traditional creative process and focused on stories that could be serialized.
As part of this shift, the studio also chose to craft narratives that fans could follow without being fully caught up on the larger MCU.
Source: Marvel Studios
It was against this backdrop of change that the development of Wonder Man continued.
‘Wonder Man’ Was Nearly Scrapped
During a recent appearance on The Watch, Wonder Man showrunner Andrew Guest revealed that the series almost did not make it to air. At one point, the project was even canceled.
Image: Disney
“[There were] several moments where we almost didn’t survive, I can tell you. We were sort of one of the last projects in the door of the previous iteration of the Marvel Disney Plus experiment. Where they were saying yes to many things. Which is a nice place to be until suddenly you can’t,” he explained.
“There was a period during our writing where many things at Marvel were looked at sort of through a new critical lens of what we can pare down. And we were definitely one of those things that was taken off their board for a moment there. The producers who were part of our project fought like hell to convince people this is something worth continuing with.”
In addition to navigating broader changes at Marvel, early test screenings of Wonder Man were poorly received.
Wonder Man. Photo: Disney
Nevertheless, Marvel stood by the project and was rewarded when the show was widely praised upon its debut.
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