‘Best show of 2026’ shockingly axed – but fans are missing the silver lining

I wonder what Marvel was thinking when they cancelled this? (Picture: Marvel Studios) If you were to trust the internet’s opinion of the MCU right now, you’d think Marvel was facing some kind of doomsday. Yet despite all the gloomy guts online moaning about ‘superhero fatigue,’ things are looking up at Marvel Studios. Their last few projects have been very well received critically, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day looks set to break the box office after impressing audiences and critics alike. So it came as something of a shock yesterday when Marvel unexpectedly announced they were cancelling the second season of Wonder Man. Wonder Man – which followed the adventures of superpowered actor Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his friend Trevor (Ben Kingsley) – was easily one of the best TV shows Marvel has released and, in my opinion, probably one of the most underrated series of 2026. Unsurprisingly, then, the news that the show has been cancelled was less popular than a Captain America cosplayer at a Hydra convention. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video But my thoughts on it? Well, to paraphrase Loki, ‘Yes, yes. Very sad… anyway.’ And look, I know that sounds dismissive because I was gutted as well at first and worried we weren’t getting more from a great show and character. But do we know that’s the case? Have the bosses at Marvel snapped their fingers and dusted Simon Williams? I doubt it. Because have you forgotten who co-created this show? I believe in Destin Daniel Cretton (Picture: Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock) It was Destin Daniel Cretton, the same man who just directed Brand New Day, a film that, as I’ve already said, is about to knock The Odyssey off the box-office top spot. I find it slightly suspicious then that Marvel has cancelled one of Destin’s projects when he’s arguably one of their best creatives. Which got me thinking: has Wonder Man been cancelled so that Simon can appear in a bigger project? Like, say, the Shang-Chi sequel we know Destin is working on. Perhaps Trevor Slattery will introduce Simon to the master of martial arts? Or maybe they just run into Shang-Chi in San Francisco after fleeing LA? Trevor is the connective tissue between Wonder Man and Shang-Chi (Picture: Marvel/Disney) Maybe I’m being optimistic; there’s no concrete evidence to back up this thinking, but Yahya has given me some hope. In his reaction to the news that Wonder Man season 2 had been cancelled, Yahya seemed surprisingly sanguine about the whole deal. ‘Word just dropped that Wonder Man won’t be coming back for Season 2,’ he wrote. ‘That’s life, right? Everything will shake out. I wanted to say thank you to everybody who WATCHED the show, ENJOYED the show, and SHARED that they enjoyed the show in some way or other. The show worked. And that’s my favourite thing about it.’ To me, that doesn’t read like a man who’s annoyed he’s just lost out on a paycheque signed by Mickey Mouse, especially that line about ‘everything will shake out’. We’ll see Wonder Man again (Picture: Marvel/Disney) That sounds like someone who knows something he’s contractually obligated to stay shtum on. It’s not just me making wild inferences either. On Reddit, several users seemed convinced Wonder Man would wander back into our lives. ‘I am confident that his character will return at some point, mayhaps in the next Shang-Chi film as that is also set in California,’ wrote DavidTheJohnson. ‘My assumption is that they cancelled this show to free him up for the next movie,’ agreed Unique_Unorque. ‘His character will eventually return anyway. Probably Shang-Chi 2,’ added HearTheEkko. People on Reddit agree with me! (Picture: Marvel/Suzanne Tenner. All Rights Reserved) Now you might argue that going from our own show to appearing as a supporting character in another superhero’s movie is a downgrade, but I’m not sure I agree. The Marvel shows just haven’t been the hit Disney clearly expected them to be. Everyone I know in the world of entertainment press watches them, but they just don’t cut through to general audiences. I know it’s anecdotal, but I always judge this stuff through my sister, who stays up to date with Marvel movies but is always baffled when I mention any of the TV shows. So she knows who Korg is because he was in the Thor films, but she’s no clue who Ms Marvel or Kate Bishop are, because she’s no interest in subscribing to Disney Plus to keep up to date on the bloated MCU. I think then that if Wonder Man season 2 has been cancelled to give the character a role in a movie, it shows confidence in the character that belies the cancellation. They want more from Simon; they just want the biggest audience possible to see how wonderful this man can be. Deals of the Day Wuka launches the UK’s first period-proof swimwear for heavy flows Bridgerton fans are rushing to buy these new Netflix-inspired perfumes now £12 off The affordable summer wardrobe update you'll wear from rooftop drinks to beach holidays The £7.99 lip balm beauty fans love for glossy, hydrated lips just dropped four new shades This Keskine hydrogel mask could fix your summer skin Wonder Man is available to watch now on Disney Plus. Arrow MORE: Glee is problematic and tragic – Ryan Murphy should leave it alone Arrow MORE: Wolverine on PS5 is considerably cheaper on disc than digital download Arrow MORE: The 11 most exciting video game releases of August 2026 TV Newsletter Sign up and tell us which TV shows you love to watch to get personalised updates every morning.