(CNN) — Before Marvel conquered pop culture and the cinematic universe, Stan Lee was a likable goodwill ambassador for the comic book industry. As such, Lee created a rich archive that serves as the basis for “Stan Lee,” a light-hearted Disney+ documentary, tracing the life and career of the colorful comics patriarch in commemoration of what would have been his 100th birthday.
Beginning with the “Fantastic Four” in 1961, Lee and cartoonist Jack Kirby created a sprawling roster of superheroes that spawned the Marvel renaissance, and Lee added Spider-Man with Steve Ditko. But Kirby died in 1994, before those characters burst onto the big screen with “X-Men,” “Spider-Man” and “Iron Man,” and Lee’s comic book cameos became a movie staple. Marvel.
Long before that, however, Lee harnessed his showmanship and exuberant personality to play the self-proclaimed role of smiling champion of Marvel and comic books in general, touring college campuses and appearing on TV and radio shows. .
That video and audio recording allows director David Gelb (who oversaw Disney’s 2021 documentary on celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck) to let Lee tell his own story, spinning stories he’s told hundreds of times, with only a few outside voices to help. give it context.
Born in 1922 as Stanley Lieber (he famously confessed that he cut his given name in half when he got into comics to keep his full name for more serious writing later), Lee dropped out of high school and he started working for a guy who ran Timely Comics, bringing coffee to Kirby and writer-editor Joe Simon, who co-created Captain America among his other early heroes.
After serving in World War II, Lee returned to running what became known as Marvel, churning out all sorts of stories before reaching his wit’s end, when his wife Joan urged him to try something closer to his own sensibilities before quit out of frustration
“What I tried to do was write the kind of stories I’d like to read, and sometimes I had to break a trend to get there,” recalls Lee.
“Stan Lee” uses various resources to illustrate aspects of the life of its protagonist. Courtesy of Marvel Studios
The Fantastic Four, Hulk, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Avengers, X-Men and Doctor Strange followed, in a creative explosion that some have compared to the musical imprint of the Beatles.
Other than that, Lee was a phenomenal salesman, unlike his two most prominent collaborators, Kirby and Ditko. To its credit, “Stan Lee” doesn’t cover up the most debated and controversial aspect of Lee’s career: the extent to which he took (or, in the opinion of some, hoarded) the credit for Marvel’s flagship creations and gave little importance to them. the artists in the process.
Lee talks about how Ditko felt he deserved more recognition for creating Spider-Man. In an extraordinary audio clip, he also called into a 1987 radio show that was interviewing Kirby, and the two got into a rather testy discussion about how many scripts Kirby had contributed to the comics they worked on together.
After years of frustration with the way Marvel was treated on film and television, where he exerted little influence or control, Lee lived long enough to see his work celebrated and adapted with a gravitas that had long eluded the genre. enjoying recognition until his death in 2018. It includes a video of a speech he gave at UCLA the year before he died, highlighting how Lee was able to keep a room standing thanks to his personality well into his 90s.
Produced by Marvel Studios, “Stan Lee” features the voice of current Marvel mastermind Kevin Feige as he talks about hoping to tap into just a small percentage of the astounding creativity Lee and company exhibited during Marvel’s storied decade-long run. from 1960.
Obviously, “Stan Lee” is meant to be celebratory in nature, but by allowing Lee to tell the story largely in his own words, he conveys a genuine sense of what made him as great and original as any of the suit-clad figures. lycra that helped to be born and leave the page.
“Stan Lee” premieres June 16 on Disney+.
