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Way back in November 2023, Marvel Studios surprise-announced a brand new production label: Marvel Spotlight. Unlike those carrying the regular Marvel Studios logo, the goal of Spotlight, which was launched on 2024’s Disney Plus series Echo, was to focus on shows (and potentially movies) that are more grounded and don’t have an impact on the greater MCU continuity. And while since that time exactly two TV shows have been launched as Marvel Spotlight series, the latest, Wonder Man, is so good that perhaps all MCU shows should be Marvel Spotlight shows.
When it was first announced that Echo would be carrying the label, a show that was bumped down the release calendar multiple times and then unceremoniously dumped as Marvel’s first binge-release of the MCU era at the beginning of January, it seemed from the outside to mean 'shows we don’t care about.' Or, more generously, 'aren’t confident in.' Similarly, Wonder Man was bumped down the release calendar multiple times, and is also getting unceremoniously dumped as Marvel’s second live-action binge release, this time all the way at the end of January instead of the beginning. Big change!
The stated purpose of Marvel Spotlight is a little more generous. "Marvel Spotlight gives us a platform to bring more grounded, character-driven stories to the screen, and in the case of Echo, focusing on street-level stakes over larger MCU continuity," Head of Streaming Brad Winderbaum said in an announcement post on Marvel’s website. "Just like comics fans didn't need to read Avengers or Fantastic Four to enjoy a Ghost Rider Spotlight comic, our audience doesn't need to have seen other Marvel series to understand what's happening in Maya's story."
What's next?
Nothing against Winderbaum, but this seems a little disingenuous when you consider that Echo spun off from multiple seasons of Netflix’s Daredevil, as well as Disney Plus' Hawkeye, and set up the events of Daredevil: Born Again. Similarly, Wonder Man picks up Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) from Iron Man 3, the All Hail the King Marvel One-Shot, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, as well as P. Cleary (Arian Moayed), who has appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Ms. Marvel, and is part of the organization Damage Control that has appeared in several other movies and TV shows.
Allow us, then, to offer up another definition for Marvel Spotlight: this is the area where Marvel TV shows include things like 'characters' and 'themes' and 'emotions.' And if the actually pretty good execution of Echo and the actively excellent Wonder Man are any indication, Marvel would do well to look at Spotlight as the path forward instead of the dumping ground.
Sure, everyone has their favorite shows and movies, and your mileage may vary. But the obsessive 'what’s next?' mentality of the MCU helped it dominate culture for over a decade, before it rammed into a wall. A lot has already been said about the MCU post-Avengers: Endgame, so we won’t rehash it all here. But even the most diehard fan can't argue that there's been a more mixed reception to the franchise since then. At least part of that is Marvel's answer to the fan question 'what's next?' very quickly became 'we don't know.'
This is the way
Enter Spotlight. While in both of the cases where the banner has been used it's fair to speculate it was added retroactively, it's a mission statement that could be – and should be – applied going forward. Wonder Man is a great example because, despite those universe ties mentioned earlier, it does indeed stand alone by laser-focusing on Trevor and his relationship with up-and-coming actor Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul Mateen II). Shoving aside the world-ending stakes of most Marvel projects, and the aggressive need to set up a dozen more that may or may not come down the road, Wonder Man instead looks inward, and is stronger for it. There's no pressure for this to be the thing that keeps the MCU spice flowing, because it's a simple story of two guys trying to get a role in a superhero movie. It's a buddy comedy, a character study, and an exploration of what acting means to them both. That's it!
Isn't that a refreshing change from how everything blows up all the time in your run-of-the-mill Marvel program? Even Daredevil: Born Again, a similarly 'street-level' series, ends – spoilers past this point – with Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio) taking over New York City. It may not be the world, but the stakes are much larger than those presented in Wonder Man, where an entire episode is taken up with Trevor and Simon racing around LA to find a quiet place for Simon to self-tape an audition. Yet those extremely small stakes are as important as the large stakes of Kingpin's plan, because they mean as much to the characters we're watching.
Funnily enough, this balance is something that the early MCU remembered well. Iron Man was all about Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) understanding that the world was bigger than himself. Thor is a tiny tale of the titular character (Chris Hemsworth) becoming slightly less of a jerk in a small town. Captain America is all about Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) proving his worth. And while the latter did deal with World War 2, the end battles are relatively contained and personally focused in all three cases.
If there's a path forward for the MCU, it likely doesn't lie in the overwhelming epic glut of Avengers: Doomsday, but instead coming with an idea, a theme, and characters we love, first – just like Wonder Man. And if Marvel can figure out how to start with those germs at the beginning of a project, rather than merely making movies and TV shows out of simple inertia? Make mine Marvel Spotlight.
All episodes of Wonder Man are now streaming on Disney Plus. For more, check out our Wonder Man review or get up to speed with the rest of Marvel Phase 6 with our guide to the other upcoming Marvel movies and shows.
