Marvel fires X-Men ’97 creator Beau DeMayo weeks before premiere

“X-Men 97” creator Bo Di Maio

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Earlier this month, Beau DeMayo was in the midst of a particularly busy time at Marvel Studios. The writer and producer was preparing for a launch X-Men ’97the Disney+ series he created as a continuation of the beloved 90s Fox Kids show.

DeMayo, a Marvel regular who previously wrote for the live-action series Moon Knight Plus early drafts of the company’s delayed but still coming vampire thriller codeComplete writing assignments for Season 2 of X-Men ’97was lining up in front of the press and making plans to attend the series’ premiere in Hollywood on March 13. Discussing loose ideas for the third season with his team members.

But early last week, Marvel and DeMayo suddenly parted ways. His company email was deactivated and the cast and crew were informed that he was no longer involved with the project. DeMayo’s Instagram account, which was a source for X-Men updates, has been deleted. The reason for the shooting was not mentioned.

Marvel had no comment. Representatives for DeMayo did not return calls for comment and emails to the model yielded no response.

It was a surprising turn of events on the eve of the series’ March 20 premiere. Breaking away from writers is a normal part of Marvel’s or any studio’s business. However, it’s not unusual for a top creative on a Marvel project to miss a premiere or cancel press plans at the last minute, even if they’ve been set aside. Most Marvel premieres feature multiple screenwriters walking the red carpet, some of which are rewritten by other writers who are also walking the carpet.

Marvel announced DeMayo’s hiring in November 2021. The move was met with a certain level of excitement, as the writer brought his identity as a black gay man to the project, and made a point of speaking to the press about how he grew up as a black gay man. The son of white parents with a Korean sister in the South made the X-Men characters — and their struggle for societal acceptance — feel personal to him.

His silence on social media has been acrimonious as he has been a prolific poster, sharing anecdotes about the X-Men as well as shirtless photos of himself at the gym. For a time, he also ran a non-explicit Only Fans account, all of which inspired the LGBTQ post Outside to declare himself “Marvel’s hot, gay writer and showrunner to know.”

But at times, social media proved to be a challenge during the production of the series. In May 2023, DiMaio announced that he would delete his Twitter account, after he was attacked by users accusing him of… X-Men ’97 To whitewash the character of Sunspot with the casting of Brazilian actor Gui Agustini in this role.

X-Men ’97 Continue story X-Men: The Animated Serieswhich ran from 1992 to 1997 and is credited with introducing a generation of kids to trans characters and priming the pump for X-Men Films of the early 2000s. A number of voice actors from the original show return, with the nostalgia factor helping propel the first trailer to become the most-watched trailer for a Disney+ animated show.

DeMayo was among the kids who grew up watching the show. The showrunner said in June 2022: “Anyone who feels different, we all have a magnet in us, we all have a Charles Xavier. We all have a part of us that wants to burn everything down, and there’s a part of us that wants to find a middle ground and build it. “Those comics really helped me understand my identity.”