X-Men ‘97 creator and regular Marvel scribe Beau DeMayo has been let go from the show just weeks before its premiere. Full story below.
Warning: includes spoilers for the mid-credits scene in The Marvels!
2024 has got off to a bit of a rubbish start for Marvel. Not only is it still reeling from the Jonathan Majors scandal and a pretty dreadful 2023, but the studio is also making headlines again, and not the good kind.
You might be aware that there’s a new, animated X-Men TV show coming to Disney+. Titled X-Men ‘97, the series is a sequel and a revival of the popular 90s X-Men show, X-Men: The Animated Series.
However, the trades are now reporting that Marvel has cut ties with the creator of X-Men ‘97. Beau DeMayo was a regular writer for Marvel, working on projects such as Moon Knight and the long-awaited Blade. According to The Hollywood Reporter, DeMayo is no longer participating in any press ahead of the show’s launch and will not be working on the series’ confirmed second season.
The outlet also notes that DeMayo has deleted all his social media and his company email was deactivated. No reason was given as to why DeMayo was let go.
DeMayo’s hiring was met with enthusiasm in November 2021 and he often spoke about his identity as a gay Black man with adoptive white parents in interviews.
“Anyone who feels different, we all have a Magneto inside of us, and we all have a Charles Xavier. We all have a part of us that wants to burn it all down, and there’s a part of us who wants to find the compromise and build it up. And those comics really helped me understand my identity,” DeMayo said in an interview with The Direct in 2022.
In May 2023, DeMayo deleted his Twitter after fans accused him of whitewashing the character of Sunspot in X-Men ‘97.
Disney’s plans for X-Men are in a bit of a flux. Various mutants have made appearances in the Deadpool films and Charles Xavier showed up in a glorified cameo in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness and the mid-credits scene in The Marvels brought Hank McCoy, aka Beast, into the MCU.
This would all suggest that Disney and Marvel are planning a proper introduction for the X-Men, but nothing has been confirmed. We’re just spitballing here, but it would seem probable that the mighty mutants will get their own film sooner rather than later.
X-Men ‘97 is still going ahead with its 20th March release. The show will release two episodes on that date and will continue with weekly episodes before concluding on 15th May. No word on when the second season is due, but with DeMayo’s firing, if Marvel did have a plan, that’s probably now gone out the window.
