Marvel Studios is set to premiere its highly anticipated X-Men ’97 animated series just next week on Disney+. So it has come as a shock to many people that it has suddenly fired the writer and creator of the series, a continuation of the well-regarded Fox cartoon series.

Along with X-Men ’97, Beau DeMayo previously produced and wrote for Moon Knight, and has also worked on The Witcher, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. He had worked on the in-development Blade movie.

The story appeared in Variety and has spread across the trades and other outlets like wildfire.

Two seasons of X-Men ’97 had been ordered, and DeMayo had already completed writing duties for both seasons. There was active talk of a third season being on the cards. Then, suddenly, he was fired last week in a move nobody saw coming and his company email was deactivated. The cast and crew were simply informed he was no longer on the project. Even more curious, his highly active Instagram account was then deleted.

He has been removed from all press activity and will not attend the premiere of the show. Both Marvel Studios and DeMayo’s agents have declined to comment further.

Writers moving on from projects between seasons is normal, but it is highly unusual for a top creative on a Marvel project to miss a premiere or cancel press plans.

Given Hollywood’s preoccupation with box-ticking, De Mayo being a gay Black man was often spoken about during his involvement with the project. He even talked about how growing up as the adopted son to white parents with a Korean sister in the South made the X-Men characters, with their struggles for acceptance by society, feel personal to him. In the agenda-driven world of studios, this would normally constitute armor.

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