A new report details that the upcoming Disney+ Wonder Man is indeed getting scrapped after director Destin Daniel Cretton exited the Avengers: Kang Dynasty film.
Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro reported earlier this week that Cretton, who directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and was expected to direct Avengers: Kang Dynasty, had exited the film.
Within that report, D’Alessandro claimed that Cretton would continue work on the Disney+ Wonder Man series which he co-created with the series’ showrunner Andrew Guest. He had directed the first two episodes and was one of the show’s Executive Producers.
According to D’Alessandro, the series was expected to resume shooting after Thanksgiving with the SAG-AFTRA strike concluded.
The report seemed to rebuff a previous rumor from MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios author Joanna Robinson who claimed the show was on the chopping block.
In an appearance on The Watch podcast, she stated, “After we heard about Daredevil, I’ve also heard, again The Watch scoop, but also don’t sort me, dubious sources necessarily that they are trashing the Wonder Man project. There’s a lot of stuff that is going to go in the can.”
Now, John Rocha is claiming his sources have informed him that indeed the project is getting scrapped or at the very least going to be undergoing a significant creative reboot like Daredevil: Born Again.
He stated, “From a source I know the idea that he’s going to be working on the Wonder Man series is cover. ‘Cause from what I’m being told is that the actors were told to move on from the Wonder Man series and if they are going to do it they were going to be starting from scratch.”
He then posited, “So, one of two things is going on. The Wonder Man series is dead and this is a Justin Simeon/Donald Glover situation where they’re saying he wants to focus on Wonder Man and Shang-Chi 2, and then like a month later they’re going to say Wonder Man is cancelled, they couldn’t figure it out or whatever, and this is providing cover for Destin Daniel Cretton.”
“Or they are starting from scratch. They let some of the actors go, but they might be bringing some of them back to restart this machine all over again,” he added.
Wonder Man was announced back in June 2022 with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton working with head writer Andrew Guest.
In February, Marvel Studios producer Stephen Broussard informed ComicBook.com, “Destin is doing a television show for us called Wonder Man. I think that’s out there in the world.”
He added, “[Wonder Man will] be definitely influenced by the comics. One of the things that we’re excited about it is that it’s going to feel very unique. It’s not going to feel like anything you’ve quite seen in the MCU before. And the kind of stories we can tell on Disney+, which has been fun. Like streaming, serialized storytelling is a totally different muscle. So, we’re having a blast making that one.”
The series reportedly went into production back in April with Cretton holding up a color rendition in front of the iconic Hollywood sign and posting the image to Instagram. However, with the Writers Guild of America and the SAG-AFTRA strikes going into effect, production was halted.
What do you make of this latest rumor that Wonder Man is being scrapped or being significantly rebooted?