Blade & Wonder Man Canceled: Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:01] it's our faultful. What the is happening with Blade and Wonderman. Welcome back and look, there's only a few things I ask for in this world, and that's a full a new Blade movie, and it looks like I'm only getting two of those things in the

[00:13] future. All jokes aside, the same month, Marvel announced a Ghost Rider movie and Panther in Black Panther 3. They've also confirmed that Mahersha Ali's Blade is season 2, which was reportedly green lit

[00:26] pulled from the slate. So, in today's video, we're breaking down exactly what where things went wrong, and how Marvel's biggest decisions are still and by Disney. This video is sponsored by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform

[00:38] breeze. At the end of July, Mhersel Ali confirmed he had moved on from the long time, Disney Plus officially canled Wonderman, a show it had renewed for a second season in March. Now, while Blade had arguably been stuck in development

[00:52] announcement, the movie was kind of cursed from the jump. Between multiple release schedules, rumored creative disagreements, cast and directors different versions of the script, and the WGA strikes, it's not surprising

[01:07] point, the real question isn't why it was cancelled. It becomes why did it Wonderman season 2, the situation is a little bit more confusing. Despite the series still wrapped on time. It earned strong reviews and currently sits

[01:22] above 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. Ya Abdul Matin even received an Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series. This is the second time for both DC and Marvel. Even creators Dustin Daniel and Andrew Guest are

[01:34] everyone's just confused. So, when it comes to Wonderman, the question isn't whether the series succeeded creatively. It absolutely did. It's what changed between March and now that had Disney Plus walking back on its own season 2

[01:46] renewal. So, let's begin with what the happened to Blade. To understand Blade's have to understand Blade's timeline. Blade went through COVID, two guild strikes, faced three release date changes, lost two directors, and hired

[01:58] I mean, that already tells you a lot. So, let me take you back. It's July 20th, 2019. We're at San Diego Comic- Con, Marvel has taken Hall H with the Academy Award winner Maha Ali is announced to star in the new Blade movie

[02:11] as Blade. That was seven years ago. And to put that into perspective for some of you, Blade was announced before Disney Plus had even launched. Then for the no updates. However, to be fair, the world was in, you know, the early stages

[02:24] little break there. In February 2021, Marvel hired Stacio Seuor, who wrote for Watchmen and Pen 15 to write the film. No director yet on this movie, which Marvel's reoccurring problem is that they often commit to projects years

[02:39] assembled. In this case of Blade, Marvel announced the movie before it even figured out exactly who would make it or even what it would look like. So looking hurdle the movie never really overcame. In the next month, they announced

[02:51] filming would begin in September 2021. While they're still searching for a director, but luckily by July, Bossam Tariq was in early talks to Direct Blade started. Everything seems like it's going according to plan, right? Things

[03:03] are moving forward slowly but surely and in November of that same year we get the Lindo officially joins the cast. So now we're entering 2022 a huge time for Marvel coming out of the pandemic and coming into the pandemic. So this year

[03:16] Multiverse of Madness, Thor Love and Thunder, Black Panther, Wakanda Forever, Moonnight, Miss Marvel, She-Hulk, I am Grew and two Disney Plus special Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special. That is nine projects releasing over 12

[03:29] Blade, Armor Wars, Secret Invasion, Iron Heart, Ekko, Agatha, formerly House of year, they'll announce Wonderman and Vision Quest. That's a lot of content, you guys. A lot. And remember that by the beginning of 2022, Blade's team is

[03:44] pre-production, and Aaron Pierre is talking about joining the cast as well. Principal Photography is slated to begin by that fall, October 2022. And by July, they announced the release of Blade's theatrical release, November 3rd, 2023.

[03:56] So solid. They're ready and we've been ready. And only 3 months after revealing Blade's release window, Blade's director pulls out. This is 2 months before they director after they've completed most of pre-production isn't great, but it's

[04:09] in the Multiverse of Madness lost Scott Derek just four months before filming stepping in to save the day. John Watts also dropped Fantastic 4, which Shackman. But Blade is different from these people because Marvel was

[04:23] committed to building this film around black and brown creatives behind it and working in Atlanta. Additionally, replacing the director isn't easy. Whoever stepped up next had to fit Mhersel Ali's vision, Marvel's vision,

[04:35] and Disney's expectations. Now, around this time, rumors were spreading that Bo Deo had been brought on as a writer as early as May. Later to be revealed along with Tariq, he left the project in September of 2022 as well. Vinnie Fair

[04:47] up the script regardless. Bo at the time had become very familiar as a creative Moonnight and serving as the head writer for X-Men 97. So, while losing a production, his involvement as a writer kind of offered some reassurance to us

[05:02] that the project was still in capable hands. Now, as we know, Marvel has since fallout, he shared his own claims, revealing how damning working on Blade was. And to be clear, I'm not corroborating his account or presenting

[05:16] reports and comments emerge from both anonymous sources and people connected to the production, it became harder to view Blade's problems as simply creative a lot of problems happening behind the scenes. So now without a director and

[05:29] with the writing process still moving behind the scenes, Marvel temporarily searching for a new filmmaker and continuing to develop the script alongside delays for Deadpool Wolverine, Fantastic 4, and other Marvel movie

[05:41] release date would be pushed from November 3rd, 2023 to September 6th, 2024. Now, I can't confirm that those other delays were directly caused by Blade, but an argument could be made that this film's production issues may

[05:54] projects are usually interconnected either chronologically and/or narratively. So, a delay in one corner of the MCU can impact the scheduling and other films moving forward, which I would assume wouldn't make Disney happy.

[06:08] delay announcement, they reveal that Yon Demage is now set to be the new director new script according to the Hollywood Reporter. And just one month later after that, it's announced that Bob Chapic is stepping down as Disney CEO and Bob Iger

[06:22] his replacement. Now, of course, we can't say that this had a big play hurting Blade, but the timing isn't helpful because the shift in leadership priorities. Disney was working under like an expansion mindset. Remember how

[06:35] I mentioned the amount of projects they had planned to release in 2022? That's a lot. That was a lot of Chapik's era. And Bob Iger's strategy was immediately cost how he constantly described these things as quality over quantity, which means

[06:48] Leadership attention would shift again somewhere else. And of course, less tolerance for bigger risks. If you've been sweltering under a heatwave and with your website right now, we get it. But when somebody visits your website,

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[07:43] clicks. Head to squarespace.com for a free trial. When you're ready to go launch, go to squarespace.com/newrostars to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. We're in 2023 now, February to be exact, and Demise, the

[07:55] Atlanta on pre-production, and Feige has now said that Blade will begin shooting in 10 weeks or so. It's been officially 3 years and 7 months since Blade was announced to that day. At this point, you kind of are just like, we all kind

[08:08] of lost hope. April 2023, Mia Goth joins the cast in an undisclosed role. And by on to coowwrite. Unfortunately, this was mere days before the WGA strike. Marvel writer strike. And amid the ongoing strikes, Disney is forced to push back

[08:23] more film releases across their entire calendar, including Blade from September 6, 2024 to now Valentine's Day of 2025. Now, on paper, this looks like a mess. But at the time, every production was dealing with the effects of COVID and

[08:36] insane. Losing a director two months before filming isn't ideal, but it's because Marvel has recovered from similar things before. So despite setback after setback, Blade still felt doable. After all, this is Marvel. Once

[08:50] they announce a project, they rarely want to turn around and admit defeat. It the problem wasn't just the massive industry challenges or just bad timing. The problem was just Blade itself. November 2023 came the Variety article.

[09:03] hired the Logan's screenwriter, Michael Green, to start fresh with Mhersa Ali, drafts, including one that was led by women and Blade as like the fourth lead. Denying that claim was the former writer, Michael Starbury, who argued

[09:17] the strike, and there was never a version where Blade was led by women. 2023, you could argue, was also the last draw. Overall, the Marvel struggled horribly and swapped places to give time to Quantum Mania that also didn't do

[09:29] outsourcing had become too much. They had too many projects, not enough hands look bad and they had to cut corners. And honestly, we all saw it was looking cost more than an episode of Game of Thrones? That feels insane. Everything

[09:44] Alonzo, who departed in May. And let's not forget that Jonathan Majors was arrested in March. As the criticism grew, the pressure on Marvel got hot and started re-evaluating projects that weren't coming together with Blade

[09:57] month, Blade appears in season 3's finale of What If? Okay, cool. Not a lot of hope there. That same month, the signs become even less hopeful. Mia Goth revealed the further she got in Blade was a chemistry test and a costume

[10:10] >> And I flew to Atlanta and we did a a chemistry test uh between Mahashler and I and we we did a costume fitting and a wig fitting and I was very excited. >> By March 2024, Aaron Pierre confirmed his departure from the project. Three

[10:23] Blade director, officially exits the film as well as they continue with script rewrites and delays. Delroy Lindow exited later, describing the production as having gone off the rails, and Marvel veteran Eric Pearson joined

[10:35] this point because another article releases that same month about how hard following month, Deadpool and Wolverine releases with our original Blade joking another Blade. At this point, it's been 5 years since Blade was announced. We've

[10:50] 2025, Disney updated their calendar, reaffirming Blade's November 2025 release, which is crazy. We become a little bit hopeful, only for it to be this, Feige and Marhersa continue to give fans hope that the project was

[11:04] still alive. Nearly another year passes before Feige finally provided an update in July of 2025, revealing that three or four different versions of the film had piece iterations before the studio ultimately settled on a contemporary

[11:17] setting. And I guess that's an update. It's been a year. I was hoping for a little bit something better, but I guess in September of that same year, Blade appeared in Marvel Zombies, so now y'all just playing in our faces. Then 10

[11:29] months later, Feige admits defeat and announces they can't make the Blade on from the role, saying, "For whatever reason, that project's not for me. If done it." He explained that after development of Blade Stalling, he was

[11:42] Your Mother, Your Mother, which was written and directed by Tariq Feige. kind of announced Blade before they actually knew what the movie was. He a leather outfit on him and have him

[11:56] unique. It fell into the time when we started pulling back and saying only insanely great at the time. We didn't feel like, as we often do, you can have through production. We didn't feel confident that we could do that on

[12:09] Mahersula, and we didn't want to do that to us. So when asked what the happened to Blade, simply it was too much and going nowhere. Every delay and rewrite, out a bigger problem. The movie couldn't figure out what it was. Therefore, the

[12:23] resources that just didn't measure up. If rumors are true, the filmmakers, that along with Disney's big shifts left everyone at a stalemate. But does that at all. In many ways, this gives Marvel the opportunity to regroup, figure out

[12:37] and build a stronger foundation from the jump. behind the scenes. They could do again and just overhaul the entire project and then bring it back with Absolutely not. But they're not dangling this character like a carrot in front of

[12:51] I want that to stop. So, now we're moving on to what the happened to Wonderman. And as I mentioned at the beginning of this video, Wonderman has Plus. The show was renewed just 2 months after its release and according to the

[13:03] making the series and was eager to return for a season 2. Contracts had cleared and the writer room was supposed to begin this month with productions had explained there was a decision made internally between Disney and Marvel

[13:17] even though a few months ago it did. Co-creator Dustin Daniel Cretton shared love that show to death. If it were up to me, we would be making that show." He Kevin Feige, Wonderman would still be moving forward. And honestly, I believe

[13:31] award-friendly, and didn't rely on massive visual effects budgets. wasn't a cancellation driven by quality. It was a cancellation driven by optics and profit. To understand why, we have to go back to 2020. Disney was suddenly

[13:44] shut down. 100,000 employees were furoughed and theaters around the world closed. In response, then CEO Bob Chapig made streaming the company's top priority. What brought them back was the Disney Plus investor day that promised a

[13:57] buttload of Marvel and Star Wars content that definitely wasn't ready. According to the MCU, the reign of Marvel Studios, both Kevin Feige and Kathleen Kennedy that weren't ready. Some have been delayed, overhauled, or just canceled

[14:09] entirely. The goal was convincing investors and subscribers that Disney at that time, Disney in tandem with Marvel wasn't asking, should we make this? It was asking how quickly can we get this onto Disney Plus. Then, in

[14:21] 2022, Bob Chapik was fired and Bob Iger returned. Almost immediately, the endless content and started focusing on profitability. Iger openly said that everything was on the table and that the company needed to dramatically reduce

[14:34] Wonderman runs into trouble. The show was green lit during Disney's expansion mode when subscriber growth was the priority. But by the time season 1 was gearing up, Disney had entered in an entirely different kind of mode, one

[14:46] characters, thus giving them a bigger, time, Marvel television was undergoing its own kind of overhaul. For a while, Marvel was making Disney Plus shows like their movies with no pilots, no

[14:59] traditional showrunners, wild budgets, and the expectation that maybe After so much creative struggle and complaints about oversaturation, the studio and Disney decided to completely rethink how it made television.

[15:12] the middle of that transition. And now, when you look at Disney Plus's upcoming wall. Vision Quest, Daredevil Born Again, and Ahsoka are all continuations of bigger past projects that audiences already know. They're familiar names

[15:26] tied directly to the biggest Disney brands. Wonderman wasn't cancelled because it represented an older strategy, one built around endless that strategy anymore. Wonderman came at the wrong time. It was too late for

[15:39] Disney's streaming boom and too early for whatever the hell Marvel television becomes next. And does this suck? 100%. And there's definitely more to unpack here and a little bit more nuance to like even what they developed from TVs

[15:51] at what they did to Moana. But I only have so much time here to talk about it. industry works. Sometimes Netflix has done it. They use the pandemic as a restructuring. And we've seen shows like The Min get renewed by HBO only to have

[16:06] the renewal pulled back during their weird content mixup. Wonderman isn't the and it definitely won't be the last, unfortunately. Of course, all this news announced that David Johnson would be the new Black Panther. So, while we're

[16:19] gaining something, right? There's a reason these announcements happen when it or not, this is part of Disney's strategy for managing bad press. Disney can't really bury news, not at the scale that they're operating on. Instead, they

[16:32] dilute it. The internet can focus on two things at once, but positive stories almost always build momentum faster than negative ones. Well, in this case it sparked criticism and reminded people about Marvel's treatment of black le

[16:45] flooded with the excitement over Black Panther 3. Suddenly, anyone searching talent isn't just seeing headlines about the cancellations. They're also seeing joining one of Marvel's biggest pictures. And if that's not enough, the

[16:59] conversation itself shifts. Instead of asking why Blade fell apart or why to Black Panther 3 as evidence that Marvel is still investing in blackled stories. Whether that's a fair argument or not, I don't think it is. It still

[17:11] it shifts your focus from what just died to what's coming next. The same thing applies to Ryan Gosling's announcement. We've seen this happen time and time favorite character to a project and suddenly the internet moves on. The same

[17:23] month, maybe even week, Disney cut a bunch of people from Pixar, sparking uprise. They announced Robert Downey Jr. and Dr. Doom. Those search results, those trending topics swiftly became dominated by hype and excitement for Dr.

[17:35] Before long, the conversation is never going to be about Blade or Wonderman anymore. It's about what's next for the MCU. And that's the complete point to this video. Comment down below with your thoughts because there's a lot of

[17:47] cancelled and moved on. But I do think it's not a lot of Marvel, it's a lot about Disney. A special thanks to one of our NR Underground subscribers, G Savvy04. Thank you for supporting us at the executive producer level. And a big

[18:00] thanks to studio tech Brian Kim behind the camera, New Rockstars editors Joshua other supporting editors for their work on this video. Follow me at lulu_clemens Thanks for watching. I'll see you guys later.

[18:14] later. [music]