Popverse's top stories

• Joker and Harley Quinn are back together as former Marvel TV boss Jeph Loeb charts a big Batman & Wonder Woman crossover with Jim Cheung
• Critical Role, Doctor Who and multiple Marvel projects lead the charge in the Seattle ECCC 2026 programming schedule
• The biggest differences between A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and George R.R. Martin's The Hedge Knight (so far)

Within the narrative of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Simon Williams is somebody just trying to make it in Hollywood. In the real world, though, series creator Destin Daniel Cretton has very much already accomplished that. The much-beloved director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is not only swinging into NYC as director of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but also co-created the (already well reviewed) Wonder Man. And according to a recent interview, Marvel's new directing darling came into both projects with an overlapping approach.

Cretton was recently interviewed by Comicbook.com ahead of Wonder Man's Disney+ debut, and during the discussion, The Glass Castle director revealed was asked what it was that interested him about telling a Peter Parker story.

"In a similar way to to the way that we approached Simon Williams and Wonder Man," said the director, "I was really excited about the way that Kevin [Feige] and Amy [Pascal, producer] and Tom Rothman [Sony Pictures CEO] and Tom Holland and everyone involved - all the creatives involved when I came on board - wanted to do something that felt different."

But don't read too much into that, Webheads. Cretton still knows why audiences flock to watch Marvel's wallcrawler do his thing on the big screen, and isn't going to break that trust.

"Of course it's still the Spider-Man that everybody loves," the Shang-Chi director clarified. "But this is a new chapter in his life. That tonal shift was something that was really exciting to me and felt really different. it was a extremely gratifying experience."

Wonder Man premieres on Disney+ January 27. Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters July 31, 2026.

Marvel's most reliable superhero has proven he can do a whole lot more than just 'whatever a spider can.' Swing into Spidey's history with Popverse's...

• Best Spider-Man comic books 
• Spider-Man movie watch order
• Spider-Man's actors, ranked
• and the Spider-verse explained!

Just watch out for that radioactive blood.