X-Men ’97 creator Beau DeMayo has had a long feud with Disney and Marvel Studios after being fired as director of the superhero series right before its premiere on Disney+. Rumors about about onset behavior and creative tension have made X-Men ’97’s creation nothing short of a drama-fest. However, the former director has some choice criticisms for an upcoming book about the series.
Following a panel at WonderCon 2025, where members of the team were interviewed, Beau DeMayo took to X to comment his perspective of what really happened during the development of X-Men ’97.
Just to clarify a few elements #wondercon: @JakeCastorena had nothing to do with the writing of #xmen97 — which makes him writing the foreword to the upcoming Making of Book even more baffling to me. The only director who ever got a line in a script was @TheChaseConley — “Minds…
— Beau DeMayo (@BeauDemayo) April 14, 2025
“@JakeCastorena had nothing to do with the writing of #xmen97 — which makes him writing the foreword to the upcoming Making of Book even more baffling to me. The only director who ever got a line in a script was @TheChaseConley — “Minds are far harder to bend than metal.”
Beau DeMayo
Jake Castorena is the current supervising producer for ‘X-Men 97 and has remained with the series after Beau Demayo’s firing in March of 2024. Beau takes aim at both him and Marvel Studios and claims that they are trying to rewrite history from what really happened behind the scenes.
Yet again, @Marvelstudios @jakecastorena trying to rewrite history and exploiting @xmentas (writer of X-Men 97, Julia Lewald) and @xmendirector (Larry Houston, director of the original 90s X-Men series) to unknowingly do their dirty work, just like he tried to take credit for Magneto’s death.
Beau DeMayo
Beau’s claims are only the latest in a long series of accusations at Marvel and the Walt Disney Company following his firing from the series. Beau had previously threatened to expose Marvel in Court for how he was treated during the creation of the series.
Beau DeMayo has kept in close communication with the fans of the series following his departure, with many voicing their desire for DeMayo to be involved with the upcoming second season of the series and showcase his vision for the show’s future. However, Beau has also seen attention from skeptics who wonder if the director might be ignoring his own potential wrongdoings behind the scenes.
Beau DeMayo via Cool YouTube Guy YouTube
In what could be seen as less dramatic, Beau DeMayo also shared additional insights on the inclusion of Peter Parker, better known as Spider-Man, in the series. Peter’s cameo had actually made it to the final version of the series following Beau’s firing and helped to give fans some closure to a Spider-Man show that ended on a cliffhanger many years ago.
“Peter Parker was an idea I had from (the get) go because I wanted audiences to know that Peter had found MJ in the 90s series.”
Beau DeMayo
Many fans have longed for the 1990s Spider-Man TV series, which aired on Fox Kids, to see a similar sequel cartoon similar to X-Men 97. However, it seems that Beau will have nothing to do with any superhero creation that will eventually get off the ground at Marvel despite many clamoring for his return.
What exactly went on during the toxic development of X-Men ’97 will continue to be revealed in time, but Mr. DeMayo seems intent on making sure that what he sees as the truth is made available to the public.
Do you believe Beau DeMayo about the real story behind X-Men ’97’s development? Do you plan to read the upcoming Making of book? Do you think there are more details that need to be seen? Sound off in the comments below!
Hopefully he loses. He’s an SJW who inserted his propaganda in one of the best cartoon series of all time. Failure and irrelevance is what he deserves.
It’s fight between two evil. Disney enabled him and he, as every good woke communist, bites the hand feeding him.
“and helped to give fans some closure to a Spider-Man show that ended on a cliffhanger many years ago”
Closure?
It didn’t give me closure at all. It just raised a whole bunch of questions, like exactly HOW did he find MJ? That’s a major plot point to just casually gloss over.
Either way, I don’t consider anything in ‘97 to be canon, and that includes MJ just magically returning without any explanation.
Agreed. Spider-Man’s open ending was good enough. He’s just pretending to have done something meaningful.
That’s all he’s ever done. He took a great show, tacked a couple of stories from the comics to it, added his own personal fanfiction, and then acts like he’s a mastermind for doing it.