With a rewneal of Marvel’s ‘Wonder Man,’ Disney+ is making a bet on Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Black superheroes and storytelling
TheGrio...
After strong critical success after its January launch, the series following actor/superhero Simon Williams is gearing up for more.
When news broke that “Wonder Man,” the critically acclaimed Marvel television series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley, had been renewed on Disney+, it marked a bit of history, not only for a Black superhero-led show but for any Marvel-based show on the Disney-backed streamer.
Before “Wonder Man,” Marvel’s “Luke Cage” was the only live-action Black-led superhero show from Marvel to receive a second season. In terms of Marvel shows on Disney+ in total? “Wonder Man” is now only the third show to see an extended look, following “Loki” and “Daredevil: Born Again.” “WandaVision,” the first Marvel show launched on the platform in 2019, has seen a spinoff (“Agatha All Along”) and will see a second show (“VisionQuest”) as part of an informal trilogy.
For a project that had Mateen attached since 2022, the news is four years’ worth of hard work paying off.
The recent history of live-action Black-led superhero shows on television
After the blockbuster success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, various imprints showed renewed interest in wanting superhero shows. DC long had TV spinoffs for the likes of Batman, Superman, Green Arrow and The Flash. Marvel, on the other hand, utilized Netflix for its first foray into live-action TV shows before Disney launched its own streaming service in 2019.
“Luke Cage,” the Marvel television series led by Mike Colter, ran for two seasons on Netflix from 2016 to 2018. Its first season was critically acclaimed, particularly for Colter’s and Mahershala Ali’s performances. While critics had their issues with the series, it was a fan favorite despite Netflix cancelling it months after the season 2 finale. There were other Marvel series (“Cloak and Dagger,” “Secret Invasion,” “Falcon & The Winter Soldier”), but of those three series, only “Cloak and Dagger” received a second season, and the show wasn’t on Disney+, but on Freeform.
“Black Lightning” was a DC Comics series that aired on the CW, starring Cress Williams (“Scooter” from “Living Single”) and a wide variety of characters. Premiering in 2018, the show tackled issues such as environmental racism, police brutality and more before concluding with its fourth and final season in 2021.
In 2021, “Batwoman,” which originally starred Ruby Rose, found a new lead actress in Javicia Leslie. Leslie, portraying an original character not in any of the DC Comics, donned the mask and cowl of Batwoman for two seasons before the show was canceled on the CW in 2022.
In 2025, Disney+ released “Ironheart,” a live-action miniseries starring Dominique Thorne that took place shortly after the events of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Despite positive reviews from critics throughout its arc, the show also faced negative reviews from trolls who review-bombed it to prevent a second season.
In an essay for TV Fandom Lounge, a staff writer summed up the hate for “Ironheart” due to an inability to live in a world where a Black woman can be in the leading role in a superhero proejct: “Black women or women of color — have been consistently met with a wave of bad-faith backlash from the very people who claim to love the genre. These review bombs aren’t about quality; they’re about discomfort with inclusion.”
To date, there has been no word on whether “Ironheart” is returning for a season 2 on the streamer.
So why did “Wonder Man” break the streak?
Return to the basics
For all of the action and grit that have made up the Marvel TV universe (even the camp of some series like “She-Hulk”), “Wonder Man” lowered the stakes. Mateen’s Simon Williams is merely an actor attempting to hide his superpowers as he navigates playing a superhero for a movie. With no existential threat ready to end the world as his main villain and his main foil being the powers that be in Hollywood, viewers clamored for more.
In its first week, “Wonder Man” racked up 618 million minutes of watch time, according to Nielsen, landing in the top 10 of the service’s original streaming series. Some outlets thought the number was an instant death knell for the show, but Marvel and Disney quickly disagreed, thanks to word of mouth and more.
Mateen is already going to be showing up often on TV screens this year. Beyond “Wonder Man,” he’s slated to star as John Creasy in a television adaptation of “Man on Fire.” With “Wonder Man” already locked up for another season, one of Hollywood’s booked and busy actors is going to keep the title — and keep entertaining us along the way.