Things seemed to be looking up and settling down (if that’s not an oxymoron) for Marvel Studios, following a very rough year for what was once the most unshakeable franchise around.
The Deadpool & Wolverine trailer restored the hype and broke records, The Fantastic Four cast was announced and found (almost) universal acclaim and even The Marvels turned its box office failure around to become the queen of streaming. In the short-term, X-Men ’97 releasing on Disney Plus this March marks not just the continuation of a classic animated series but the very first Marvel Studios production not to be part of the MCU. Times, it seems, are a-changing.
And yet the more things change the more they stay the same as Marvel is still making shock firings at the least opportune moments. Following on from Jonathan Majors getting canned, causing the entire Multiverse Saga to be reconceived, now X-Men ’97 has been hit by a left-field bit of bad press just days prior to its debut.
Do we know why X-Men ’97 EP Beau DeMayo was fired one week before its premiere?
As originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel Studios severed all ties to X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo with immediate effect as of March 12, even though the series is finally set to hit streaming on Mar. 20. Not only has DeMayo been fired from the production, he’s no longer invited to the premiere due to take place next week and his Instagram account, on which he was previously highly active and would engage with fans, has been deactivated.
DeMayo was previously a very entrenched presence at the House of Ideas, having worked on both Moon Knight and Blade and he had already completed work on not just X-Men season 1 but also its upcoming second season too. According to THR, he had even begun work on season 3 with his writers’ room. However, in early March, cast and crewmembers were informed that he was no longer attached to the series in any capacity. Although there’s now intense interest in what happened behind closed doors, Marvel has yet to offer a reason for DeMayo’s sudden and severe firing.
For context, while it’s a common process for Marvel to replace writers on its projects — glimpse at the screenplay credits on any MCU film and you’ll usually find multiple names — it’s extremely uncommon from them to be banned from premieres in this way. Even those scriptwriters whose drafts have been junked typically attend the premieres of the films they once worked on. It’s especially surprising considering DeMayo was one of Marvel’s most reliable hands on its TV side.
As a gay Black man, and someone who grew up loving X-Men: The Animated Series, DeMayo appeared to be the perfect person to helm the X-Men ’97 revival, although he has previously been embroiled in social media controversy. The producer deleted his Twitter in 2023 after he was accused of whitewashing the character of Sunspot. Nevertheless, his firing is a bad look whichever way you slice it (with your Adamantium claws) and is doing its best to derail all the goodwill towards a truly unique and exciting entry into the franchise.