‘X-Men ’97’ Showrunner Beau DeMayo Gets The Boot From Marvel Studios Just Days Before Series’ Premiere, Deletes Social Media Accounts In Response
In suffering their latest in a long, long, long of black eyes, just days before the animated series revival was set to debut, Marvel Studios has reportedly fired X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo.
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This staffing shake-up was first revealed to the public on the morning of March 12th, courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit and Aaron Couch.
According to the pair of noted Marvel Studios reporters, DeMayo was “suddenly” let go by the House of Mouse sometime early last week, at which time his company email was deactivated and the rest of the X-Men ’97 production team was made aware that he would no longer be attached to the project.
Following his pink slipping, the Moon Knight writer scrubbed the internet of his social media accounts, in particular his Instagram account, which he had been using to provide production updates on X-Men ’97.
Notably, it appears that in addition to the public, DeMayo himself was also caught off-guard by the decision, as immediately prior to his release he reportedly “had completed writing duties on season two of X-Men ’97, was lining up press [for the series], and making plans to attend the show’s Hollywood premiere on March 13 [and] was even discussing loose ideas for a third season with members of his team.”
As of writing, it remains unclear as to the exact reason why the showrunner was let go by Marvel Studios, as well as why he chose to respond to the news by deleting his entire internet presence.
However, given the the timing of his firing coming in just a little over a week before X-Men ’97 is set to finally make its debut and the severity of his response, circumstances suggest that whatever transgression eventually led to his firing may have been particularly egregious.
While the result of DeMayo’s work on the series’ first season remains to be seen, according to the now-former-showrunner himself, it will supposedly focus on the idea of the X-Men as outsiders – a read that Marvel Studios hoped would be informed by his own experiences as a “black gay man.”
“I think one of my favorite parts was like they were truly interested in like what my experience as a black gay man was and how it was going to inform the story we were telling,” recalled DeMayo during Marvel’s X-Men: 60 Uncanny Years Live Virtual Event in March 2023. “And that to them was like that is how we’re going to make this authentic.”
“Because really what you’re talking about with X-Men — I don’t care what your religion, your nationality, your sex, your gender — you walk into a room full of people and you’ve gone, ‘Oh my gosh there is no one in here like me,’ and I think that is ultimately what X-Men is trying to get at,” he continued.”We’ve just assembled a great team of really amazing directors, and artists, and storyboard artists, and writers to just get this right and really drill down to what I think the X-Men’s always going to be about which is just, you know, we talk a lot about the dream is social acceptance and it’s social justice.”
The first season of X-Men ’97 is currently on track to unlock its X-Gene on March 20th.
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