Beau DeMayo Criticizes Marvel After Latest Cuts to His X-Men '97 Plans

X-Men ‘97 might have one of the most highly anticipated second seasons of any show affiliated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but some complications behind the scenes mean fans won’t get that anytime soon, and one former creative force on the show has made their opinion on this clear.

X-Men ‘97 was an unexpected breakthrough for Marvel at a time when the mainline MCU franchise was struggling and marked one of the few attempts at a revival that were met with any reasonable measure of success. Picking up where the original X-Men: The Animated Series left off when it was canceled in 1997 (hence the name), the show was well received across its 10-episode first season, with special interest being shown in where the climactic final episodes would lead in the next installment. Much of the praise for X-Men ‘97’s success went to Beau DeMayo, who served as showrunner until he was perplexingly fired shortly before the show premiered. Despite this dismissal, DeMayo would eventually break his silence on the show after X-Men ’97’s fifth episode, spending the rest of season one’s duration trolling fans and giving behind-the-scenes looks at how his creative process went while working on the show.

While the jury is still out on why exactly DeMayo was fired as X-Men ’97 showrunner, the effects of his removal are plain to see in the extended timeline of the show’s second season, and the man himself has now given his opinion on these changes. Taking to his official account on X, DeMayo would respond to a fan complaint about the team at Marvel Studios scrapping his already-made plans and scripts for the show’s second season in light of a report that the show would return in 2026. “Yep, pretty sad. Season 2 is also only 9 episodes because of this and them canning my Onslaught/AoA finale. But Marvel loves shooting themselves in the foot, especially with certain directors and execs pushing their backwards “we know better than the comics” agenda. #xmen97”

Onslaught, a character created by Magneto’s Psyche taking over Charles Xavier’s after their deadly altercation following Magneto’s retaliatory attack on Wolverine, is one of Marvel Comics’ most interesting villains and would have been a great addition to the show in many ways. However, that character’s inclusion and the storylines attached seem to have become a casualty in the conflict between Marvel Studios and DeMayo, which took a wild turn when the company broke with tradition to explicitly state that DeMayo had been dismissed from his role due to alleged behavior of an “egregious nature”. The 2026 timeline that kicked off the discussion is also a side effect of this, as DeMayo had overseen the completion of a season two script before his departure from the project.

While X-Men ’97’s director is certainly satisfied with season 3’s new head writer, there’s no telling how fans will react to the new direction the show will be taken in now that DeMayo’s original vision is being set aside. For better or worse, that comics-first approach to the series really resonated with both new and returning fans of the X-Men, and many were excited to see the season one finale lead into the creation of Onslaught and the Age of Apocalypse storyline being adapted. Any diversions from this plan, no matter how well done, will certainly rub some fans the wrong way. Depending on how you view it, the fault for this disappointment could be set at the feet of Marvel Studios or DeMayo, as the change of plans is only really an issue because fans have a means of confirming what the original plans were. However, this is unlikely to seriously put off anyone interested in the show. The bigger problem is clearly the 2026 release window that’s been put forward, as well as the 9-episode schedule.

There’s been some talk implying that the MCU’s future needs to be modeled on X-Men ’97, but that sentiment can’t be allowed to extend to the volatility surrounding the project’s showrunner and long-term storytelling goals. Fans won’t know the whole story behind the debacle that led to these events, but everyone can agree that the less of this sort of thing happens, the better the franchise will be for it. In the meantime, viewers have a long wait until season two of the show hits streaming.

X-Men ‘97 is available to stream on Disney+, with a second season rumored to release in 2026.

Source: Beau DeMayo/X