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The Marvellous Stan Lee talks to Steven MACkenzie e live in the age of superheroes. Some of the world’ s most recognisable names, faces and outfits belong to the likes of Spider- Man, Iron Man, the Hulk and the X-Men. These pop culture icons – and legions more – come from the imagination of one man, Stan Lee.
Stanley Martin Lieber was born in New York in 1922 to Romanian-Jewish immigrants. At 16 he joined Timely Comics( which evolved into Marvel) and by the age of 18 he was editor. During the Second World War he was a member of the Training Film Division based in Queens, a group of nine men who created posters, films and other propaganda material. His distinguished colleagues included film director Frank Capra and Theodor Geisel, more famous under his pen name Dr. Seuss.
After the war Stan Lee created characters like the Fantastic Four and X-Men through the 1960s, and revolutionised comic books. Since the first X-Men and Spider-Man films, Marvel franchises have taken more than $ 11bn at the box oice. The fact Stan Lee appears in a cameo role in most of the films means he is as famous as his characters. Having just turned 93, he shows no signs of slowing down. At the cinema this year will be another X-Men film, its swearier spinof Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War and Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange. That is as well as the major TV shows – Jessica Jones, Daredevil and Lucky Man, whichstars James Nesbitt as a man whose superpower is good fortune – about to hit screens in the UK.
You have long believed being lucky would be the best superpower to have. Why has it taken so long to give a character good luck? Believe it or not, the fans of superhero stories love their hero to have a
in 1941, lee made his debut in captain america comics # 3
costume. I couldn’ t figure out what kind of costume you would give a man who has luck.
A costume does help when it comes to Halloween. That’ s very important to comic book readers.
Why is luck the ultimate superpower? Nothing could ever go wrong. If you are faced by a killer who wants to shoot you, they will miss. People with good luck don’ t get injured, you will always solve the crime, and so forth. If there were a way to ensure one had good luck, that would be the most wonderful power of all.
When you started working on comic books in the 1930s, and even up until a couple of decades ago, could you imagine they would become the biggest thing in popular culture? I never ever saw that coming! I really think it’ s because the movie versions of these characters have been so successful. People who have enjoyed the movies have then said, hey I want to know more about these characters – and they started buying the comic books.
Why did it take so long for these stories to be successfully adapted into films? I think there are two reasons. One, the newer movies are able to use all of the wonderful special efects that weren’ t available a few decades ago. And two, the characters on screen, the quality of the writing, the stories and so forth have been the type that adults can enjoy and relate to. These are in no way written just for children. They are stories like any good movie, except they have the additional value of having a fantasy angle to them, which people seem to love.
Are they the modern equivalent of fairytales – good versus evil with a clear morality? Yes, I would like to think so. They’ re all morality plays. All these
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THE BIG ISSUE / p20 / January 11-17 2016 Continued on page 22