X-Men ’97 creator Beau DeMayo has some criticisms about how the MCU is handling Namor and Johnny Storm.
DeMayo created the first season of Disney+ and Marvel’s X-Men ’97 show, which premiered in March 2024. At least two more seasons are currently in the works; however, DeMayo was fired as the show’s head writer around the time that the first season premiered.
What did X-Men ’97’s Beau DeMayo say about Namor and Johnny Storm?
On X, DeMayo shared a statement that Joseph Quinn, who plays Johnny Storm/Human Torch in the MCU, told Entertainment Weekly about how his character will differ from Chris Evans’ Human Torch in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
“He was branded as this womanizing, devil-may-care guy, but is that sexy these days? I don’t think so,” Quinn said. “This version of Johnny is less callous with other people’s feelings.”
DeMayo said, “They pulled this softening sh— with Namor too.”
They pulled this softening shit with Namor too. https://t.co/NoKz6PewtT
— Beau DeMayo (@BeauDemayo) April 11, 2025
DeMayo responded to a number of people in the comments, saying, “[Namor] came across as a traumatized child throwing a temper tantrum against a black nation, not a king.”
Regarding Johnny Storm, DeMayo criticized Marvel’s “modernizing” of characters, saying the “modernizing is virtue/signaling pandering.” In another comment, he said, “Marvel doesn’t do [storytelling] anymore because no writer wants to work with a company where you are told ‘Kevin is the celebrity and the face or the work, but working for us will help your career after.’”
View his comments below:
There’s a way to — if you wanted — tell a really compelling story about a braggart white boy who lacks empathy — and maybe is a little womanizing — who is checked and humbled after being transformed into a celebrity hero, where he himself is treated like a product and thereby…
— Beau DeMayo (@BeauDemayo) April 11, 2025
That requires storytelling, but Marvel doesn’t do that anymore because no writer wants to work with a company where you are told “Kevin is the celebrity and the face or the work, but working for us will help your career after.”
— Beau DeMayo (@BeauDemayo) April 11, 2025
He came across as traumatized child throwing a temper tantrum against a black nation, not a king
— Beau DeMayo (@BeauDemayo) April 11, 2025
Another way of looking at it — Emma Frost, one of the reasons she’s drawn to Namor is — like herself — he’s petty. No one fucks with Emma. You screw up her coffee order, she’s going to telepathically insert a bad childhood memory into your mind so you spend the rest of your life…
— Beau DeMayo (@BeauDemayo) April 11, 2025
Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be released in United States theaters on July 25, 2025. Along with Quinn, the movie stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing.
Meanwhile, it was recently announced that Tenoch Huerta Mejía will reprise his role as Namor in Avengers: Doomsday, which releases in 2026.
Originally reported by Brandon Schreur at SuperHeroHype.
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