UPDATE: The Hulu window was not enough. Wonder Man has officially been canceled despite a Season 2 renewal, and showrunner Andrew Guest revealed the Season 2 premiere was already written when the plug was pulled.
Wonder Man has quietly moved to Hulu for a limited time, giving the Marvel series another shot at finding viewers after soft Disney+ ratings.
Hulu now lists all eight episodes of Wonder Man as streaming on the service until June 10. The show remains available on Disney+, where it originally premiered in January as a full-season binge drop.
The move comes after Wonder Man failed to show much staying power on the streaming charts, despite strong reviews and a different tone from the usual Marvel Studios formula.
Wonder Man Gets A Hulu Push
Wonder Man debuted on Disney+ on January 27, with all eight episodes released at once.
The series stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams, a struggling actor who gets pulled into the world of superheroes after crossing paths with Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery.
Now Disney is giving the show a short window on Hulu, likely in hopes of putting it in front of a wider streaming audience.
It is not a full relaunch, but it does look like Disney is trying to squeeze more life out of a Marvel series that did not break out the way the studio likely hoped.
Ratings Dropped Fast
The issue for Wonder Man was not reviews. Critics were mostly positive, and the show earned praise for leaning more into Hollywood satire and character comedy than standard MCU action.
The problem was viewership.
According to Luminate data, Wonder Man generated 549.6 million minutes viewed across its first 10 days, including 135 million minutes during its first three days.
By its second week, the series had already dropped out of Luminate’s streaming top 10, meaning it fell below the 287.8 million minutes posted by the No. 10 title that week.
For a Marvel Studios series, that is not a great sign. The shorter episode lengths and binge-release format may have hurt its total minutes, but the quick drop still points to limited momentum.
Disney Keeps Looking For Marvel Viewers
Moving Wonder Man to Hulu for a limited time also says something about Disney’s current Marvel strategy.
The company has been trying different release approaches for its Marvel shows, including binge drops, weekly rollouts, the Marvel Spotlight label, and wider exposure through Hulu.
Wonder Man was supposed to be one of Marvel’s more accessible shows, with a lower-stakes story centered on Hollywood, fame, and the entertainment industry. It did not require a heavy MCU homework load, and it brought back Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery as one of its biggest hooks.
Even so, the show appears to have struggled to keep viewers watching after launch.
A Second Chance On Hulu
The Hulu window gives Wonder Man one more chance to catch on with viewers who either missed it on Disney+ or were not interested enough to seek it out there.
Whether that actually changes the conversation is another question.
Marvel still has a visibility problem on Disney+ when even a well-reviewed show can come and go this quickly. Putting Wonder Man on Hulu may help, but it also makes the weak Disney+ performance harder to ignore.
Wonder Man is streaming now on Disney+ and on Hulu for a limited time.
