After a rough year in 2023, Marvel seemed to be turning a corner with the back-to-back trailers for Deadpool & Wolverine and X-Men ’97, a follow-up to the classic X-Men: The Animated Series. The cartoon sequel earned rave reactions on social media as Marvel fans were thrilled by the animation style that brought back memories of watching their favorite mutants on Saturday mornings.
With X-Men ’97 set to hit Disney+ this month, Marvel was about to make big on its new strategy of leaning into the X-Men to ward off superhero fatigue. However, the studio is now caught in another PR crisis following reports that Marvel has fired X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo with only a week to go until the Hollywood premiere.
But early last week, Marvel and DeMayo suddenly parted ways. His company email was deactivated and cast and crew were informed he was no longer on the project. DeMayo’s Instagram account, once a source for X-Men updates, was deleted. No reason for the firing was given.
Marvel had no comment. DeMayo’s representatives did not return calls for comment and emails to the showrunner yielded no response.
As THR notes, “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 had already lined up press to promote the first season of X-Men ’97 and was scheduled to attend the Hollywood premiere on March 13. He had also handed in drafts for the upcoming Blade movie starring Mahershala Ali. DeMayo will no longer be moving forward with any projects with Marvel after getting his start as a writer on Moon Knight in November 2021.
X-Men ’97 premieres March 20 on Disney+.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
