Beau DeMayo served as X-Men '97's showrunner/Head Writer but parted ways with Marvel Animation before completing work on season 2. If you believe Marvel Studios, he was fired for sexual misconduct; however, DeMayo's story is that those claims - and his firing - were retaliation for calling out racist, unethical practices.
DeMayo has made several damning allegations about Marvel Studios. Whether those are the outbursts of a disgruntled former employee or a glimpse into what the studio is really like is something only you can judge.
Regardless, he's just made some bold claims about X-Men '97's storm. While some X-Men: The Animated Series roles were recast, the legendary Allison Sealy Smith returned to lend her voice to Ororo Munroe.
If DeMayo is to be believed, that wasn't always the case as Marvel executives initially decided they needed an actor who sounded more "African." It appears they got one - the writer says she can even be seen in Marvel Studios: Assembled - The Making Of X-Men '97 - only to later decide a mistake had been made.
There are various ways of looking at this, especially when many fans have expressed disappointment with the Americanisation of Storm and the decision to cast lighter-skinned actors in live-action. In 2022, Dark Phoenix star Alexandra Shipp told us she wouldn't reprise the role in the MCU due to her hope that a darker-skinned actor would instead be given the chance to play Storm.
With that in mind, Marvel Animation's intentions may well have come from a good place, even if the wording used was somewhat insensitive.
Last year, X-Men '97 director and producer Jake Castorena addressed some of the recastings when he said, "If we're doing this show, we got to do it with the legacy cast – that was the decision from day one. [But] time hits us all – it's been 30 years and so, unfortunately, some of the legacy voice cast is no longer with us, and some of the legacy voice cast, voices and things just change."
"Finding people to take up the mantle for the legacy cast, to fill in the roles, was an absolute process, but I absolutely love and appreciate all of our new cast taking on their new roles – and to hear the blessings from the legacy cast has been also awesome, too."
"For those who wanted to come back and for whatever reasons weren't able to do the voice, we brought them back to play other characters, to make sure we still had everybody in the sandbox," Castorena continued, "because how do you invite one person to come play, but not somebody else? Especially when they're game and they want to. It's like, 'We'll find something for you.'"
You can read DeMayo's comments in full below.