Wolverine and Morph from Marvel Animation's X-Men '97, in front of an image of the X-Men.

Ex-X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo recently defended Morph’s feelings for Wolverine. DeMayo had previously confirmed that Morph confessed romantic feelings for Wolverine.

In a post on X, DeMayo commented, “From story bible to the script, Morph’s confession to Logan was always romantic. I discussed this openly and often during production. Suggesting otherwise, never mind contradicting the intention of a queer writer-showrunner, is both offensive and straight-washing.”

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DeMayo subsequently went on to further note, “To talk about representation and it mattering, and then contradict a gay black creator once they are able to become one of the few showrunners who are gay and black, is just disingenuous.“

“From story bible to the script, Morph’s confession to Logan was always romantic. I discussed this openly and often during production. Suggesting otherwise, never mind contradicting the intention of a queer writer-showrunner, is both offensive and straight-washing.”

Prior to this, X-Men: The Animated Series‘ creators touched upon the nonbinary Morph backlash, with series director Larry Houston avowing that for him, the word “nonbinary” is the same as the word “shapeshifter.” Houston added, “Every character that can change from one gender to another, or from human to animal, that’s just another word for ‘shapeshifter’ for me.”