Former X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo is doubling down on his criticism of Marvel, this time taking aim at the way Marvel Studios runs its creative meetings — and how the process allegedly kills good ideas before they make it to the screen.
DeMayo recently exposed Marvel Animation for not being fans of comics and more.
In a new Twitter thread, DeMayo contrasted Marvel with DC, explaining why he hasn’t been as critical of James Gunn’s Superman.
“I’ve Sat in the Creative Meetings at Marvel Studios. They’re Horrible.”
DeMayo says his opinion comes from first-hand experience:
“To those asking why I’m not so hard on #Superman, the answer is I’ve never worked with Gunn or DC. Like Matt Shankman and the writers of #fantasticfour, I’ve sat in the ‘creative meetings’ at @MarvelStudios. They’re horrible.”
He claims the process revolves around Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige and Co-President Louis D’Esposito steering pitches toward their own rushed ideas:
“You basically sit in a room with Kevin Feige and Lou D’Esposito and try to pitch your movie while also realizing that Kevin just wants you to dictate his rushed thoughts.”
DeMayo adds that former Marvel executive Victoria Alonso, who was also fired, would sometimes try to lift the mood:
“In one of my #Blade meetings she just showed up with sugar cookies she’d bake to help improve morale.”
“Don’t Pitch Ideas from the Comics”
According to DeMayo, comic book references are discouraged:
“You’re even told NOT to try to pitch ideas from the comics because Lou isn’t a big comic guy and it’ll turn him off.”
Instead, he says the focus is reduced to a vague formula:
“You sit and talk about craft and story and characters only to have Kevin and Lou say ‘yeah well, all we need to do is make sure it’s fun.’”
He describes the result as a factory process that strips away creativity:
“Marvel is a slaughterhouse factory where you watch fresh meat get spoiled as it slowly makes its way through the assembly gears of mediocre thinking and this weird hatred for their own product.”
Contempt for Comic Creators
DeMayo says this attitude extends to the comic book writers who created the characters:
“There’s no spark. There’s no vision. Marvel is a slaughterhouse factory where you watch fresh meat get spoiled as it slowly makes its way through the assembly gears of mediocre thinking and this weird hatred for their own product. This is why “@robertliefeld isn’t just some bitter old man. Talking about the comic book writers is met with open contempt. I had to fight to get the Lewalds involved on #xmen97 and even then the dismissive news with which Dana Vasquez-Eberhart spoke about them, basically telling me the OG creators were meant to be seen not heard to appease fans. I wanted to cowrite an ep with them and that was Dana’s response.”
He also says his requests to collaborate with major comic legends were shut down:
“I even remember wanting to talk to Chris Claremont and being shut down, or wanting Joe Madureira to do posters, just as I was scolded for being too friendly with fans.”
His Unused Blade Pitch
DeMayo also revealed his early ideas for Blade, which tied into Marvel’s Doctor Strange storyline:
“One of my drafts opened with Deacon Frost tricking some British explorers to trek up to Mount Wundagore where he does blood magic to reveal the vampire spell used by Varney and his followers during the days of Kull. It’d start trying some of these threads together. I even had the same monsters from Dr Strange show up to kill the explorers before Deacon reveals he’s a vampire and kills them (up until that point he’d been covered against the cold and daylight). This was set before Dr Strange 2 so a lot of the stuff played ironically, while also having Frost give us more details about Chthon, who we only glimpsed in Dr2.”
He says the story would have connected Blade to the Darkhold and Chthon, and Feige liked the concept, but others didn’t, including D’Esposito and Mahershala Ali:
“To Kevin’s credit, he liked the idea, as well as my pitch that magic is to Blade what snakes are to Indiana Jones: he hates magic. But then Lou felt it was too comic book while Mahershala bumped on there being magic in the film tonally. And then I watched as them and Nate Moore picked it apart and we were off to a new draft.”
“A Broken Machine”
In the end, DeMayo says Marvel’s arrogance ruins projects:
“It’s a broken machine, and so I can see where Matt [Shakman] and his team probably had great ideas only for Marvel’s arrogance to destroy them.”
To those asking why I’m not so hard on #Superman, the answer is I’ve never worked with Gunn or DC.
— Beau DeMayo (@BeauDemayo) August 9, 2025
Like Matt Shankman and the writers of #fantasticfour, I’ve sat in the “creative meetings” at @MarvelStudios. They’re horrible.
You basically sit in a room with Kevin Feige and…
