Marvel Studios’ Next Disney+ Show Makes MCU History With 2026 Spider-Man 4 Director

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Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, will direct two episodes of the upcoming Disney+ series Wonder Man, marking a first for the MCU franchise. Though a sequel to Shang-Chi or a return of the character hasn’t been announced, Simu Liu’s portrayal of Shang-Chi is widely considered a highlight of recent Marvel projects. Cretton’s success with Shang-Chi led to a deal with Disney and Marvel, initially intended for a Shang-Chi sequel and other Disney+ shows. He was later chosen to direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but ultimately left that project to focus on Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Disney has announced that Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of Shang-Chi, will direct the first two episodes of Wonder Man, a new comedy series for Disney+ that he created with Andrew Guest. The series is a satirical take on the world of superheroes and Hollywood.

After the complete season of Wonder Man is released on Disney+ on January 27, 2026, director Destin Daniel Cretton will make history as the first to direct both episodes of an MCU streaming series and a theatrical movie—Spider-Man: Brand New Day—within the same year.

Though Destin Daniel Cretton is the first Marvel Studios director to release both a movie and a Disney+ series in the same year, he isn’t the only MCU filmmaker to work on projects for both the big screen and streaming.

Before taking charge of DC Studios, James Gunn directed The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special for Disney+. He filmed it using the sets from Vol. 3 and released it in November 2022 as a warm, festive story leading up to the final Guardians of the Galaxy movie in May 2023.

Matt Shakman, the director of all nine episodes of the popular Marvel series WandaVision, was chosen to direct The Fantastic Four: First Steps, a very important project for Marvel Studios. Now that the first film has received generally positive reviews from both fans and critics, despite not performing as well at the box office as hoped, Shakman is reportedly starting work on the sequel.

Although Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther, hasn’t directed a Marvel series for Disney+ yet, he’s been an executive producer on two spin-off shows – Ironheart and Eyes of Wakanda – thanks to a special production agreement with Disney+.

Marvel Studios Is Doubling Down on Destin Daniel Cretton (And For Good Reason)

What Destin Daniel Cretton will do with the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Wonder Man and Spider-Man: Brand New Day is currently unknown. The success of those upcoming projects will likely determine his future with Marvel, but reports suggest Shang-Chi 2 is still planned and will probably be his next film.

Additionally, Cretton is taking over as director for the next Spider-Man movie, titled Brand New Day, which is a significant change for the series. If everything works out with timing and the film does well, he’s likely to direct all three planned movies.

Initial responses to Wonder Man have been very positive, with some calling it Marvel’s best show so far, which suggests a second season is possible if enough people watch. However, if Marvel wants to keep the director, Destin Daniel Cretton, focused on big-screen projects like Brand New Day, he might move into an executive producer role for the show instead of directing future episodes.

Marvel Studios seriously trusted director Destin Daniel Cretton, as evidenced by their consideration of him to direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. This confidence suggests he’s now a strong candidate for directing many other large-scale, popular films in the future.

However, Cretton isn’t committed to only working on Marvel projects. He was set to direct a live-action Naruto series, as reported in February 2024, but there haven’t been many new details released about it since then.

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2025-12-14 13:35