Stan Lee has become a household name. You may know him as that old guy who does cameos in Marvel films but to many who know of his work and legacy, he is so much more. The Stan Lee documentary streaming on Disney+ offers a look into how the man became a legend.
Growing up in New York, Stan Lee, born Stanley Martin Leiber saw his father struggle to have a regular work and income, this was made more difficult after the great depression. This urged him to start working at an early age. He started as an office boy before working his way up to become an editor at the age of 17! And as they say, the rest is history.
As a history buff, I’m amazed that the documentary covered the great depression, World War II, and even the Vietnam war, the latter two even greatly influencing Marvel comics. Captain America was already battling Nazis before the United States joined the war. The X-Men were Stan Lee’s take on anti-bigotry, during a time where segregation and hate toward the LGBTQIA community was prevalent.
Stan Lee fought for the relevance and importance of comic books.
“Comic books were a more powerful cultural device than they ever have a chance to prove to be. I hope to give them that chance now. I want to make comic books much more important than they’ve ever been.”
Of course these comic books, and stories would eventually become the multi-media juggernaut we know and love today in movies, streaming series, games, books, and so much more. So the fact that Stan Lee fought so hard for their relevance trickles down everytime we enjoy a new Marvel movie, show, or comic book today.
In the documentary Stan Lee talks about wanting to do more, and while he initially thought this was not possible through comic books, he eventually realized that that wasn’t the case.
“Maybe entertainment is one of the most important things-there are so many bad things in the world that if you entertain somebody for a while, it’s a good thing.”
The documentary is supplemented by miniature animation, for the parts were video footage is not available, there are a lot of voice recordings that make you feel as if Stan Lee is right there talking to you in the room.
While the documentary felt rushed in the end-I would have wanted to see more of his later years in life, including him being a victim of elderly abuse and even people extorting Stan Lee in his old age, but I guess that will be left to more reading and research. It was nice that they touched on what happened between Stan Lee, Steve Dikto, and Jack Kirby. And just expounds on the need for clearer and firmer laws and regulations for copyright and ownership of characters, something that Stan Lee talks about with regret in the documentary.
The montage of his cameos in the MCU films, is a definite tear-jerker I dare you not to cry! Additional reading led me to a quote from from Roy Thomas – who succeeded Lee as editor-in-chief at Marvel: “-he was talking about doing more cameos. As long as he had the energy for it and didn’t have to travel, Stan was always up to do some cameos. He got a kick out of those more than anything else.”
I definitely miss hearing the audience laugh and applaud everytime a Stan Lee cameo came up on screen. And while we have been missing those in the last MCU movies due to his passing, his hard work, innovation, and legendary collaboration will continue to have an effect for generations to come.
“You can only do your best work if you’re doing what you want to do. And if you’re doing it the way you think it should be done.”
‘Stan Lee’ is now streaming on Disney+.