In a shocking move, X-Men '97 creator Beau DeMayo has been fired by Marvel ahead of the revival animated show's Disney Plus premiere.
As reported by THR, early last week, DeMayo's company email was deactivated and the cast and crew of X-Men '97 were informed of his firing. No reason was revealed and DeMayo's Instagram account, where he shared updates for the series, was deleted. Marvel did not comment on the departure, and DeMayo did not respond to calls for comment.
DeMayo, who also wrote for Marvel Studios' Moon Knight and an earlier script for the Blade movie, had already completed writing duties for X-Men '97 Season 2. Marvel announced his hiring in November 2021, and it was met with some level of excitement, as the showrunner brought his identity as a gay Black man to the project, and shared to the press about how growing up as the adopted son to white parents with a Korean sister in the south made the X-Men mutants' struggle for acceptance by society feel personal to him.
It's unusual for him to be silent on social media since he's been actively posting online, sharing details about X-Men. It's quite shocking for a top creative on a Marvel project to miss a premiere or cancel press plans just a few days before its debut.
What is X-Men '97 about?
The official synopsis of X-Men '97 reads: “The revival revisits the iconic era of the 1990s as The X-Men, a band of mutants who use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them, are challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future". The show will explore new sotries in the iconic 90s timeline of the original X-Men: The Animated Series.
Produced by Marvel Studios Animation, with Beau DeMayo as the showrunner, the revival series takes place after Charles Xavier/Professor X's loss in the finale, reuniting fan-favorite mutants, including Wolverine (Cal Dodd), Cyclops (Ray Chase), Jean Grey (Jennifer Hale), Storm (Allison Sealy-Smith), Rogue (Lenore Zann), Beast (George Buza), Jubilee (Holly Chou), Gambit (AJ LoCascio), Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough), Bishop (Isaac Robinson-Smith), Morph (JP Karliak), and Magneto (Matthew Waterson).
You can watch the latest trailer for X-Men '97 below:
The first two episodes of X-Men '97 are scheduled to premiere on March 20 on Disney Plus. The second season is currently in development but no release date has been announced yet.
