Imagine you’re a chef who has figured out how to make an amazing chocolate cake. Word gets around. You become known for making chocolate cakes. You develop a whole brand around making thick, sweet, flavor-filled chocolate cakes of various kinds. Chocolate fans know that you are the go-to person for a variety of chocolate cakes.
Then you wake up one day and say, “y’know what? I’m going to make a cake without chocolate. Instead, I’ll create a vanilla cake with pistachios, tamarind, and pineapple. To pacify the chocolate fans, I’ll do a tiny chocolate drizzle on top. To be extra unique, it will be incredibly bitter chocolate coated in salt.”
Critics call the new cake “innovative” and “unique,” with a side of “us critics are sick of chocolate anyway—seriously, who goes to a chocolate cake shop to get chocolate cake? It’s so passe.” Their reviews are over the top with praise.
However, for some reason, sales for this new dessert tank. Most of the regulars refuse to even go to the shop at all. Shockingly, when you build an audience around chocolate and connect with chocolate fans, they get confused and even annoyed when you decide that “whatever, chocolate” and make something totally different.
This is a good metaphor for Wonder Man, the latest superhero series to drop on Disney+. Didn’t hear about it? You’re not alone. It was sneaked out in January. I only found out about it because we have a Disney+/Hulu package—mostly due to Hulu—and it was at the top for a brief second. At first, I thought it was one of those literary art house movies, especially since Ben Kingsley was featured in the ad. As it turns out, it is a literary art house series…that sort of includes superheroes.
Wonder Man dares to be a superhero TV show that uses next to no superpowers, has nothing to do with superhero’ing, includes no recognizable superhero characters, and proudly disdains fight scenes and special effects.
Also, it goes without saying that this show has nothing to do with the comic book, where Simon Williams is the son of a rich industrialist who gets his superpowers because he’s desperate, angry at rival Tony Stark, and accepts bail money in exchange for becoming a super-powered pawn in a villain’s evil plot (source).
Instead, it shows that Simon is a very powerful super-abled—no origin story needed—who is determined to succeed as an actor in Hollywood. Superpowers are shown largely as a liability and a force that negatively impacts the lives of those who have them. The tone is incredibly low key and follows the pattern of literary fiction with a character-focused narrative, ambiguous plot points, and lack of adherence to a fixed plot formula (source).
To be fair, the lead actors do a great job with the material they are given. Ben Kingsley is a terrific actor, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II does a great job as well. They have a compelling bromance connection. Also, there is a particular episode about a superpowered character called the Doorman that is really fascinating as a piece of artsy storytelling. However, the fact remains that the series purposefully avoids any trope, action scene, camera angle, or scene that would connect Wonder Man to the superhero genre. This might just be a problem.
Now, Rotten Tomatoes loves Wonder Man–it is 91% fresh. Time Magazine adore it. Collider found it refreshing that the story focused on “the new and consistent challenges that working actors face” (source). Overall, it’s a critical darling.
However, Wonder Man’s Nielsen ratings tanked upon the initial release. Viewers tuned out quickly. Disney dropped the entire series at once to encourage bingeing, and it was still the least watched Marvel show on Disney+. It vanished from the Nielsen rankings within a week. Disney put the first episode on YouTube for free, trying to connect with viewers. But the thing is, it’s an art house movie, which means it isn’t designed to be hooky and click with the average YouTube viewer. And the data shows that indeed, Wonder Man didn’t connect with viewers (source).
Wonder why? It might be because, despite the cranky Reddit threads, most superhero viewers actually like superhero shows that show people with superpowers…being superheroes. They might like those action scenes and special effects that critics disdain as being “overdone” and “overblown”. They might want wisecracks and fast pacing.
This isn’t to say that depth and solid acting don’t matter in superhero films. As last year’s success with Thunderbolts, Superman, and Fantastic Four shows, worldview and story message go a long way. Solid acting and relationships between characters matter. To hit top success, the chocolate cake needs an extra oomph. Viewers don’t just want superhero movies, they want quality superhero movies.
Instead, Disney+ delivered a series that completely ignored their audience. And that is likely what caused Wonder Man to lose interest from most fans. As a literary, art house series, it holds up fine. But it turned its back on the viewers in favor of Hollywood-focused narratives. In turn, the viewers turned their backs on Wonder Man, even in the first two test screenings (source).
For authors out there, the lesson is that yes, you can create your art house stories, whatever they are. No one can stop you. Sometimes releasing heart projects can be good for the soul. But also, you can’t necessarily expect your current readers to just follow over to those books.
My main genres are fairytale retellings, urban fantasy, superheroes, and steampunk fantasy. However, I also write poetry. I have four anthologies out in the world. I rarely promote or talk about them because they aren’t my focus. They’re just for me and the 5-10 poetry readers out there. That’s fine. I keep my production costs low, I get inexpensive covers, and when I’ve created enough poems for another short book, I quietly release it, and those 5-10 poetry fans get to enjoy another anthology. Meanwhile, I also continue to connect with my main readership.
As an author and creator, you can make what you want. But if you want to bring readers along for the ride, you need to understand that storytelling is communication, which means it’s a two-way street. It involves listening to your readers, and not simply assuming they’ll hop over to whatever you want.
So, in summary:
-Wonder Man is a decent art house series that had no intention of connecting with the superhero viewing audience, and so, it didn’t.
-Ben Kingsley is a very good actor. He is the best part about Wonder Man. Also, the episode about the Doorman is great and can be enjoyed as a standalone. Just FYI.
-Wonder Man was a critical darling that had massive positive reviews but tanked at the wider Nielsen rankings, which measure what people actually watch.
-The low viewership is likely because Wonder Man is not actually a superhero series at all and didn’t include anything that brings those viewers to watch.
-This is an example of a heart-story. They can be awesome and very meaningful for the creators, but they don’t necessarily connect with the core audience.
-When compelled to write heart stories, adjust your expectations and production costs accordingly. Your chocolate-loving readership might follow you over, but they might not, and that is perfectly reasonable because you switched flavors. Just keep that in mind if and/or when you choose to follow your creativity. When possible, see if you can write your heart stories in a way that also has a chance of connecting with your readership.
Go forth and be awesome!
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