Marvel Studios Fires X-Men '97 Creator Beau DeMayo
DeMayo created and served as executive producer on the Marvel Animation series, which has already been renewed for season 2.
Marvel Studios has fired Beau DeMayo, the creator and executive producer of Marvel Animation's X-Men '97. According to The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the news, Marvel "suddenly parted ways" with DeMayo earlier this month ahead of the March 20 premiere of the Disney+ revival of X-Men: The Animated Series. DeMayo — who also served as a writer-producer on Marvel's live-action Moon Knight series and a writer on the studio's Mahershala Ali-led Blade reboot — had completed work on the previously announced second season of X-Men '97 and was reportedly planning a potential third season at the time of his firing.
Why Marvel fired DeMayo was not disclosed. The showrunner, whose credits include episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and The Witcher, was reportedly lining up press appearances to promote X-Men '97 and was expected to attend the show's March 13 premiere in Hollywood when cast and crew were informed DeMayo was removed from the series that picks up where the original Fox Kids cartoon left off in 1997.
DeMayo also deactivated his Instagram account, where he shared updates on the first X-Men project to be produced by Kevin Feige's Marvel Studios. The account had more than 30,000 followers at the time it was deleted.
DeMayo's firing marks the second shocking high-profile exit from Disney-owned Marvel Studios in a year's time. Last March, veteran executive Victoria Alonso was suddenly fired as Marvel's president of physical production, post-production, VFX and animation. It was later reported that Disney fired Alonso for repeatedly violating the company's standards of business conduct, which prohibits employees from working for competing studios. Alonso produced and promoted Amazon's Oscar-nominated Argentina, 1985, which led to her firing.
A fan of the original '90s series, DeMayo said he "cannot be happier" after Marvel announced that it renewed the series revival for a second season in July.
"We just put together kind of an internal thing for the [Marvel and Disney executives], actually giving them a taste of what the show is," DeMayo said during a San Diego Comic-Con panel last summer. "And it's weird watching your heroes freak out to something you're doing. The size and scope of something like this and sending a love letter to what [original series director] Larry [Houston] and [X-Men: The Animated Series creators Eric and Julia Lewald] did is huge."
X-Men '97 features the voices of original X-Men: The Animated Series cast members Cal Dodd, Lenore Zann, George Buza, Alison Sealy-Smith, Chris Potter, Catherine Disher, Adrian Hough, Alyson Court, and Christopher Britton, who are joined by Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, A.J. LoCascio as Gambit, Holly Chou as Jubilee, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop, J.P. Karliak as Morph, Gui Agustini as Sunspot, and Matthew Waterson as Magneto. The new series premieres March 20 on Disney+.