Marvel Almost Pulled the Plug on WONDER MAN and the Showrunner Shares How It Survived
When Wonder Man finally hit Disney+, it arrived with strong reviews and a wave of curiosity from Marvel fans. But what most viewers didn’t know is that the series very nearly didn’t make it to the screen at all.
Between shaky test screenings and the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, the show was on the edge more than once. According to showrunner Andrew Guest, it could have easily been scrapped. Instead, Marvel Studios made a key decision that kept it alive.
Guest recently opened up about the rollercoaster journey during an appearance on The Watch podcast, and it sounds like the early days were rough.
“Even when we tested the first two episodes, which we did in front of an audience, and it didn’t test all that great because a lot of people were confused by the show. I was like, okay, now they’re going to say, ‘Let’s change it.'”
That reaction would have made sense. Studios have pulled the trigger on major creative overhauls for less. But instead of demanding sweeping changes or shelving the project, Marvel shifted its focus.
Guest explained that the studio’s response wasn’t to tear the show apart, but to rethink how it was presented to audiences. He added:
“No, we have to market this differently. So what’s amazing to me about this is the enthusiasm is one thing, but the realities of the period in which you were making the show were another.”
That “period” he’s talking about was a complicated one for Marvel. The studio had greenlit a wave of projects during a time when, as Guest put it, “they were saying yes to many things.” That openness created opportunities, but it also meant some shows were vulnerable when the industry shifted gears.
Wonder Man felt that pressure.
“We, by the grace of somebody, story gods, we survived by the skin of our teeth several moments where we almost didn’t survive, I can tell you.”
The 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes hit right in the middle of production. Only half the series had been shot when everything shut down. With uncertainty hanging over Hollywood, conversations naturally turned toward whether the project should continue at all.
Guest recalled the kinds of questions that were floating around at the time: “Is this a thing we want to stick with?”
There was even talk of shelving it entirely as a tax write-off, a move that DC famously used with Batgirl. For a minute, it looked like Marvel might go that route. Instead, the studio stayed the course and committed to finishing the series.
That decision paid off. What could have been another casualty of a chaotic production era turned into one of Marvel’s more creatively adventurous Disney+ entries.
The show leans into its Hollywood satire and meta-commentary in a way that clearly confused some early viewers, but Marvel ultimately trusted that the right audience would connect with it.
It’s interesting to hear how close a Marvel project came to being scrapped. In this case, it wasn’t a creative reset that saved Wonder Man, it was confidence. Marvel believed in the concept and chose to refine the messaging instead of gutting the show.
Wonder Man ended up being a great and entertaining show that fans loved! Marvel knew there was something there.