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One of the biggest controversies around the X-Men ’97 revival series on Disney+ had nothing to do with what was shown on screen. Just days before the show debuted to largely rave reviews, its showrunner, Beau DeMayo, was removed from the series. His dismissal was shocking, especially considering how good the show turned out to be, but no reason was given at the time. Now Marvel Studios and DeMayo are publicly clashing, and DeMayo says as a result the company has decided not to credit the man for his work on the show's second season.

DeMayo was fired as Head Writer on X-Men ’97 back in March 2024 before the show’s first season aired, though he had already completed his writing work on season two. Since then, it has been relatively quiet between the two. Amicable, even – Beau DeMayo was still being credited as a writer on season two despite no longer working on X-Men ’97.

Then on August 15, DeMayo broke his silence by saying that he was being stripped of his writing credit on season two of the show. The reasoning, he said, was that he had posted a piece of fan-art on Instagram during Pride Month that depicted himself in a very choice selection of garments from Cyclops’ wardrobe. It is a bit spicy but certainly not salacious.

“Above is the #XMen fan-art I posted on Instagram for Gay Pride in June," DeMayo wrote in the caption for the post. "On June 13, #Marvel sent a letter notifying me that they’d stripped my Season 2 credits due to the post. Sadly, this is the latest in a troubling pattern I suffered through while working on XMen97 and #Blade.”

“I’ll have more to say soon,” DeMayo continued in the thread. “But must take a step back from social media to find a safer space for me to be out, proud, and nerdy. Stay tuned.”

Marvel then released their own statement through Variety that seems to have countered what DeMayo says happened. “Mr. DeMayo was terminated in March 2024 following an internal investigation,” the studio said. “Given the egregious nature of the findings, we severed ties with him immediately and he has no further affiliation with Marvel.”

Variety added to this statement that a source with knowledge of the investigation said “evidence was discovered of sexual misconduct, and that DeMayo repeatedly violated his termination agreement, which led to the removal of his credits for Season 2.” 

Right now, we’re still in the middle of the back-and-forth between the two parties and don’t know the findings of the investigation that led to DeMayo’s termination in March. The removal of his credit in season two might have something to do with DeMayo’s penchant for posting about X-Men ’97 on social media, something that was reportedly part of his termination agreement. The fan-art in the middle of the current controversy feels innocuous enough that we could see it being included in a series of other posts about the show that led Marvel to feel he violated their agreement. However, considering the army of Disney lawyers Marvel Studios has, it may be a long time before the truth of the matter comes out.

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