Former X-MEN '97 Showrunner Beau DeMayo Calls Out Marvel Studios For "Race-Swapping White Villains"

Former X-Men '97 showrunner Beau DeMayo has been on a bit of a tirade against Marvel Studios of late, and has now called out the practice of "race-swapping white villains to Black people."

News

By MarkCassidy - Dec 31, 2024 09:12 AM EST

Filed Under: X-Men '97

Earlier this year, we got word that Marvel Studios/Disney had fired X-Men '97 showrunner Beau DeMayo shortly before the animated revival show's world premiere.

Since then, the internet has been rife with rumors and speculation about what might have led to DeMayo's dismissal, and Marvel finally released a statement on the matter in August.

"Mr. DeMayo was terminated in March 2024 following an internal investigation. Given the egregious nature of the findings, we severed ties with him immediately and he has no further affiliation with Marvel."

Though there are some conflicting reports on what exactly occurred, DeMayo is said to have been terminated for sending lewd photos to members of his staff, and there have been further allegations claiming that he was physically and sexually inappropriate with several of his colleagues.

DeMayo has always denied this, suggesting that his firing was simply due to homophobia, and claiming that he was stripped of his X-Men '97 season 2 credit shortly after sharing some Gay Pride Month fan art of himself in a skimpy Cyclops costume.

It's up to you who you choose to believe, but whatever the truth may be, DeMayo clearly hasn't been able to let things go.

After recently sharing his not-so-positive thoughts on What If...? season 3 - and writer Matthew Chauncey, who is set to replace him as showrunner on X-Men '97 - DeMayo has called out Marvel Studios for race-swapping white villains.

Here let me rephrase

Hey @MarvelStudios please stop race-swapping white villains to black people. It reads “funny.”

Kang. High Evolutionary. Norman Osborn. Electro. Mordo.
— Beau DeMayo (@BeauDemayo) December 30, 2024

DeMayo has been accused of being a hypocrite, since the character of Sunspot in X-Men '97 had much lighter skin than he did in the comics.

"Asked and answered," he responded in the thread. "This was a Marvel directive. Crew members and I brought up his Afro heritage multiple times. They wanted “Latino representation” on the team since Storm and Bishop were already black."

Whichever way you happen to feel about a character's race being changed from page to screen, Marvel has race-swapped a number of villains and heroes over the years, and there are probably more examples of the latter than the former.

What do you think? Has DeMayo hit on a big conspiracy here? Or is this simply an example of a bitter former employee venting on social media? Be sure to drop us a comment down below.

X-MEN '97: Beau DeMayo Says Marvel Scrapped His Plans For Onslaught And AGE OF APOCALYPSE Season 3

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183 Comments

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LSHF - 12/31/2024, 9:54 AM

Well, I guess he won't one of their "showrunners" again Lol.

GiverOfInfo - 12/31/2024, 10:02 AM

Damn, I agree with Beau but not for his reasons; he thinks it is anti black to make white villains into black people, when the reality is, villain or not, the race replacement agenda typically only ever goes one way and that is towards white people.

Nevertheless, you know the anti white agenda has reached its zenith when even a multiracial hollywood homosexual is getting tired of it. Thank you for speaking out, Mr DeMayo!

NonPlayerC - 12/31/2024, 10:31 AM

@GiverOfInfo - i don’t think it is an anti white agenda. Yeah there might be a few bigots sprinkled in but I believe it’s more about representation to get more people in the seats. People like to see someone that looks like them in a movie. That said I agree with you that they it was is annoying and they should just creat a new character if there isn’t an existing one to fill check their box.

To his point it is a little I don’t know, is patronizing the right word when they only ever change the villain but leave the main character white. I can see why it’s not the best option either way

GiverOfInfo - 12/31/2024, 10:58 AM

@NonPlayerC - Was there some organic demand from blacks to make Norman Osborn not white? Did blacks not watch Spider-Man before because Norman was white?

Whites are less than 9% of the world population, why is it their responsibility to represent all races at all times in their media in their countries? Do nonwhite nations and medias feel the need to represent all other races within their content, including whites?

That said, if you wanted "inclusion," you would just make new characters. Instead, all we get are white characters being changed into nonwhite characters, and nonwhite versions of every major white character. This doesn't make more seats at the table, it merely replaces them. It is a double standard that is just anti white.

TheVandalore - 12/31/2024, 11:17 AM

@GiverOfInfo - race swapping is pandering. Any other color of people getting offended on the behalf of another and telling them to relax while we make this right and take care of things by pretending white characters are other characters is WILDLY offensive and reductive just by the very principals of its nature. It's a supremacists gaslighting tactic to blend in and avoid detection. You aren't helping by race swapping anyone for anything. By admitting white characters make the most money and will only be the characters moving forward in history that will financially make the most money is admitting an inherent supremacy in white films. It's the same issue of blaming men for for the WNBA not being as popular. By admitting white characters are the ones needing to be race swapped in order to bridge these gap of inequality, you are essentially admitting no other cultures art can compete with white culture without blatantly black washing white culture. The very idea that this GIFT to the colored people of race swapping with white characters is unironically spitting in the face of the people you attempt to prop up. Race swapping is an insult to everyone involved. It's modern day blackface, and most people are too stupid trying to be in the right moral camp they aren't even realizing they are the clowns on the wrong side of history... Again.

Evansly - 12/31/2024, 11:29 AM

@TheVandalore - Adaptations happen. It isn't worth getting so upset about

regularmovieguy - 12/31/2024, 11:31 AM

@GiverOfInfo

Genuinely curious how sad one’s life must be if this is the shit you get up in arms over.

Over [frick]ing comic book movies of all things.

regularmovieguy - 12/31/2024, 11:34 AM

@TheVandalore

“It’s modern day blackface”

Jesus Christ you people are genuinely low IQ.

GiverOfInfo - 12/31/2024, 11:46 AM

@TheVandalore - The characters are created by whites in majority white countries, so naturally most of the characters are white and the most popular characters are white. Whites are less than 9% of the world population, why should whites have to include all races at all times in everything they do when this expectation is never put on other races in their own nations and stories to represent everyone else?

Is it good for majority black, asian, or indian nations and stories to be less black, asian, and indian? Why then is it good for things that are white to be less white?

GiverOfInfo - 12/31/2024, 11:48 AM

@regularmovieguy - yeah, imagine not enthusiastically embracing the erasure and replacement of your people in media 🤡

The1st - 12/31/2024, 11:54 AM

@NonPlayerC - For a long time majority of the major players were white. It makes sense, to studios anyway, to just litter in diversity as they see fit for the story and demographics. I'm sure the metrics department had a field day with it. The thing is, based on Beau's comments, how do you take a franchise like X-Men, whose foundation is acceptance/inclusion, and selectively choose how much diversity you want for said characters? He makes a good point, it defeats the purpose imo. I agree there's always a bad actor, but yeah I don't think it's an anti-white agenda also. I think when we reach the actual golden age of comics when things like this aren't even considered and stories are just told, not boxes checked. It's already an adaptation, and yet they found a way to venture further out in the weeds.

regularmovieguy - 12/31/2024, 12:04 PM

@GiverOfInfo

Lmao. It’s not that serious. Most people don’t give a [frick] if someone like Kang the Conqueror is played by a black actor except terminally online, insecure man-children.

Evansly - 12/31/2024, 12:14 PM

@GiverOfInfo - LMAO erasure

KennKathleen - 12/31/2024, 12:15 PM

@regularmovieguy -

GiverOfInfo - 12/31/2024, 12:15 PM

@regularmovieguy - imagine if the roles were reversed.

Hell, imagine if a white actor plays Kang in a future MCU film. 🤡🤣

EgoEgor - 12/31/2024, 12:22 PM

@GiverOfInfo - You're nonsense has no basis in actual reality.

"Whites are less than 9% of the world population, why should whites have to include all races at all times in everything they do when this expectation is never put on other races in their own nations and stories to represent everyone else?"

WTF are you talking about? These films are PRIMARILY made for North American audiences. These aren't films from [frick]ing Norway. And USA and Canada are one of the most diverse countries in the world. This might come as a shock to you, but minorities in America watch movies too, and why shouldn't they want their money as well? (which of course they [frick]ing do)

And you speak of erasure of the white race(which race is a just social construct that has no basis in biological science), yet somehow THE VAST majority of films that are greenlit are white male leads. But continue to use these few and far in between examples of races-swapping, particularly of a show that has a white male lead, and continue to cry victim, whatever delusion or ism makes you feel better.

GiverOfInfo - 12/31/2024, 12:34 PM

@EgoEgor - Again, the films are made in majority white countries, why should there be a nonwhite version of every white character/race replacements of everyone else? There is not even a demand from nonwhite audiences for this....nobody is asking for Norman Osborn to be black. Were they unable to enjoy Spider-Man before when he was white?

If race is just a social construct and doesn't matter, then why are you so devoted to race replacing white people then? How come race suddenly doesn't matter when it comes to white characters, yet is the most important and defining thing for nonwhite characters? I.e., it would be unthinkable to cast a white actor for a nonwhite role and say that you're just looking for "the best actor for the part."

NonPlayerC - 12/31/2024, 12:55 PM

@GiverOfInfo - white media? It’s a production company. They are trying to make money. If they think putting black actors in a movie to draw a more diverse attendance they will do it. It’s not about race it’s about money. Your comment about 9% of the population being white doesn’t even matter. This is America for one with a diverse population and it’s only gonna get more diverse, there’s no stopping that. These movies are also released in other countries where, you said it are 91% other races so again they want to show those people they are included. The majority of people don’t care about comics so the color of a character isnt a top priority for a producer. They want to get their money back and a return on investment. It’s not racism it’s economics. Again I agree it’s annoying but it’s not some conspiracy, it’s always about the money

NonPlayerC - 12/31/2024, 1:09 PM

@The1st - again I don’t think that was his point, he’s specifically talking about race swapping villains here. 99 percent of the time it’s done with the villain or a minor character of the story. His “funny” statement reads to me like he thinks they are true my to make black people villains. Not sure what his feeling are for race swapping the hero’s because he doesn’t state it here. I think they should just create a new character if they want to check a box. Do I think it’s a Cold War race war by the media like some of these jokers are insinuating, absolutely not. It’s about money. Like you said we need to take in the moral lesson of the X-men and have a little more acceptance of other ideas and beliefs. There will be a reboot next decade anyway

NonPlayerC - 12/31/2024, 1:16 PM

@The1st - and if we really want to be honest it’s mostly just gingers being replaced, they don’t have souls anyway!! Lol

GiverOfInfo - 12/31/2024, 1:16 PM

@NonPlayerC - It's not about money because there was no demand from the audience for a black Norman Osborn. Also, if white countries are the wealthiest in the world, then race replacing whites to "make more money" also doesn't make sense. Whites are the majority in the US, but there is an agenda change that, this is true. Policies were in place to keep the nation majority white for decades, changes to this are deliberate and not a mere act of nature, so there is obviously an anti white agenda at work and the media is just following suit with replacing white characters.

DaHULK2000 - 12/31/2024, 1:28 PM

@GiverOfInfo - race swapping is a very racist practice in this case since the whoal point of it is to demonstrate to the Audence that the producers aren't racist when in fact they are, it's also being used to radicalise whites against blacks.

EgoEgor - 12/31/2024, 1:33 PM

@GiverOfInfo - " the films are made in majority white countries"

and yet majority of films have a majority white characters and cast, and A VAST majority of white male leads. Are you saying that the rest of the demographic shouldn't be reflected? It kinda sounds like that to me.

These film companies are trying to tap into markets that will make them more money. They beleive diverse films generally make them more money, they're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts or for equality. They are business. They want their films to reach all demographics, and global markets as well.

"If race is just a social construct and doesn't matter, then why are you so devoted to race replacing white people then?" ... This is a ridiculous question. You assume that I'm devoted to the ideology of race. When really, you're the one who is devoted. You're the one who cares. I don't care...AT FREAKING ALL... about the race of a character.

"it would be unthinkable to cast a white actor for a nonwhite role and say that you're just looking for "the best actor for the part." ... Hollywood has been doing that for a long time; so, no, not really unthinkable. The only reason it would be a problem in todays standards is not because of the victimhood delusions that you are spouting, it's because it would take away the few roles that minority actors could portray. In fact, they did race-swap a minority character in the MCU, The Ancient One in Dr Strage, and still no one gave a shit. Even with Mordo, no one gave a shit, but people today are trying to start culture nonsense and spark outrage and fervor over a [frick]ing movie. These characters aren't real, they can be whatever race or gender the writer decides.

Slotherin - 12/31/2024, 1:35 PM

@GiverOfInfo - "imagine if a white actor plays Kang in a future MCU film"
the nature of Kang allows that... We already saw an alien Kang and a black Loki.

NonPlayerC - 12/31/2024, 1:37 PM

@GiverOfInfo - just because there are there are civil rights initiatives trying to boost minorities doesn’t mean it’s anti white. Helping 1 group doesn’t exclusively mean hurting the other. That might be an unintended consequence yes but that’s not the intention.

Your demand point- this is an art project, yes a big one, but still an art project. It’s not about demand, it’s about who you can get to come see your art or movie. I’m white, I’m less likely to seek out a movie with an all black cast. They throw a token white actor in who I like in more inclined to go see the movie. People are clearly still very tribal in nature as your arguments have demonstrated.

White countries more money- it’s less of a point about wealth and more about population, they aren’t selling teslas. They are product most people will watch once and never see it or buy a hard or digital copy. It’s like selling beer. The highest grossing beer companies are angrier Busch miller etc. they make most of their money on the cheapest thing they sell, miller lite, bud light, Busch. It’s not how much they sell it for as much as how many people you can get to buy it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m aware that civil rights initiatives are good and bad. There are more white people on food stamps in the country than any other race because there are more white people than any other race. To some it would seem counter productive to keep giving free college and federal business grants to minorities while there more white poop people than anyone else. That said to your point we live in a country that had laws that enslaved and hurt minorities. We are getting to the point we are gonna get past the historical injustices but there are a lot of minorities whose grandparents grew up in segregation. When you’re raised by someone that went thru that you’re gonna be a little hesitant to trust the white man. Another generation and I think we will be in a better spot. Try to tamp down the hate and be a little more understanding

Slotherin - 12/31/2024, 1:40 PM

@GiverOfInfo - that's your problem, it's a white country to you. You can't even acknowledge America as diverse.

GiverOfInfo - 12/31/2024, 1:48 PM

@EgoEgor - There is no demand for a black Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, etc., yet every major white character has a nonwhite version of them that exists, while other white characters are just replaced. Yet there are no white versions of nonwhite heroes.

If you want "inclusion," why is it nearly always at the expense of a pre existing white character? That is just a replacement.

The only time a nonwhite character is replaced in the modern era is if it is to make the bad guy white (Spawn) or if they believe the original nonwhite character is racist (The Ancient One).

Every other time, it is to race replace white characters because the media has an anti white double standard.

You say race doesn't matter to you, yet you would be up in arms if Black Panther were played by a white actor, or if there were white versions of black heroes both real and fictional like how there are black versions of white fictional & real life figures (Hamilton).

The movies make the bulk of their money in majority white countries, so race replacing the characters for money doesn't make sense. Even internationally, China is the biggest foreign market, yet the white characters are never race replaced with asians, instead, they are nearly always made into black or indian characters. If the argument was because they want the money from the nonwhite markets, then they would be putting more asian characters in to get money from the wealthiest nonwhite market instead of gearing up for a war against China. So it's not economic at all.

GiverOfInfo - 12/31/2024, 1:53 PM

@NonPlayerC - less than 2% of the population owned slaves, 56% of this 2% were jews, the rest were mostly anglo capitalist collaborators.

Why should the other 98% of the white population - most of whose ancestors were not even in the country at the time of the civil war - have to pay reparations in collective punishment for what 2% of the population did?

TheNewYorker - 12/31/2024, 2:20 PM

Let’s just keep movies all white, like the old days.

Make films all white again.

Batmangina - 12/31/2024, 2:48 PM

@TheNewYorker - Is that your final answer?

NonPlayerC - 12/31/2024, 3:07 PM

@GiverOfInfo - it’s more the fact that slavery was put into law by our government with the 3/5 compromise. Yeah it’s a murky situation but our country had laws aimed at making minorities lives worse than white people. They had seperate underfunded public schools paid for by tax dollars. They were restricted on where they could buy a house. Higher interest rates from banks. It was much more difficult to get ahead if you were black, chinese whatever. People hold the US government at fault for implementing these policies thru congress.i agree with you that most people didn’t have spaces. It was a luxury of the rich. Not sure where you’re getting the Jewish slave owner percentage from or what time period you are looking at but okay whatever, it doesn’t matter. The fault is with the government and that’s who people hold at fault. I understand that it’s irrational to blame people today for things done by people in the past, and agree that using my tax dollars to benefit minorities more than white people is angering, but then I step back and look at the fact that my great grandfather was able to go to school/army and become an engineer and have a little bit of money to leave to my mother when he died. An average black family’s grandfather did not have the same opportunities as mine. Reparations will not pass thru todays congress, the federal government is not going to be giving all minorities millions of dollars, if that happens yeah I’ll be pretty pissed because I’m out here working every day to scape by just like everyone else. But I can also recognize my family had a bit of a leg up when it comes to the opportunity to pass on wealth to their children so I can forgive giving a poor black kid that gets good grades a free education. Yeah sucks for the poor white kid that didn’t get it but there’s got to be some middle ground. I’m done with this thoughtful conversation, enjoy you’re day and try to find some forgiveness in your heart sir

GiverOfInfo - 12/31/2024, 3:25 PM

@NonPlayerC - would you like to see how whites are treated in majority black countries?

Hell, how about how other blacks are treated in majority black countries, many of whom still have slavery, while whites abolished it centuries ago.

NonPlayerC - 12/31/2024, 3:36 PM

@GiverOfInfo - how others treat people does not justify how we ourselves should treat others. We should hold ourselves to a higher level even if others do not. I realize it’s a fools errand to expect that one day everyone in the world will act that way but we should try to be kind and show others the way, otherwise we’ll just keep getting worse as a people. Again, enjoy your day and hope the best for you

GiverOfInfo - 12/31/2024, 3:48 PM

@NonPlayerC - ok, sure, we should always strive to be the best version of ourselves, but on average and taking into account the other 91% of the world, whites are actually pretty benevolent in their interactions towards other groups, generally speaking. No other group gives outsiders institutional benefits just for being an outside group that it doesn't give to its in-group, for instance.

90caliber - 12/31/2024, 7:12 PM

@GiverOfInfo - Being pro black, latino, chinese, or whatever it may be does not translate into anti white to anyone else but white people. Sad. It's not even about you.

GiverOfInfo - 12/31/2024, 7:19 PM

@90caliber - it does when it means replacing white people and having a different standard for them than you do other races.

BaddestOptics - 12/31/2024, 11:21 PM

@GiverOfInfo - toy deserve your fate of dying alone. "Anti white agenda" 🤣 could you be a bigger bitch?

GiverOfInfo - 1/1/2025, 1:03 AM

@BaddestOptics - show me the lie

spr0cks - 1/1/2025, 1:23 AM

@GiverOfInfo -
He's saying it's happening but not for the same reasons you are or the reasons you think he is.

He doesn't care about 'white replacement' or the 'anti-white agenda' nonsense you seem to be hanging your hat on.

Why else do you think he's only pointed out the white villains swapped to black and not the white heroes or protagonists swapped to black?

It's always weird and funny to me how people see what they want to see out of the statements that other people make.
And for the record, you're BOTH wrong.

Disney/Marvel/insert-studio-here don't care about your "whatsit" agenda in making the decisions to do these swaps.

They're doing them because they want to make more money.
End of story.

spr0cks - 1/1/2025, 1:25 AM

@TheVandalore -

RE"It's modern day blackface, and most people are too stupid trying to be in the right moral camp they aren't even realizing they are the clowns on the wrong side of history... Again."

This is the sort of nonsensical comparison made by someone who is truly ignorant about what blackface really was and what it entail and why it was so bad.

But it makes for a great "shock" comparison, amiright?

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Former X-MEN '97 Showrunner Beau DeMayo Calls Out Marvel Studios For "Race-Swapping White Villains"

Former X-Men '97 showrunner Beau DeMayo has been on a bit of a tirade against Marvel Studios of late, and has now called out the practice of "race-swapping white villains to Black people."

X-MEN '97: Beau DeMayo Says Marvel Scrapped His Plans For Onslaught And AGE OF APOCALYPSE Season 3

X-MEN '97: New Report Reveals When The Show Will Return To Disney+ With Season 2

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.