The man was real! And he was Jewish! The life of the creator of the most iconic comic book characters of all time is portrayed in a beautiful documentary. Courtesy of Disney+.Marvel! It’s that word you see or hear about every day. Marvel Marvel Marvel. Superheroes. Iron Man. The Avengers. Captain America. Thor. Spider-Man. Captain Marvel. Hawkeye. Ant-Man. Black Panther. If you’re not super familiar with Marvel, don’t worry. I’m a ginormous movie buff, but even I don’t know the full history of Marvel and the dozens upon dozens of Marvel films getting released every year. (They are part of the “Marvel Cinematic Universe.” Up next: The Marvels, coming to theaters this November.) I’m not a massive fan, I hate to admit, but that’s just because action movies aren’t really my thing. When a Marvel movie is really good, however, it’s simply amazing. (My personal favorite: Black Panther (2018). Who would have known that one of the creators of this iconic, unforgettably famous comic book publisher was Jewish and has changed the face of cinema over the past decade and a half?
It’s true! His name was Stan Lee, and his life story is beautifully presented in a new Disney+ documentary titled… (surprise) Stan Lee! There’s no other title for this movie because Lee deserves every bit of credit for his endlessly imaginative mind he presented to the world. He is like a metaphor for the boundless creativity we, aspiring writers or not, can unleash from our minds. The imagination of this man, including those of his fellow collaborators, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, amazes me beyond words. Think about this for a moment: HOW did someone think about writing a story about a teenage boy who gets superpowers after being bitten by a radioactive spider? Or a story about a group of mutants with different powers – telekinesis, razor hands, the ability to control the weather, etc. – saving the planet? Or a man shrinking himself to superkick and punch his opponents and befriend ants?
I may not be a comic book fan, but I am absolutely inspired by Lee and everyone at Marvel for their creativity. I speak in past tense a lot because Lee passed away in 2018 after living 95 extraordinary years. (Ditko passed away a few months before Lee and Kirby preceded them in 1994.) This trio may be gone, but I guarantee the Marvel Cinematic Universe will never disappear. This is a franchise that has revolutionized every bit of cinema. It has transmogrified cheesy special effects to positively eye-popping visuals that are so believable you forget you’re watching a movie. And most importantly, Marvel is keeping cinema afloat in these precarious times when movies can be streamed at home and people have less of a desire to head to the movies. When there’s a new Marvel movie, it’s like going to the Super Bowl. These movies, these characters and the actors who portray them, ALL of them are changing people’s lives.
I know I’ve mentioned Lee, Kirby, and Ditko a few times, but David Gelb’s documentary is strictly about the central creator of Marvel comics. Now, that may sound like a controversial thing to say, as we see twice in the movie. Lee oftentimes bickered with Kirby and Ditko about who the true “creator” of these comics was. While Lee believed he was because he was the first to lay out the characters and story arcs, his co-writers argued that they deserved the same credit for also co-creating characters and drawing out the comics. Who should we believe? It’s a valid argument, in my opinion, but I wasn’t in the room when these men fleshed out these stories. I will just go ahead and say that if Lee says he was the ultimate creator, the person who outlined every story and character and more, then I guess he was. And once you see Lee, the recognizable man with his big glasses, huge grin, and sympathetic personality, it’s hard to disagree with him. (It’s so hard to imagine Lee getting “angry.”)
In STAN LEE, Gelb avoids the usual sit-down documentary interviews with guests and has Lee narrate his entire story. Archival footage is juxtaposed with graphics from original comic books and these cool-looking, miniature sets that depict Lee’s childhood and life as an adult. The film gets right into the beginning of Lee’s life as a Jewish boy born in New York City to Eastern European parents. Born in 1922, Lee was an avid reader and always wanted to be a hero like Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). As a teenager, he got his first job working at a trouser company, followed by a publishing company in 1939. He began working for Timely Comics, an outlet of the company. His intention, however, was never to be a comic book writer. It was all just a job for him.
As we eventually see, however, all of this was fate. Lee started writing out some ideas for comics, and everyone was amazed. His burgeoning love for the art of comics soon manifested.
“Comic books can have a tremendous impact,” Lee states at one point. “You can convey an image or information faster, more clearly, and more enjoyably than any other way, short of motion pictures.”
One of his first creations was Captain America, a groundbreaking character in that the superhero fought off actual, real-life WWII villains like Hitler… all while the Second World War was literally taking place outside the office. After that, there came the Fantastic Four…and then Hulk…Spider-Man…Thor…Iron Man…X-Men…Black Panther. Characters upon characters and endless comics flooded the streets and floored children and teens across the country.
Everyone was entertained, particularly by the sly way Lee incorporated the zeitgeist of the time period into his works. Captain America, obviously, was a hyperbolic superpower against the Nazi regime. Black Panther was created as a reaction to the injustice of black people in America. Iron Man and X-Men were crafted from the outrage of the Vietnam War. These comics awakened that desire so many people felt during dark times. If you had to endure the constant news of the discrimination of black people, how good must it have felt to pick up a Black Panther comic and see a black superhero kick some butt? How good must it have felt like to grab a Captain America comic and see a picture of the muscled man punching Hitler in the face?
There was politics in Lee’s comics, but overall, they were just a ton of fun. Spider-Man, for example, doesn’t have a political agenda. It was just so unheard of to see a teenager be a superhero.
“A hero can’t be a teenager!” Lee was told by publishers. It was impossible, but Lee proved everyone wrong. Spider-Man made every kid on the planet pretend they could shoot webs out of their wrists.
Even after his passing, Lee’s originality will live on until the end of time. He reminds us that there’s a storyteller in everyone, and we should never be hurt by those belittling comments people make. I’ll end this post with a simple, yet powerful statement Lee makes in the film.
“If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don’t let some idiot talk you out of it.”
STAN LEE is now available to stream on Disney+.