With two episodes still to go, X-Men ’97 has proven to be one of the best entries from Marvel in recent years, mostly thanks to former showrunner Beau DeMayo’s passion for the material. DeMayo, who was abruptly fired from the show prior to its premiere, has been pretty transparent with the fans about his thought process behind this revival of X-Men: The Animated Series.
Taking to his X account, the writer shared a new clip for the series ahead of Episode 9’s release, as DeMayo made his intentions clear about respecting the source material without pushing his vision too far.
Beau Demayo Is Not Here to Put His Mark on the Characters With X-Men ‘97
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with straying away from the source material to add one’s own spin to it, in certain cases, these changes have proven to be too drastic and overwhelming for fans. MCU is no stranger to such issues, but in the case of X-Men ’97, Beau DeMayo made sure not to push his vision too far that the “characters cease to be themselves”.
He stated:
“Our job was to shepherd the characters, not ‘put our mark’ on them for the sake of ego… Go too far pushing your vision, the characters cease to be themselves. Don’t go far enough, you’re just playing karaoke with the comics.”
Sharing a brief clip of the new suits in the upcoming episode, which is a callback to the characters’ classic attires from the comics, especially Wolverine’s brown and yellow suit, DeMayo wrote:
“The more things change, the more they stay the same”
The more things change, the more they stay the same #xmen97 #xmen pic.twitter.com/vV8ARlOmps
— Beau DeMayo (@BeauDemayo) May 7, 2024
Fans couldn’t agree more with The Witcher writer, stressing the MCU should inch towards a similar direction. Many were also riveted by Wolverine’s iconic brown suit, as they took to X to share their excitement for the upcoming episode.
this is what the mcu needs
— kizoo (@kizotez) May 8, 2024
I dont care if they think this guy is toxic he needs his fuckin job back!!! Do yall see the masterpiece he has created
— GHOST (@AE_4_L1F3) May 8, 2024
💯🔥💪🏾 pic.twitter.com/C01GKVxVcR
— K.T. King (@KTKing42) May 7, 2024
I got what I wanted.
— ROME. (@romcom_rome) May 8, 2024
🥵🥵🥵🥵
— Alexis Cardoza 🇵🇷 (@_AlexisCardoza) May 7, 2024
With season 2 already in development and season 3 being greenlit, it’ll be interesting to see what direction will Marvel take with the acclaimed IP without DeMayo onboard.
Kevin Feige Seemingly Thought About Incorporating X-Men ‘97 to MCU
Emi Yonemura, who served as a director on Episodes 3 and 5 of X-Men ’97, recalled that Kevin Feige briefly ran the idea of incorporating the show in the MCU.
But she was glad this didn’t end up being the case, as after some back and forth, the Marvel head decided the show should be its own thing.
She told Inverse:
“That has always been something we know was on Kevin Feige’s mind, do we make this part of the MCU? Do we not make this part of the MCU? It’s actually gone back and forth quite a few times, and I think we did land in a smart place because [X-Men: The Animated Series] was its own thing, and I think that to continue it we needed to be our own thing.”
While fans have been crying foul for Marvel to rehire DeMayo for the upcoming seasons, it seems Disney is persisting with its decision.
X-Men ’97 is available to stream on Disney Plus.
