Marvel Studios is addressing superhero fatigue head-on with their newest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There was a time when it seemed like the MCU could do no wrong, but due to a variety of factors, including the expansion of the franchise to TV and the hit-and-miss nature of Marvel’s releases in the last five years, audiences aren’t tuning in the way they once were.

This has been most acutely felt in Marvel’s movie offerings, which have fallen far down the box office charts. They’ve struggled to top $500 million in recent years, with only one of the studio’s three 2025 movies hitting that marker at the worldwide box office. The Fantastic Four: First Steps was the most successful MCU movie of 2025 with a $521 million worldwide total.

But the box office is only one area where Marvel is feeling the effects of superhero fatigue. MCU movies and shows are no longer guaranteed hits with critics or audiences anymore, with major flubs like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion earning some of the most negative reviews of the franchise’s history.

It’s clear that the MCU has stumbled, but Marvel Studios is attempting to rally. Thanks to a slate of big-ticket movies like Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday, and an adjustment to their TV strategy, Marvel has some exciting projects coming up — and one of them deals directly with superhero fatigue: Wonder Man.

Superhero Fatigue Is Literally Baked Into The MCU Now

The official Wonder Man trailer essentially makes superhero fatigue canon within the world of the MCU, with filmmaker Von Kovak (Zlatko Burić) saying, “Everyone is tired of superheroes. There is an opportunity to reimagine a whole genre of storytelling.” He gives this as the reason for remaking his classic, in-universe movie Wonder Man with a new star, and the main character of Marvel’s series, Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), aims to be that star.

This comment appearing in Wonder Man, and the trailer especially, seems to promise the Marvel series will work to combat superhero fatigue, potentially by reinventing the genre. Already, Wonder Man looks wildly different from any other MCU TV show. It’s about an actor in a world filled with real-life superheroes vying for the opportunity to play one in a movie. That premise alone is rich with opportunity for commentary on the MCU itself.

Will Marvel’s New Approach To Superhero Fatigue Be A Success?

However, it’s unclear how much the meta-narrative of superhero fatigue is baked into the show, and whether Wonder Man will pull it off successfully. ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine had a great joke about Hugh Jackman joining the MCU “at a bit of a low point,” referencing the franchise’s stumbles. But that made sense for the ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool character, who is known for his irreverent meta humor.

Wonder Man is introducing a new character to the MCU, which is prime real estate to explore Simon Williams’ story rather than dive deep into the superhero fatigue plaguing Marvel’s franchise. Perhaps the best way to combat superhero fatigue, as James Gunn’s Superman showed this summer, is to simply tell good stories within the genre.

If Wonder Man is a compelling superhero story, even if it doesn’t necessarily reinvent the genre, it’ll give superhero audiences something to be excited about, which the MCU certainly needs.