Marvel Almost Cancelled Its Best TV Show in Years (& Robbed us Of the MCU’s Andor)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has released a lot of shows and movies based on popular characters, but one of its best, based on a minor comic hero, almost didn’t get made at all. Most people had dismissed Wonder Man before it ever premiered on Disney+, and a lot of that was because it appeared the studio just wanted to dump it and move on. However, what resulted was one of the best MCU shows ever released, something that has more in common with a show like WandaVision than something with “bigger” expectations like Falcon and the Winter Soldier or Secret Invasion.

Despite this, Wonder Man almost didn’t get made at all. Wonder Man’s head writer, Andrew Guest, told ComicBookMovie that Marvel wanted to scrap Wonder Man completely during the 2023 Hollywood strikes. “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,” Guest said. “We were definitely one of those things that was taken off their board for a moment there, and the producers who were part of our project fought like hell to convince people this is something worth continuing with.”

Wonder Man is Marvel’s Version of Andor

Despite all the reservations, Wonder Man was a fantastic MCU series, telling one of the best self-contained stories in the television universe. With a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score and an 88% audience rating, the majority agreed this was a highlight for the MCU. In reality, it ended up as the MCU’s version of the Star Wars franchise’s Andor.

Andor was not like other Star Wars releases, where it had nothing to do with major characters like Han Solo or Obi-Wan Kenobi. Instead, this focused on a politically motivated story of one thief, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), and his motivation to help fight back against the fascist Galactic Empire. The entire show was different in tone and approach, and the producers had to fight to get it made and released. However, it was worth it, with an almost perfect 96% RT score from critics and an 89% from the audience. It changed how people looked at Star Wars from a creative standpoint.

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Since Wonder Man was the last MCU project released for now, it remains to be seen if Marvel looks at the show as a template for future releases. It is a standalone series that did something completely different by not caring about superhero action scenes. Yes, there are some carryovers, including Trevor Slattery and the organization Damage Control, but Wonder Man is a story about one man trying to find his legacy, and it isn’t to be a superhero.

Whether Marvel takes the right lessons from Wonder Man’s success is irrelevant for the show itself. This series is one of the best that the MCU has ever released on Disney+, ranking up with WandaVision and Daredevil: Born Again. What those shows have in common is that they dared to do something different and helped breathe new life into the franchise. The MCU needs more shows like Wonder Man, and that is impressive since it almost didn’t get made at all.

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