Marvel Has Mysteriously Fired 'X-Men 97' Creator Beau DeMayo Just One Week Before The Series Is Set To Premiere
Here's a weird one for ya: Marvel Studios has fired 'X-Men 97' creator Beau DeMayo just over a week before the series is set to premiere on Disney Plus.
No reason for the firing was given, and DeMayo has not yet commented on the matter - but he deleted his Instagram account and obviously will not be promoting the show or appearing at the premiere anymore. The head of Marvel Animation actually just gave his first comment on DeMayo's firing a few moments ago, after two days of silence, but it isn't much of a statement on the firing at all....
“He did excellent work writing Seasons 1 and 2, and I can’t wait for fans to see the series. The entire team came together to create a revival worthy of the X-Men’s 60-year legacy. From Stan and Jack, to Claremont, to the Lewalds, we all truly were standing on the shoulders of giants.”
He doesn't even address it! This is all verrrrry stange. I don't want to accuse DeMayo of doing anything before we know the full story here - but I sorta get the feeling something bad is about to come out about him soon. Like, all of the steps Disney/Marvel have taken to not comment on this and distance the studio from this guy kinda feel like pre-cancellation hazards. It isn't like the show is getting bad reviews - in fact, they're all overwhelmingly positive from those who saw it early!
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….so something had to have happened in my mind - and I doubt it was "creative differences" or whatever they usually say.
DeMayo isn't the original creator of the 'X-Men' animated series in the 90s, but he brought it back with 'X-Men 97', and reportedly already finished writing Season Two. This firing makes me wonder if they'll use all of his material from Season Two (I'd imagine they're probably already deep into the animation process, so they may have to) or start from scratch to completely wipe their hands clean of this guy. I assume we'll get more information on that when we find out what he did to get fired. Hopefully it was nothing too bad.
Despite all of this kinda mysterious drama, I'm still stoked for the premiere on Wednesday. The original 90s X-Men cartoon was so damn good, with one of the best themes in all of television….
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….and this show appears to be a fantastic revival of that, maturing with its audience and looking better than ever aesthetically….
P.S. While we're on the topic of mutants - Clem and I will be breaking down 'X-Men: First Class' in the Basement tomorrow. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already if you'd like to be notified when the episode goes live late tonight….