Originally published March 13, 2024. Updated March 14, 2024.
Marvel Studios still has some rocky days ahead of them. As the superhero powerhouse attempts to correct years of mistakes and mishaps that have seen it massively fall out of favor with the general public, Marvel is still making bold moves.
Take this week’s shocking headline from The Hollywood Reporter: The studio is firing X-Men ’97 creator Beau DeMayo just weeks before the animated series premieres on Disney+. As we approach the March 20th premiere, the writer-producer “will no longer be promoting the show or moving forward with future seasons.”
This is such a shocking move, but THR notes the unusual nature of the situation, noting that “it is unusual for a top creative on a Marvel project to miss a premiere or cancel press plans last minute, even if they’ve been shuffled to the side.”
DeMayo has been a Marvel regular, writing on the live-action series Moon Knight and even turning in early drafts well for the upcoming Blade. The writer and creator also completed writing duties on season two of X-Men ’97, with ideas for a third season already coming up. The future of those scripts is up in the air now.
The most puzzling part of the story is that no concrete reason is given for DeMayo’s removal. Some sources have pointed at a non-explicit Only Fans account that the filmmaker had, as well as some accusations of whitewashing the character Sunspot, which led to DeMayo deleting Twitter.
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THR notes that Marvel has made no official comment, and DeMayo’s representatives and the showrunner himself did not return calls for comment.
X-Men ’97 premieres on Disney+ on March 20th. Watch the trailer here.
