Marvel's treatment of its Black-led film and television projects is under renewed scrutiny after two significant steps back for the company.
Just this week, Mahershala Ali confirmed he has moved on from the long-delayed Blade reboot, and Disney+ officially canceled Wonder Man — a show it had renewed for a second season just months ago. The shocking news comes after Ryan Coogler, director of Black Panther, announced David Jonsson would be playing the role of T’Challa II.
Here’s a breakdown of what happened with both projects.
The Blade Reboot
Ali's exit ends a seven-year relationship with a role he first announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019.
“No offense to them. I've been doing this professionally for pushing 30 years now, and one thing I've learned is that what is for you is for you and what is not is not,” he said in a new GQ interview. “For whatever reason, that project is not for me. If they wanted to do it, we would've done it. So I have to move on, and I have moved on." The Blade film cycled through director changes, script rewrites, and multiple delays before being pulled from the release calendar entirely.
Wonder Man
Wonder Man's cancellation arrived just months after Marvel announced its renewal for a second season. According to Variety, a writers' room for the new season was never actually opened, and co-creator Andrew Guest, along with the rest of the writing staff, were released to find other work.
The show exits with notable credentials. The first season of Wonder Man holds a 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Abdul-Mateen addressed the news directly on Instagram:
"Word just dropped that Wonder Man won't be coming back for Season 2. (And if you don't knowww, now ya knoww!) That's life, right? Everything will shake out. I wanted to say thank you to everybody who WATCHED the show, ENJOYED it, and SHARED that they enjoyed the show in some way or other... The show worked,” he wrote. “And that's my favorite thing about it... I'm glad we got to be a part of something cool. Thank you for watching… And uhh… See you at the EMMYS."
How are audiences reacting to the news?
In light of the news of two Black-led Marvel projects being canned, people online have reacted to the news asking questions about Disney’s lack of prioritization for diverse programming. Take a look at some reactions below.
