0 00:00:02,500 --> 00:00:07,500 Multiplexado por: Arya y Aristóteles Arenas aris.arenas@gmail.com 591 78713043 Potosí - Bolivia 3 00:00:10,083 --> 00:00:12,458 [epic tones] 4 00:00:17,583 --> 00:00:21,208 - [Announcer] The 2008 National Medal of Arts to Stan Lee, 5 00:00:21,250 --> 00:00:23,208 for his groundbreaking work as one of America's 6 00:00:23,250 --> 00:00:25,041 most prolific storytellers, 7 00:00:25,083 --> 00:00:27,125 recreating the American comic book. 8 00:00:27,166 --> 00:00:29,375 His complex plots and humane superheroes 9 00:00:29,416 --> 00:00:31,583 celebrate courage, honesty, and the importance 10 00:00:31,625 --> 00:00:32,916 of helping the less-fortunate, 11 00:00:32,958 --> 00:00:35,625 reflecting America's inherent goodness. 12 00:00:35,666 --> 00:00:37,916 [applause] 13 00:00:44,125 --> 00:00:46,708 [heroic music] 14 00:00:49,083 --> 00:00:51,458 - Stan Lee is a giant and a giant 15 00:00:51,500 --> 00:00:53,166 like Walt Disney is a giant. 16 00:00:53,208 --> 00:00:55,000 - Lee created Spider-Man, and the Hulk, 17 00:00:55,041 --> 00:00:57,500 and Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Iron Man. 18 00:00:57,541 --> 00:00:59,875 - These characters are larger than life. 19 00:00:59,916 --> 00:01:03,666 - Stan Lee is a pioneer in the truest sense. 20 00:01:03,708 --> 00:01:05,791 - Without him, there are no comic books stories, 21 00:01:05,833 --> 00:01:07,875 no Marvel stories really being told. 22 00:01:07,916 --> 00:01:11,041 - He really put himself into the comics. 23 00:01:11,083 --> 00:01:15,750 - He hooks into old, tried and true themes, 24 00:01:15,791 --> 00:01:16,958 but he's done it in a way 25 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:18,625 that I don't think anyone else has. 26 00:01:18,666 --> 00:01:20,708 - Stan was really the first comic book writer 27 00:01:20,750 --> 00:01:24,083 to make the human being behind the mask 28 00:01:24,125 --> 00:01:28,041 more important than the mask itself. 29 00:01:28,083 --> 00:01:31,125 - The most famous name in American comic book history. 30 00:01:31,166 --> 00:01:32,041 - Stan Lee. - Stan Lee. 31 00:01:32,083 --> 00:01:33,708 - Stan Lee. - Stan Lee. 32 00:01:33,750 --> 00:01:35,333 - Stan is very hot. 33 00:01:35,375 --> 00:01:36,541 - He's 86? 34 00:01:36,583 --> 00:01:37,958 I look older than he does. 35 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,833 - The man who kinda changed the face of comics. 36 00:01:40,875 --> 00:01:42,041 - That's Stan Lee. 37 00:01:42,083 --> 00:01:43,000 That's, you know. 38 00:01:43,041 --> 00:01:44,916 I'm like, oh my god. 39 00:01:44,958 --> 00:01:48,458 - It influenced the lives of like millions and millions. 40 00:01:48,500 --> 00:01:51,875 - He's really become a major icon himself. 41 00:01:51,916 --> 00:01:53,750 - When I met him on the set, I saw everybody 42 00:01:53,791 --> 00:01:59,041 crowding around him, it was like Mick Jagger was there. 43 00:01:59,083 --> 00:02:02,458 [cheering and whistling] 44 00:02:02,500 --> 00:02:05,416 - I've been here for three days straight for Stan Lee. 45 00:02:05,458 --> 00:02:08,958 [cheering and whistling] 46 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:10,416 - I just relate to so much 47 00:02:10,458 --> 00:02:13,333 of what Stan Lee writes in his characters. 48 00:02:13,375 --> 00:02:16,875 [cheering and applause] 49 00:02:16,916 --> 00:02:19,416 - Peter Parker reminds me of myself. 50 00:02:19,458 --> 00:02:21,166 - I learned to read because of Spider-Man comics. 51 00:02:21,208 --> 00:02:22,333 - Stan Lee. 52 00:02:22,375 --> 00:02:24,958 [whooping and cheering] 53 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,208 - We love you, Stan. 54 00:02:27,250 --> 00:02:30,208 [orchestral music] 55 00:02:42,750 --> 00:02:46,083 [cheering and applause] 56 00:02:48,125 --> 00:02:49,041 - Stan Lee. 57 00:02:49,083 --> 00:02:50,916 - [Stan] Uh-oh. 58 00:02:50,958 --> 00:02:53,166 - I'm your greatest fan ever. 59 00:02:53,208 --> 00:02:55,833 [cheering and applause] 60 00:02:55,875 --> 00:02:58,875 [epic heroic music] 61 00:03:31,291 --> 00:03:34,708 - Creating comics was never part of my childhood dream. 62 00:03:34,750 --> 00:03:36,166 I never thought of that at all. 63 00:03:36,208 --> 00:03:38,875 Believe it or not, I wanted to be an actor. 64 00:03:38,916 --> 00:03:40,375 I'd go to the movies and I'd think, 65 00:03:40,416 --> 00:03:42,666 gee, I wish I were up there on the screen. 66 00:03:42,708 --> 00:03:44,916 That must be the most fun you could have. 67 00:03:44,958 --> 00:03:48,708 I remember my really first hero was Errol Flynn. 68 00:03:48,750 --> 00:03:50,666 [dramatic music] 69 00:03:50,708 --> 00:03:53,541 [swords clanging] 70 00:03:54,458 --> 00:03:55,875 - Did I upset your plan? 71 00:03:55,916 --> 00:04:00,083 - [Stan] Well, my upbringing was in the Depression days. 72 00:04:01,916 --> 00:04:06,583 - We lived in the Bronx on University Avenue. 73 00:04:06,625 --> 00:04:10,208 - That old apartment that we lived in, wow I hated that. 74 00:04:10,250 --> 00:04:13,666 My mother and father slept in a couch in the living room 75 00:04:13,708 --> 00:04:15,375 that opened up into a double bed 76 00:04:15,416 --> 00:04:17,583 and I slept in a little bedroom in a bed. 77 00:04:17,625 --> 00:04:19,875 I still remember how important it was 78 00:04:19,916 --> 00:04:22,333 to have enough money for a loaf of bread 79 00:04:22,375 --> 00:04:23,625 or a bottle of milk. 80 00:04:23,666 --> 00:04:26,500 One biggest worry my mother and father had 81 00:04:26,541 --> 00:04:28,666 that I used to hear them repeating all the time, 82 00:04:28,708 --> 00:04:32,500 is what will we do if we can't scrape enough money together 83 00:04:32,541 --> 00:04:34,708 for the rent this month. 84 00:04:34,750 --> 00:04:36,333 And that went on and on. 85 00:04:36,375 --> 00:04:39,041 My father was too worried about just getting a job. 86 00:04:39,083 --> 00:04:41,875 The poor guy was out of work most of the time, 87 00:04:41,916 --> 00:04:44,625 which is why I was working even when I was in school, 88 00:04:44,666 --> 00:04:47,416 I always had part-time jobs. 89 00:04:47,458 --> 00:04:48,958 When I was 16 I worked 90 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,458 at the world's second-largest trouser manufacturing company, 91 00:04:53,500 --> 00:04:55,208 then I got a job as an usher 92 00:04:55,250 --> 00:04:58,166 in New York at the Rivoli Theater in Times Square. 93 00:04:58,208 --> 00:05:00,791 I got into comics by accident when I heard 94 00:05:00,833 --> 00:05:04,166 there was a job open at Magazine Management, 95 00:05:04,208 --> 00:05:06,750 they wanted me to work in the comic department. 96 00:05:06,791 --> 00:05:09,375 Some department, it was two people, Joe and Jack. 97 00:05:09,416 --> 00:05:13,041 And they were the two who were really running Timely Comics 98 00:05:13,083 --> 00:05:14,666 when I came there to work. 99 00:05:14,708 --> 00:05:18,875 Jack was the artist and he did some of the writing, also. 100 00:05:18,916 --> 00:05:23,125 Joe was the writer, mainly, but he was also the editor. 101 00:05:23,166 --> 00:05:25,750 So he was the one I had most to do with. 102 00:05:25,791 --> 00:05:27,875 He'd send me down for sandwiches 103 00:05:27,916 --> 00:05:29,666 or ask me to fill an inkwell. 104 00:05:29,708 --> 00:05:32,916 I mean, I did a lot of real journalistic things with them. 105 00:05:32,958 --> 00:05:35,208 - I remember the first day he came here, 106 00:05:35,250 --> 00:05:38,208 he came to the office, he had a little flute 107 00:05:38,250 --> 00:05:41,541 and he'd sit in a corner and play his flute 108 00:05:41,583 --> 00:05:44,125 and drive Jack Kirby crazy. 109 00:05:44,166 --> 00:05:46,250 [laughing] 110 00:05:46,291 --> 00:05:49,416 I never thought when he came to the office he would make it. 111 00:05:49,458 --> 00:05:52,875 - There was a time when they needed a two page filler. 112 00:05:52,916 --> 00:05:56,875 - Each comic book had to have two pages of prose 113 00:05:56,916 --> 00:06:01,208 to be accepted for second-class mailing privileges. 114 00:06:01,250 --> 00:06:02,583 And that was our contention. 115 00:06:02,625 --> 00:06:04,750 Nobody ever read that stuff. 116 00:06:04,791 --> 00:06:09,625 So I started Stan on writing these two pages. 117 00:06:09,666 --> 00:06:13,166 - And I thought, wow, my first assignment. 118 00:06:13,208 --> 00:06:14,875 So I wrote one called, I think, 119 00:06:14,916 --> 00:06:18,291 Captain America: The Traitor's Revenge. 120 00:06:18,333 --> 00:06:21,083 - Stan treated the thing with great respect. 121 00:06:21,125 --> 00:06:24,291 He was now a professional writer. 122 00:06:24,333 --> 00:06:27,958 - My name at the time was Stanley Martin Lieber. 123 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,416 I took my first name, Stanley, and cut it in half. 124 00:06:31,458 --> 00:06:35,375 I didn't wanna use the name Stanley Martin Lieber, 125 00:06:35,416 --> 00:06:38,875 'cause I was saving that for the great American novel 126 00:06:38,916 --> 00:06:40,583 which I never wrote. 127 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:49,000 - After about 10 issues of Captain America, 128 00:06:49,041 --> 00:06:52,041 less than a year, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby suddenly left 129 00:06:52,083 --> 00:06:53,791 the entire company and all of a sudden 130 00:06:53,833 --> 00:06:55,041 we didn't have an editor. 131 00:06:55,083 --> 00:06:56,541 Captain America was left in the lurch 132 00:06:56,583 --> 00:06:59,625 without its main writer and artist. 133 00:06:59,666 --> 00:07:02,208 - I looked around to see who'd replace them, 134 00:07:02,250 --> 00:07:03,708 and I realized there was nobody. 135 00:07:03,750 --> 00:07:05,708 I was the only guy there. 136 00:07:05,750 --> 00:07:08,083 So the publisher, Martin Goodman, 137 00:07:08,125 --> 00:07:11,041 he said, "Do you think you can hold down the job 138 00:07:11,083 --> 00:07:13,708 "of editor and art director and head writer 139 00:07:13,750 --> 00:07:16,083 "until I get a real person?" 140 00:07:17,083 --> 00:07:18,708 I was about, I don't know, 18. 141 00:07:18,750 --> 00:07:20,791 I said, "Sure, I can do it." 142 00:07:20,833 --> 00:07:23,041 - It's more that he was there. 143 00:07:23,083 --> 00:07:24,125 He was writing. 144 00:07:24,166 --> 00:07:25,375 He was even a relative. 145 00:07:25,416 --> 00:07:27,708 But the main thing was he also would've recognized 146 00:07:27,750 --> 00:07:30,208 that Stan was a bright kid, he's working cheap. 147 00:07:30,250 --> 00:07:32,333 You know, so why not put him in charge? 148 00:07:32,375 --> 00:07:34,708 - I wrote a lot of the Captain America stories, 149 00:07:34,750 --> 00:07:37,500 but then, eventually, a lot of other writers did, 150 00:07:37,541 --> 00:07:40,333 'cause there wasn't time for me to write everything. 151 00:07:40,375 --> 00:07:42,958 [heroic music] 152 00:07:43,791 --> 00:07:45,083 [planes roaring] 153 00:07:45,125 --> 00:07:47,958 [bombs whistling] 154 00:07:53,875 --> 00:07:55,750 - America went to war and the superheroes 155 00:07:55,791 --> 00:07:57,750 went to war along with them. 156 00:07:57,791 --> 00:08:00,458 What could be more of an ultimate super-villain 157 00:08:00,500 --> 00:08:01,916 than the Nazis? 158 00:08:01,958 --> 00:08:04,375 - Simon and Kirby were the first two 159 00:08:04,416 --> 00:08:08,583 to really play Hitler up as the world's worst villain. 160 00:08:10,958 --> 00:08:13,041 If you'd look at almost any issue 161 00:08:13,083 --> 00:08:17,041 of a Marvel comic, which was then a Timely comic, I guess, 162 00:08:17,083 --> 00:08:20,375 you'd see Sub-Mariner, or the Human Torch, 163 00:08:20,416 --> 00:08:24,791 or Captain America battling some really ugly, 164 00:08:24,833 --> 00:08:29,000 gruesome, fiendish-looking Nazi or Japanese villain. 165 00:08:31,166 --> 00:08:32,833 - Comic books were selling. 166 00:08:32,875 --> 00:08:34,333 We were living our mythology. 167 00:08:34,375 --> 00:08:38,583 We were living our folklore and we were winning the war 168 00:08:38,625 --> 00:08:42,875 through our superheroes and our real heroes overseas. 169 00:08:42,916 --> 00:08:45,750 [patriotic music] 170 00:08:49,791 --> 00:08:53,083 - And, I guess, I myself got so caught up 171 00:08:53,125 --> 00:08:55,875 in all of that, that the next thing I knew, 172 00:08:55,916 --> 00:08:58,375 I had enlisted in the Army. 173 00:08:58,416 --> 00:09:01,166 [military music] 174 00:09:05,958 --> 00:09:09,291 I felt our nation was really in danger, 175 00:09:09,333 --> 00:09:11,375 and I couldn't have lived with myself 176 00:09:11,416 --> 00:09:13,375 if I were a civilian while other people 177 00:09:13,416 --> 00:09:15,125 were over there fighting. 178 00:09:16,416 --> 00:09:19,375 In the Army, I was classified as a playwright. 179 00:09:19,416 --> 00:09:20,958 They sent me to different camps 180 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:22,833 where I wrote training films. 181 00:09:22,875 --> 00:09:25,250 - He even drew a pamphlet about how not 182 00:09:25,291 --> 00:09:29,458 to get a venereal disease, which he's very good at. 183 00:09:32,416 --> 00:09:34,083 - [Stan] There were only nine men in the Army 184 00:09:34,125 --> 00:09:36,041 who were classified as playwrights, 185 00:09:36,083 --> 00:09:37,500 and I was in great company. 186 00:09:37,541 --> 00:09:41,000 There was William Saroyan, Carl Laemmle Junior, 187 00:09:41,041 --> 00:09:44,625 Frank Capra, and a guy named Theodor Geisel, 188 00:09:44,666 --> 00:09:46,958 whom you may know as Dr. Seuss. 189 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:48,958 - He was evidently so good, he could always 190 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:51,041 finish his work so fast, that then he'd be able 191 00:09:51,083 --> 00:09:54,250 to sit around and goldbrick for awhile, I guess, you know. 192 00:09:54,291 --> 00:09:57,625 [cheering and applause] 193 00:10:00,208 --> 00:10:03,750 - After the war ended, we could all get back to normal. 194 00:10:03,791 --> 00:10:06,375 Everybody thought that was the last war we'd ever have, 195 00:10:06,416 --> 00:10:09,250 now there'd be peace in the world. 196 00:10:15,458 --> 00:10:17,791 [whistling] 197 00:10:24,958 --> 00:10:26,458 Hello, how are ya? 198 00:10:27,750 --> 00:10:29,041 Good to see ya. 199 00:10:29,916 --> 00:10:30,708 - Did you have a good day? 200 00:10:30,750 --> 00:10:31,875 - Yeah, how are ya? 201 00:10:31,916 --> 00:10:33,666 You look great, but you always look great. 202 00:10:33,708 --> 00:10:34,875 - What would you like? 203 00:10:34,916 --> 00:10:36,708 - I'd like to put my bag down for a minute, 204 00:10:36,750 --> 00:10:37,750 I'll be right back. 205 00:10:37,791 --> 00:10:39,666 I don't know how we ever got married. 206 00:10:39,708 --> 00:10:41,250 - That's the difference between you and me. 207 00:10:41,291 --> 00:10:42,208 - [Maid] How many years? 208 00:10:42,250 --> 00:10:44,208 - Oh, do you know how many years? 209 00:10:44,250 --> 00:10:45,041 - 60. 210 00:10:45,083 --> 00:10:46,375 - I'll tell you, 60 years. 211 00:10:46,416 --> 00:10:47,875 - 60 years this year. 212 00:10:47,916 --> 00:10:50,541 - On the 5th of this month. 213 00:10:50,583 --> 00:10:53,041 - And I still don't think I've got it right. 214 00:10:53,083 --> 00:10:55,541 - Well I may as well tell you the whole truth, really, 215 00:10:55,583 --> 00:10:57,833 and nothing but the truth. 216 00:10:57,875 --> 00:11:00,583 I crossed over on the old Mauretania from England 217 00:11:00,625 --> 00:11:04,208 during the last of the lovely wars, 218 00:11:04,250 --> 00:11:06,833 and I came over as a war bride. 219 00:11:06,875 --> 00:11:08,916 And I became a hat model. 220 00:11:10,166 --> 00:11:14,125 And Stan said to one of the salesmen there, 221 00:11:14,166 --> 00:11:15,791 "That's the girl I'm going to marry." 222 00:11:15,833 --> 00:11:19,000 And he said, "Not a chance, she's married already." 223 00:11:19,041 --> 00:11:20,875 And he said, "No, that's the girl I'm going to marry." 224 00:11:20,916 --> 00:11:25,541 And six weeks later I was in Reno, spending his money. 225 00:11:25,583 --> 00:11:26,375 - I can't dance. 226 00:11:26,416 --> 00:11:27,208 - Come on, get up. 227 00:11:27,250 --> 00:11:28,041 - I'm no good. 228 00:11:28,083 --> 00:11:30,125 No, I won't do it, I will not... 229 00:11:30,166 --> 00:11:32,375 People who think I'm wonderful, I will not... 230 00:11:32,416 --> 00:11:34,041 No, no, please don't do this to me. 231 00:11:34,083 --> 00:11:36,875 Just go ahead, you're real good. 232 00:11:36,916 --> 00:11:39,583 Should've seen her 60 years ago. 233 00:11:47,416 --> 00:11:49,791 Okay, this is what she hates. 234 00:11:51,416 --> 00:11:53,375 You don't do that. 235 00:11:53,416 --> 00:11:55,958 You don't that in this dance. 236 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:58,333 - This is how you messed up. 237 00:11:59,333 --> 00:12:00,416 There you go. 238 00:12:05,750 --> 00:12:09,916 ♪ Young and gay and sweet and dancing 239 00:12:12,916 --> 00:12:14,916 - Everything is mutual. 240 00:12:14,958 --> 00:12:19,166 I love her and she loves me loving her. 241 00:12:19,208 --> 00:12:23,041 - And he loves him, and I love him loving him. 242 00:12:23,083 --> 00:12:24,458 And that's it. 243 00:12:24,500 --> 00:12:26,208 There we go. 244 00:12:26,250 --> 00:12:27,333 You know how lucky we are to be able 245 00:12:27,375 --> 00:12:29,000 to move like this at our age? 246 00:12:29,041 --> 00:12:30,375 Sweet Jesus. 247 00:12:30,416 --> 00:12:32,583 - After World War II, I got married. 248 00:12:32,625 --> 00:12:34,916 My wife and I, we lived in Long Island. 249 00:12:34,958 --> 00:12:38,500 - We lived in a wonderful, crazy apartment he had. 250 00:12:38,541 --> 00:12:40,541 96th and Madison. 251 00:12:40,583 --> 00:12:42,458 We had this little penthouse. 252 00:12:42,500 --> 00:12:45,916 We had a lot of wonderful, crazy friends. 253 00:12:47,416 --> 00:12:51,458 And Stan was with Timely Comics then. 254 00:12:51,500 --> 00:12:54,708 And he was on Empire State Building. 255 00:12:54,750 --> 00:12:57,583 I remember how marvelous it was to go up 256 00:12:57,625 --> 00:13:00,041 in that elevator and there would be Stan 257 00:13:00,083 --> 00:13:03,333 with these young men, sketching and doing, 258 00:13:03,375 --> 00:13:05,458 and laughing and talking. 259 00:13:06,916 --> 00:13:08,708 - [Stan] Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to welcome you 260 00:13:08,750 --> 00:13:11,791 to the home of Marvel Comics, the Bullpen. 261 00:13:11,833 --> 00:13:13,750 - [Interviewer] Stan, I always wanted to visit the Bullpen. 262 00:13:13,791 --> 00:13:15,458 What is the Bullpen like? 263 00:13:15,500 --> 00:13:16,875 [chuckling] 264 00:13:16,916 --> 00:13:20,250 - [Stan] Well, there are very few bulls. 265 00:13:22,833 --> 00:13:24,500 - There was an extensive bullpen 266 00:13:24,541 --> 00:13:26,041 Coming and going in that bullpen 267 00:13:26,083 --> 00:13:28,041 was some of the giants in the industry 268 00:13:28,083 --> 00:13:29,916 and Stan had them at his disposal. 269 00:13:29,958 --> 00:13:34,041 - We turn out about one complete comic magazine 270 00:13:34,083 --> 00:13:35,583 every working day. 271 00:13:38,375 --> 00:13:41,875 When I would describe the kind of drawings I want, 272 00:13:41,916 --> 00:13:45,833 if somebody was recoiling in horror at some scene 273 00:13:45,875 --> 00:13:48,416 and the artist would draw like that, 274 00:13:48,458 --> 00:13:51,708 I'd say, that's okay, but how about [shrieking]? 275 00:13:51,750 --> 00:13:54,041 How about like that? 276 00:13:54,083 --> 00:13:55,708 - He would jump on the couch. 277 00:13:55,750 --> 00:13:56,833 He would leap across. 278 00:13:56,875 --> 00:13:58,416 He would do Aunt May's voice. 279 00:13:58,458 --> 00:13:59,958 - He would jump up on the desk, 280 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:01,958 practically, to act out how he wanted to heroes to do 281 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:04,250 and that was a major feat to get up on that desk 282 00:14:04,291 --> 00:14:06,458 with all that junk on it. 283 00:14:06,500 --> 00:14:09,291 - He was a believer in the silent film approach 284 00:14:09,333 --> 00:14:12,958 to storytelling, don't do anything mildly. 285 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:14,708 If somebody is gonna pound on a desk, 286 00:14:14,750 --> 00:14:16,791 you know, you don't go. 287 00:14:16,833 --> 00:14:17,750 No, you go. 288 00:14:18,750 --> 00:14:20,125 You smash. 289 00:14:20,166 --> 00:14:21,875 That's the way he used to do it. 290 00:14:21,916 --> 00:14:23,916 So he would animate everything he wanted to do. 291 00:14:23,958 --> 00:14:26,666 He would say, "Have Doctor Doom do this," 292 00:14:26,708 --> 00:14:27,916 and he would jump in front of you 293 00:14:27,958 --> 00:14:29,875 and he would leap and he'd leap over the couch. 294 00:14:29,916 --> 00:14:32,666 There are stories that before I was doing 295 00:14:32,708 --> 00:14:36,083 sessions with Stan, that people down the hall, 296 00:14:36,125 --> 00:14:40,041 they would see Stan doing these gyrations in his doorway. 297 00:14:40,083 --> 00:14:42,125 One time, he was doing the old comic stick, 298 00:14:42,166 --> 00:14:44,041 where somebody's strangling you. 299 00:14:44,083 --> 00:14:46,833 He was strangling himself and pulls himself back in, 300 00:14:46,875 --> 00:14:48,375 and everybody comes running down there. 301 00:14:48,416 --> 00:14:50,833 They thought somebody was attacking Stan in his office. 302 00:14:50,875 --> 00:14:52,916 But he was very animated. 303 00:14:54,416 --> 00:14:55,791 - You know, it's a funny thing, 304 00:14:55,833 --> 00:14:59,375 some people somewhere think that I wrote and drew. 305 00:14:59,416 --> 00:15:01,708 They think that the strips were just mine, 306 00:15:01,750 --> 00:15:03,083 but they would've been nothing 307 00:15:03,125 --> 00:15:05,375 if not for the artists that I worked with. 308 00:15:05,416 --> 00:15:08,250 I just put the words in the people's mouth. 309 00:15:08,291 --> 00:15:11,000 And I may have come up with the original idea, 310 00:15:11,041 --> 00:15:14,041 but after that, it was a partnership. 311 00:15:14,083 --> 00:15:16,666 - Stan allowed the artist to be themselves, 312 00:15:16,708 --> 00:15:19,041 and that, I think, was the key. 313 00:15:19,083 --> 00:15:20,500 - If you take a look at credits on comic books 314 00:15:20,541 --> 00:15:22,250 back in the 1950's, good luck. 315 00:15:22,291 --> 00:15:23,625 There were rarely any credits. 316 00:15:23,666 --> 00:15:24,875 You didn't know who the writer was. 317 00:15:24,916 --> 00:15:27,708 You didn't know who the artist was. 318 00:15:27,750 --> 00:15:29,750 Stan made sure that everybody got a credit, 319 00:15:29,791 --> 00:15:33,041 and he started building personality around these people. 320 00:15:33,083 --> 00:15:34,500 - I'm suddenly Jazzy John. 321 00:15:34,541 --> 00:15:36,375 - Gentleman Gene Colan. 322 00:15:36,416 --> 00:15:37,708 - Joltin' Joe. 323 00:15:37,750 --> 00:15:39,541 - Darlin' Dick Ayers. 324 00:15:39,583 --> 00:15:41,000 - Rascally Roy Thomas. 325 00:15:41,041 --> 00:15:43,208 - Jack Kirby became Jolly Jack Kirby. 326 00:15:43,250 --> 00:15:45,708 - Now you're part of the bullpen, you were somebody now. 327 00:15:45,750 --> 00:15:49,875 - I wanted our readers to feel they're part of a group, 328 00:15:49,916 --> 00:15:53,375 an inner circle, and we're all having a lot of fun 329 00:15:53,416 --> 00:15:55,708 that the rest of the world doesn't know about. 330 00:15:55,750 --> 00:15:57,583 So I wanted to form a club. 331 00:15:57,625 --> 00:16:00,125 I gave it a silly name, the M.M.M.S., 332 00:16:00,166 --> 00:16:03,125 the Merry Marvel Marching Society. 333 00:16:03,166 --> 00:16:07,166 ♪ You belong, you belong, you belong, you belong 334 00:16:07,208 --> 00:16:09,208 ♪ To the Merry Marvel Marching Society 335 00:16:09,250 --> 00:16:11,500 - [Stan] Hey out there in Marvel land, face front 336 00:16:11,541 --> 00:16:13,041 This is Stan Lee speaking. 337 00:16:13,083 --> 00:16:15,416 You've probably never heard a record like this before, 338 00:16:15,458 --> 00:16:16,916 because no one would be nutty enough 339 00:16:16,958 --> 00:16:19,375 to make one with a bunch of offbeat artists. 340 00:16:19,416 --> 00:16:21,208 So anything is liable to happen. 341 00:16:21,250 --> 00:16:23,208 - [Jack] Hey, who made you a disk jockey, Lee? 342 00:16:23,250 --> 00:16:24,750 - [Stan] Well, Jolly Jack Kirby, 343 00:16:24,791 --> 00:16:26,375 say a few words to the fans, Jackson. 344 00:16:26,416 --> 00:16:27,916 - [Jack] Okay, a few words. 345 00:16:27,958 --> 00:16:30,541 - [Stan] Look, pal, I'll take care of the humor around here. 346 00:16:30,583 --> 00:16:32,166 - [Jack] You, you've been using the same gags 347 00:16:32,208 --> 00:16:33,875 over and over for years. 348 00:16:33,916 --> 00:16:36,333 - [Stan] Hey, what's all that commotion out there, Saul? 349 00:16:36,375 --> 00:16:38,000 - [Steve] Why, it's Shy Steve Ditko. 350 00:16:38,041 --> 00:16:40,500 He heard you're making a record and he's got mic fright. 351 00:16:40,541 --> 00:16:41,750 Whoops, there he goes. 352 00:16:41,791 --> 00:16:43,208 - [Stan] Out the window again? 353 00:16:43,250 --> 00:16:45,875 You know, I'm beginning to think he is Spider-Man. 354 00:16:45,916 --> 00:16:46,750 - [Steve] You mean he isn't? 355 00:16:46,791 --> 00:16:48,041 - [Stan] 'Nuff said. 356 00:16:48,083 --> 00:16:50,541 Now, let's all get back to work in the bullpen. 357 00:16:50,583 --> 00:16:54,125 And as for you, Marvelous Merry Marchers, welcome. 358 00:16:54,166 --> 00:16:55,666 - [Bullpen] Wahoo! 359 00:16:57,041 --> 00:16:59,958 [jazzy music] 360 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:01,916 - In the gay, halcyon early days, 361 00:17:01,958 --> 00:17:05,541 Jack Kirby developed most of the Marvel heroes with me. 362 00:17:05,583 --> 00:17:08,250 Jack drew like a movie director. 363 00:17:09,416 --> 00:17:12,166 He couldn't draw anything dull. 364 00:17:12,208 --> 00:17:15,208 - In a very short span of about five or six years, 365 00:17:15,250 --> 00:17:18,666 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created more successful characters 366 00:17:18,708 --> 00:17:21,458 than any person or two people together 367 00:17:21,500 --> 00:17:23,708 have ever created in the history of comics. 368 00:17:23,750 --> 00:17:26,875 - I always marveled at the fact that Jack was able 369 00:17:26,916 --> 00:17:29,833 to design so many varied characters, 370 00:17:31,375 --> 00:17:35,708 and yet make each one totally different than the other. 371 00:17:35,750 --> 00:17:39,333 Jack would just put his pencil down and start drawing. 372 00:17:39,375 --> 00:17:42,166 He drew with such certainty, he knew 373 00:17:42,208 --> 00:17:45,375 just where every line was gonna go. 374 00:17:45,416 --> 00:17:49,291 There was no hesitation, and it worked out perfectly. 375 00:17:49,333 --> 00:17:50,541 It was incredible. 376 00:17:50,583 --> 00:17:52,916 - I'd feel that story first. 377 00:17:54,416 --> 00:17:56,791 I know those people, first. 378 00:17:56,833 --> 00:18:00,375 When I put them down, they've already lived, 379 00:18:00,416 --> 00:18:04,666 and I put them down as I'd like them to live on those pages. 380 00:18:04,708 --> 00:18:07,041 - I had worked with Jack so much, 381 00:18:07,083 --> 00:18:08,958 we did those monster stories, 382 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,375 we did westerns, we did war, we did everything. 383 00:18:12,416 --> 00:18:15,208 [explosions and gunfire] 384 00:18:15,250 --> 00:18:16,958 I would give 'em the plot. 385 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,625 I told them what I wanted the story to be. 386 00:18:19,666 --> 00:18:21,000 - I used to hear them plotting stories, 387 00:18:21,041 --> 00:18:23,791 but I don't remember them ever agreeing on anything. 388 00:18:23,833 --> 00:18:25,041 Jack had his own idea. 389 00:18:25,083 --> 00:18:27,375 He went home and did his version. 390 00:18:27,416 --> 00:18:29,041 And Stan, when he got the pages, 391 00:18:29,083 --> 00:18:32,166 said, "Gee, Jack didn't remember anything we talked about." 392 00:18:32,208 --> 00:18:35,625 Jack did one version, Stan made it something else, 393 00:18:35,666 --> 00:18:37,125 and that's why there's a disagreement 394 00:18:37,166 --> 00:18:41,041 between Jack Kirby and Stan Lee as to whose story it was. 395 00:18:41,083 --> 00:18:43,208 - [Stan] We used to have disagreements. 396 00:18:43,250 --> 00:18:44,583 I never thought it got him angry. 397 00:18:44,625 --> 00:18:46,125 I love fighting with people. 398 00:18:46,166 --> 00:18:48,083 Maybe it bothered him when I always said, "You're wrong." 399 00:18:48,125 --> 00:18:49,083 I don't know. 400 00:18:50,125 --> 00:18:52,125 - A lot of reporters always thought, 401 00:18:52,166 --> 00:18:53,500 oh, Stan created everything. 402 00:18:53,541 --> 00:18:55,666 They'd come into Stan's office and Stan would sit there 403 00:18:55,708 --> 00:18:58,166 and he's so charming and wonderful, you 404 00:18:58,208 --> 00:19:00,666 - Somebody wanted to interview me 405 00:19:00,708 --> 00:19:04,541 for the Herald Tribune Magazine section. 406 00:19:04,583 --> 00:19:07,125 And I said, "But look, if you're gonna interview me, 407 00:19:07,166 --> 00:19:09,875 "I really think you should interview Jack Kirby 408 00:19:09,916 --> 00:19:13,375 "at the same time, 'cause he works on it with me." 409 00:19:13,416 --> 00:19:16,166 He came up to the office and he interviewed us. 410 00:19:16,208 --> 00:19:19,875 Jack told me that he was gonna stay up late Saturday night 411 00:19:19,916 --> 00:19:21,291 with his wife and they were gonna go 412 00:19:21,333 --> 00:19:24,125 to the newsstand so they'd get it right away. 413 00:19:24,166 --> 00:19:27,208 The first five columns were all about me 414 00:19:27,250 --> 00:19:29,791 and how wonderful I was. 415 00:19:29,833 --> 00:19:33,541 In the sixth column, he started talking about Jack 416 00:19:33,583 --> 00:19:35,375 in a very unflattering way. 417 00:19:35,416 --> 00:19:37,750 I got a call from Roz, Jack's wife, 418 00:19:37,791 --> 00:19:39,541 and I hadn't seen the article. 419 00:19:39,583 --> 00:19:42,375 I thought she was calling me to say how great it was, 420 00:19:42,416 --> 00:19:46,000 how excited they were, and she was in tears. 421 00:19:46,041 --> 00:19:48,208 She said, "How could this have happened?" 422 00:19:48,250 --> 00:19:50,875 It was the most horrible thing, really. 423 00:19:50,916 --> 00:19:53,208 Jack quit, and I really suspect 424 00:19:53,250 --> 00:19:55,250 it might have been as simple as the fact 425 00:19:55,291 --> 00:19:58,125 that he got tired of having the credits read 426 00:19:58,166 --> 00:20:00,208 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby all the time. 427 00:20:00,250 --> 00:20:03,916 And he may have wanted to strike out on his own. 428 00:20:03,958 --> 00:20:06,416 As far as I'm concerned, there's no controversy. 429 00:20:06,458 --> 00:20:09,750 He was the greatest partner a guy could have. 430 00:20:09,791 --> 00:20:12,375 Eventually, Jack contacted me and he wanted 431 00:20:12,416 --> 00:20:15,208 to come back again, which made me happy. 432 00:20:15,250 --> 00:20:17,708 [jazz music] 433 00:20:19,083 --> 00:20:21,000 - Do you think that there is any danger 434 00:20:21,041 --> 00:20:25,541 in taking young people and showing them figures 435 00:20:25,583 --> 00:20:29,750 and fantastic apparitions like some of your superheroes, 436 00:20:29,791 --> 00:20:32,416 Captain America, Hulk, and so forth. 437 00:20:32,458 --> 00:20:35,708 - Oh no, no more danger than reading fairy tales 438 00:20:35,750 --> 00:20:38,125 or poetry or the Bible. 439 00:20:38,166 --> 00:20:42,083 - It is my opinion without any reasonable doubt 440 00:20:44,500 --> 00:20:48,916 and without any reservations, that comic books 441 00:20:48,958 --> 00:20:52,375 are an important contributing factor 442 00:20:52,416 --> 00:20:55,541 in many cases of juvenile delinquency. 443 00:20:55,583 --> 00:20:58,708 - [Stan] Dr. Wertham was the leading opponent of comics 444 00:20:58,750 --> 00:21:00,291 and the most vocal one. 445 00:21:00,333 --> 00:21:02,541 At the time when he was having his big harangue 446 00:21:02,583 --> 00:21:07,291 against comics, people were very concerned about violence 447 00:21:07,333 --> 00:21:09,916 and about sex and about I guess anything 448 00:21:09,958 --> 00:21:12,375 that Dr. Wertham wanted to mention. 449 00:21:12,416 --> 00:21:14,583 - He interviewed a hundred juvenile delinquents, 450 00:21:14,625 --> 00:21:16,041 they all said that at one time 451 00:21:16,083 --> 00:21:17,916 or another they read comic books. 452 00:21:17,958 --> 00:21:19,791 Therefore, Dr. Wertham concluded, 453 00:21:19,833 --> 00:21:22,791 comic books cause juvenile delinquency. 454 00:21:22,833 --> 00:21:24,375 - [Paul] When I was a boy and played with a gang, 455 00:21:24,416 --> 00:21:26,541 we did a lot of things, we roasted potatoes 456 00:21:26,583 --> 00:21:28,375 and went on expeditions, we tipped over 457 00:21:28,416 --> 00:21:30,916 garbage cans now and then, we wrote nasty remarks 458 00:21:30,958 --> 00:21:33,458 about the teacher on the sidewalk, 459 00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:34,541 but we never spent an afternoon 460 00:21:34,583 --> 00:21:37,500 sitting around like this, reading. 461 00:21:37,541 --> 00:21:39,416 They're reading stories devoted to adultery, 462 00:21:39,458 --> 00:21:41,958 to sexual perversion, to horror, 463 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,541 to the most despicable of crimes. 464 00:21:45,583 --> 00:21:47,916 - Senators were merciless. 465 00:21:47,958 --> 00:21:50,125 They would say, "You're in it for the money." 466 00:21:50,166 --> 00:21:51,625 Of course you're in it for the money. 467 00:21:51,666 --> 00:21:52,875 We're not, you know. 468 00:21:52,916 --> 00:21:54,708 And is it worth the money if you're gonna 469 00:21:54,750 --> 00:21:57,666 distort youngsters' aspect of life? 470 00:22:01,250 --> 00:22:03,625 - One of my favorite accusations that Dr. Wertham made 471 00:22:03,666 --> 00:22:05,541 was that comic books cause asthma, 472 00:22:05,583 --> 00:22:08,083 because children were staying indoors to read them 473 00:22:08,125 --> 00:22:09,916 instead of playing in the fresh air. 474 00:22:09,958 --> 00:22:11,833 - [Stan] The fact that he was a psychiatrist, 475 00:22:11,875 --> 00:22:13,708 this impressed parents and they began to think, 476 00:22:13,750 --> 00:22:15,958 golly, what's going on in these comics? 477 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,333 - Dr. Wertham suddenly gave parents an easy answer, 478 00:22:18,375 --> 00:22:19,875 don't think you're a bad parent 479 00:22:19,916 --> 00:22:22,625 it's those damn comic books that are ruining your children, 480 00:22:22,666 --> 00:22:26,250 and people seized on that and jumped on it. 481 00:22:27,750 --> 00:22:30,291 - See, Americans were embarrassed about comics. 482 00:22:30,333 --> 00:22:32,375 - Stan and I never used to say we worked on comics. 483 00:22:32,416 --> 00:22:35,125 I said I was an illustrator, Stan said he was a writer. 484 00:22:35,166 --> 00:22:36,708 Never mentioned comics. 485 00:22:36,750 --> 00:22:39,666 - Occasionally, some people who we weren't too familiar with 486 00:22:39,708 --> 00:22:42,541 would come over to me and say, "And what do you do?" 487 00:22:42,583 --> 00:22:44,666 Oh man, I didn't wanna admit what I did, 488 00:22:44,708 --> 00:22:46,875 so I'd say something like, "Oh, I'm a writer," 489 00:22:46,916 --> 00:22:49,541 and I'd start to walk away, but he'd follow me. 490 00:22:49,583 --> 00:22:50,791 "What do you write?" 491 00:22:50,833 --> 00:22:53,541 I'd say, "Um, stories for children." 492 00:22:53,583 --> 00:22:56,041 I'd walk away again, he'd follow me. 493 00:22:56,083 --> 00:22:57,333 "What kind of stories?" 494 00:22:57,375 --> 00:22:59,708 At some point I had to say comic books. 495 00:22:59,750 --> 00:23:03,833 At that point he would turn around and walk away. 496 00:23:05,916 --> 00:23:09,041 The publishers got together and hired a psychiatrist 497 00:23:09,083 --> 00:23:12,333 or somebody, I think her name was Trulock, Mrs. Trulock, 498 00:23:12,375 --> 00:23:14,625 to head up an organization called 499 00:23:14,666 --> 00:23:18,000 the Comic Magazine Association of America, 500 00:23:18,041 --> 00:23:21,041 and they would be a self-censorship group. 501 00:23:21,083 --> 00:23:24,958 And they would make sure there was nothing objectionable 502 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,875 for kids, not too sexy, not too violent, et cetera. 503 00:23:28,916 --> 00:23:31,708 - You couldn't sell a book unless it had their seal on it, 504 00:23:31,750 --> 00:23:34,083 approved by the Comics Code. 505 00:23:36,416 --> 00:23:39,583 - The imposition of the Comics Code created a blandness. 506 00:23:39,625 --> 00:23:41,250 It stifled creativity. 507 00:23:41,291 --> 00:23:45,208 And the extremes that were built into the code, 508 00:23:45,250 --> 00:23:48,041 if you look at them today, are almost laughable. 509 00:23:48,083 --> 00:23:50,458 [jazz music] 510 00:23:53,083 --> 00:23:56,833 - No topics shall explicitly present the unique details 511 00:23:56,875 --> 00:23:58,416 and methods of a crime. 512 00:23:59,750 --> 00:24:03,416 Scenes of excessive violence shall be prohibited. 513 00:24:03,458 --> 00:24:07,625 Subjective and salacious illustrations is unacceptable. 514 00:24:12,250 --> 00:24:16,583 - It was an incredibly frustrating time also. 515 00:24:16,625 --> 00:24:18,458 I would meet somebody somewhere, 516 00:24:18,500 --> 00:24:20,625 hey, you're the guy who writes Millie the Model. 517 00:24:20,666 --> 00:24:22,541 Gee, I read that, that's great. 518 00:24:22,583 --> 00:24:24,041 Never heard that. 519 00:24:25,625 --> 00:24:29,666 The sales got very bad and our publisher, Martin Goodman, 520 00:24:29,708 --> 00:24:33,333 had to drop a lot of comic books. 521 00:24:33,375 --> 00:24:36,083 - It took about two years when we got to the point 522 00:24:36,125 --> 00:24:38,291 where that's when we went belly-up. 523 00:24:38,333 --> 00:24:40,666 - And Martin said, "Stan, I'm going to Miami, 524 00:24:40,708 --> 00:24:44,083 "I'd like you to tell the staff that we have to let 'em go." 525 00:24:44,125 --> 00:24:47,625 That was always the thing I had to do, 526 00:24:47,666 --> 00:24:50,250 and that was like one of the worst moments of my life, 527 00:24:50,291 --> 00:24:51,458 because these weren't just artists 528 00:24:51,500 --> 00:24:53,583 and writers who worked for me, 529 00:24:53,625 --> 00:24:56,500 these were people who were like my closest friends. 530 00:24:56,541 --> 00:24:58,958 I knew their wives, I knew their kids, 531 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:00,916 I knew all about them, and I had to, 532 00:25:00,958 --> 00:25:02,583 I'm sorry we won't have any work for you 533 00:25:02,625 --> 00:25:04,750 for oh, I don't know, maybe a year or two. 534 00:25:04,791 --> 00:25:06,875 Oh god, it was the worst. 535 00:25:07,750 --> 00:25:08,875 - I didn't get any work. 536 00:25:08,916 --> 00:25:11,166 There was no place I could get any work. 537 00:25:11,208 --> 00:25:14,666 So, I got a job as a security guard for General Foods. 538 00:25:14,708 --> 00:25:16,708 - I thought for sure, in '54, that I would 539 00:25:16,750 --> 00:25:18,375 never be working in comics again. 540 00:25:18,416 --> 00:25:21,291 - We moved up to 260 Park Avenue. 541 00:25:21,333 --> 00:25:25,708 Stan, he had one little room, and he was all by himself. 542 00:25:25,750 --> 00:25:28,666 He had no secretary and no bullpen, 543 00:25:31,166 --> 00:25:33,083 no one to do any corrections. 544 00:25:33,125 --> 00:25:34,875 - [Roy] Stan was virtually the only employee 545 00:25:34,916 --> 00:25:36,291 in the comics, you know. 546 00:25:36,333 --> 00:25:39,625 - Doing comics was like, you were on the bottom rung 547 00:25:39,666 --> 00:25:42,541 of the creative totem pole, so to speak. 548 00:25:42,583 --> 00:25:46,208 Here I am, a grown man, I was in my 30's, 549 00:25:46,250 --> 00:25:48,750 and I'm doing juvenile things. 550 00:25:50,250 --> 00:25:52,708 Most of my neighbors, they were stock brokers, 551 00:25:52,750 --> 00:25:55,166 they were bankers, they were businessmen, 552 00:25:55,208 --> 00:25:57,291 they were doctors, they were lawyers. 553 00:25:57,333 --> 00:25:59,833 They didn't take me seriously. 554 00:26:01,541 --> 00:26:03,541 What kind of reference was the fact 555 00:26:03,583 --> 00:26:05,916 that you had been writing comics? 556 00:26:05,958 --> 00:26:10,000 So I kept staying there, 'cause I had a wife and a baby, 557 00:26:10,041 --> 00:26:12,958 a child, but I didn't know where else to go. 558 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:17,166 But finally, I was ready to quit by about 1960 or '61. 559 00:26:20,250 --> 00:26:24,333 I had been doing it for 20 years and I said to my wife, 560 00:26:24,375 --> 00:26:26,375 "Look, I'm sure there's something I can do. 561 00:26:26,416 --> 00:26:29,375 "I'll try to write a novel or something." 562 00:26:29,416 --> 00:26:32,250 And she said, "Stan, if you wanna quit, 563 00:26:32,291 --> 00:26:35,083 "why don't you first do one comic book 564 00:26:35,125 --> 00:26:39,166 "the way you'd like to do it for a slightly older audience. 565 00:26:39,208 --> 00:26:41,416 "Write it the way you feel like writing it. 566 00:26:41,458 --> 00:26:43,583 "Get it out of your system. 567 00:26:43,625 --> 00:26:46,541 "The worst that can happen is you'll be fired, 568 00:26:46,583 --> 00:26:48,625 "but you wanna quit anyway." 569 00:26:48,666 --> 00:26:51,416 When Joan finally said, "Why don't you do one book 570 00:26:51,458 --> 00:26:53,791 "the way you'd like to do it," 571 00:26:53,833 --> 00:26:57,500 it was like a light bulb exploded over my head. 572 00:26:57,541 --> 00:27:01,041 I felt, well at last, at least I'll get it out of my system, 573 00:27:01,083 --> 00:27:03,625 and then I'll quit or be fired. 574 00:27:05,250 --> 00:27:07,916 Martin said to me, "Why don't you do a book 575 00:27:07,958 --> 00:27:10,000 "with a bunch of heroes?" 576 00:27:10,041 --> 00:27:12,541 So I figured, okay, I'll get a group of heroes, 577 00:27:12,583 --> 00:27:16,083 but this time, I wanted to do them my way, 578 00:27:16,125 --> 00:27:20,291 and I wanted to write things to appeal to older people too. 579 00:27:21,916 --> 00:27:24,791 If I had a superpower, there's no way 580 00:27:26,333 --> 00:27:30,583 I would wear a mask and not want people to know who I was. 581 00:27:30,625 --> 00:27:33,333 I'd want everybody to know, look at me, 582 00:27:33,375 --> 00:27:34,916 I can do things you can't do. 583 00:27:34,958 --> 00:27:36,875 I'm better than you are 584 00:27:36,916 --> 00:27:39,541 and here's my name if you don't believe it. 585 00:27:39,583 --> 00:27:41,625 [cheering] 586 00:27:42,666 --> 00:27:43,916 It was right there in that moment, 587 00:27:43,958 --> 00:27:45,541 with Fantastic Four number one, 588 00:27:45,583 --> 00:27:48,208 that the Marvel age of comics started 589 00:27:48,250 --> 00:27:51,708 and that what Stan Lee has become started. 590 00:27:51,750 --> 00:27:55,333 - 1961, now there's a notable year. 591 00:27:55,375 --> 00:27:57,250 John Kennedy became president. 592 00:27:57,291 --> 00:28:00,666 Alan Shepard became the first American in space. 593 00:28:00,708 --> 00:28:02,875 The bikini became fashionable. 594 00:28:02,916 --> 00:28:05,291 And Marvel Comics made its debut. 595 00:28:05,333 --> 00:28:06,375 - Just all these comics that were 596 00:28:06,416 --> 00:28:10,500 unlike anything that I'd seen before. 597 00:28:10,541 --> 00:28:13,041 The pages rippled with energy. 598 00:28:14,125 --> 00:28:17,875 [glass shattering] 599 00:28:17,916 --> 00:28:21,541 - Comic book superheroes, up until 1961, 600 00:28:21,583 --> 00:28:23,875 were cardboard characters. 601 00:28:23,916 --> 00:28:25,875 They didn't really have a sense of humor. 602 00:28:25,916 --> 00:28:27,416 There was no texture to it. 603 00:28:27,458 --> 00:28:29,541 There were no subplots. 604 00:28:29,583 --> 00:28:32,125 - We try to write stories we would enjoy, 605 00:28:32,166 --> 00:28:34,500 and apparently there are enough people in the world 606 00:28:34,541 --> 00:28:35,833 who have the same tastes. 607 00:28:35,875 --> 00:28:36,958 I hate to say that, 608 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:38,833 I'd like to think my taste is far better, 609 00:28:38,875 --> 00:28:40,541 but apparently everybody must have 610 00:28:40,583 --> 00:28:41,958 pretty much the same taste 611 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:43,416 because the books sell pretty well. 612 00:28:43,458 --> 00:28:46,625 - All of a sudden, Stan's superheroes were dealing 613 00:28:46,666 --> 00:28:49,500 with angst, self-torment, anguish. 614 00:28:50,750 --> 00:28:52,041 - This was really the first time 615 00:28:52,083 --> 00:28:54,750 that an added dimension of personality 616 00:28:54,791 --> 00:28:56,875 had been brought in to the superhero. 617 00:28:56,916 --> 00:28:59,250 Stan was able to tap into something 618 00:28:59,291 --> 00:29:02,541 where you became interested in the character 619 00:29:02,583 --> 00:29:04,458 as opposed to the costume. 620 00:29:04,500 --> 00:29:06,916 - Wait a minute, they're fighting with each other. 621 00:29:06,958 --> 00:29:09,375 They don't particularly like each other. 622 00:29:09,416 --> 00:29:10,833 They don't like their powers. 623 00:29:10,875 --> 00:29:11,875 They think it's like a curse, 624 00:29:11,916 --> 00:29:15,041 and not something good that happened. 625 00:29:18,458 --> 00:29:21,041 - One character, the Thing, who's one 626 00:29:21,083 --> 00:29:23,625 of the most popular ones, the first time 627 00:29:23,666 --> 00:29:26,541 he wore a superhero outfit in the street, 628 00:29:26,583 --> 00:29:29,208 he reacted in a way I've always felt 629 00:29:29,250 --> 00:29:31,041 a character in a book should react, 630 00:29:31,083 --> 00:29:32,708 instead of taking it for granted, 631 00:29:32,750 --> 00:29:35,375 he said, "I feel like a nut in an outfit like this. 632 00:29:35,416 --> 00:29:36,708 "People are looking at me." 633 00:29:36,750 --> 00:29:39,041 And we've had stories where they were evicted 634 00:29:39,083 --> 00:29:41,375 from their headquarters because they had lost a lot 635 00:29:41,416 --> 00:29:43,000 of money in the stock market 636 00:29:43,041 --> 00:29:44,458 and they couldn't pay their rent. 637 00:29:44,500 --> 00:29:49,041 Things that had never happened to superheroes before. 638 00:29:49,083 --> 00:29:51,625 See another thing, I didn't see any reason 639 00:29:51,666 --> 00:29:56,000 for our superheroes, such as the Fantastic Four, 640 00:29:56,041 --> 00:30:00,041 to live in cities like Metropolis or Gotham City. 641 00:30:00,083 --> 00:30:02,916 I figured, hell, why can't they live in New York, you know? 642 00:30:02,958 --> 00:30:05,625 I knew New York, so I made it New York. 643 00:30:05,666 --> 00:30:08,708 I could write comfortably about New York. 644 00:30:08,750 --> 00:30:10,541 And when they went to the movies, 645 00:30:10,583 --> 00:30:12,666 why do they go to the Beeshoe Theater? 646 00:30:12,708 --> 00:30:15,083 Why don't they go to the Radio City Music Hall? 647 00:30:15,125 --> 00:30:17,708 And when the Human Torch, who was a teenager, 648 00:30:17,750 --> 00:30:20,958 Johnny Storm, when he wanted a sports car, 649 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:26,166 he wouldn't buy a Whizbang V8, I got him a Chevy Corvette. 650 00:30:26,208 --> 00:30:30,375 So again, I tried to make things as realistic as possible, 651 00:30:32,041 --> 00:30:34,958 even though these were fantasy stories. 652 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:38,500 - Things exploded at Marvel so much 653 00:30:38,541 --> 00:30:40,875 when he was doing this in the early 60's, 654 00:30:40,916 --> 00:30:43,250 that by the late 1960's, the distributor 655 00:30:43,291 --> 00:30:45,416 that owned DC basically told Marvel, 656 00:30:45,458 --> 00:30:47,125 you're selling so good, we're making more money 657 00:30:47,166 --> 00:30:48,833 off of you than the publisher we own, 658 00:30:48,875 --> 00:30:50,083 publish everything you want. 659 00:30:50,125 --> 00:30:52,833 - [Stan] We sell about 60 million copies, 660 00:30:52,875 --> 00:30:55,375 60 million magazines, a year. 661 00:30:55,416 --> 00:30:58,916 I guess that would break down to five million a month. 662 00:30:58,958 --> 00:31:01,708 - When we passed DC, I almost flipped. 663 00:31:01,750 --> 00:31:04,125 You know, DC was the Cadillac of the industry, 664 00:31:04,166 --> 00:31:05,625 I couldn't believe it. 665 00:31:05,666 --> 00:31:10,666 1961 on, with the Fantastic Four, comics grew exponentially. 666 00:31:10,708 --> 00:31:12,583 It was absolutely a miracle. 667 00:31:12,625 --> 00:31:15,208 - I would say from '60 to '70, 668 00:31:15,250 --> 00:31:18,708 that's when I enjoyed the comic book business more 669 00:31:18,750 --> 00:31:20,541 than I have ever enjoyed it. 670 00:31:20,583 --> 00:31:21,375 - '61-- 671 00:31:21,416 --> 00:31:22,916 - Was the Fantastic Four. 672 00:31:22,958 --> 00:31:23,916 - '62 you had-- 673 00:31:23,958 --> 00:31:24,750 - The Hulk. 674 00:31:24,791 --> 00:31:25,625 - Ant-Man and-- 675 00:31:25,666 --> 00:31:27,291 - Thor. - And Spider-Man. 676 00:31:27,333 --> 00:31:28,666 - 1963-- 677 00:31:28,708 --> 00:31:30,208 - Sergeant Fury. - Iron Man. 678 00:31:30,250 --> 00:31:31,875 - Giant-Man. - Doctor Strange. 679 00:31:31,916 --> 00:31:33,375 - X-Men. - The Avengers. 680 00:31:33,416 --> 00:31:34,625 - '64-- - Daredevil. 681 00:31:34,666 --> 00:31:36,708 - And 1965-- - Nick Fury. 682 00:31:36,750 --> 00:31:38,708 - 1966-- - The Silver Surfer. 683 00:31:38,750 --> 00:31:42,208 - It was like we were on a roll and nothing could stop us. 684 00:31:42,250 --> 00:31:45,166 [triumphant music] 685 00:31:52,333 --> 00:31:53,375 - What makes Stan happy? 686 00:31:53,416 --> 00:31:56,666 It's peace and quiet, and his computer. 687 00:32:02,333 --> 00:32:06,666 - For the past 47 years, since we've lived here, 688 00:32:06,708 --> 00:32:09,250 everything I've written, I've written in here. 689 00:32:09,291 --> 00:32:10,666 This is where I work. 690 00:32:11,958 --> 00:32:14,208 It's a functional room, which has all the things 691 00:32:14,250 --> 00:32:16,041 I need to work in. 692 00:32:16,083 --> 00:32:18,166 I like it because it's comfortable. 693 00:32:18,208 --> 00:32:21,750 I got my copier there, my fax machine here, 694 00:32:23,041 --> 00:32:27,041 my computer there, and a little chair to sit on 695 00:32:27,083 --> 00:32:29,958 if I wanna read a book, and I have my desk 696 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:33,541 to write things on and it's just the way I need it. 697 00:32:33,583 --> 00:32:35,875 My wife hates this room with a hatred 698 00:32:35,916 --> 00:32:38,041 that defies understanding 699 00:32:39,583 --> 00:32:41,875 because I wouldn't let her decorate it. 700 00:32:41,916 --> 00:32:44,791 She's not very happy about those things up there, 701 00:32:44,833 --> 00:32:48,041 my little boxes with supplies. 702 00:32:48,083 --> 00:32:51,708 She hates all the wires behind this computer. 703 00:32:51,750 --> 00:32:53,416 She hates this room. 704 00:32:54,416 --> 00:32:56,250 - We have good donnybrooks. 705 00:32:56,291 --> 00:32:59,250 Nothing that's ever violent, but then I'm very bossy 706 00:32:59,291 --> 00:33:01,750 and he's very bossy and we're always looking 707 00:33:01,791 --> 00:33:03,875 to top each other off the charts. 708 00:33:03,916 --> 00:33:07,250 - One of the worst fights we ever had, 709 00:33:07,291 --> 00:33:09,375 I don't remember what I said or did, 710 00:33:09,416 --> 00:33:11,791 but it got you angry, and you remember, 711 00:33:11,833 --> 00:33:13,458 I had that beautiful, 712 00:33:13,500 --> 00:33:17,041 Remington noiseless portable typewriter. 713 00:33:17,083 --> 00:33:19,000 My mother bought it for me, I had it for years, 714 00:33:19,041 --> 00:33:21,583 I wrote some of my first stories on it, 715 00:33:21,625 --> 00:33:24,791 that's the typewriter I wrote the Fantastic Four on 716 00:33:24,833 --> 00:33:28,000 and Spider-Man, and the Hulk, and the X-Men. 717 00:33:28,041 --> 00:33:30,291 You got mad at me about something I said. 718 00:33:30,333 --> 00:33:32,083 - Because you were a camera buff then. 719 00:33:32,125 --> 00:33:33,875 Probably something like, Joan, 720 00:33:33,916 --> 00:33:35,625 how can you stand there, you idiot, 721 00:33:35,666 --> 00:33:39,208 the sun's in the wrong position, or something. 722 00:33:39,250 --> 00:33:41,250 - [Stan] Well why would that get you angry? 723 00:33:41,291 --> 00:33:42,375 - You have no idea. 724 00:33:42,416 --> 00:33:44,416 - Well, anyway, whatever I said, 725 00:33:44,458 --> 00:33:48,583 she lifted that typewriter up like that, 726 00:33:48,625 --> 00:33:51,541 my heart was in my mouth and I kept thinking, oh no, 727 00:33:51,583 --> 00:33:53,958 she won't, she wouldn't, she wouldn't. 728 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:57,750 And she threw it down and it shattered 729 00:33:57,791 --> 00:33:59,416 into a million pieces. 730 00:33:59,458 --> 00:34:01,625 [booming] 731 00:34:02,500 --> 00:34:04,916 [rock music] 732 00:34:08,791 --> 00:34:13,541 The 60's was the atomic age and people started building 733 00:34:13,583 --> 00:34:15,708 bomb shelters in their backyards. 734 00:34:15,750 --> 00:34:18,541 I remember, we lived in Long Island at the time, 735 00:34:18,583 --> 00:34:20,708 and there were one or two people in our neighborhood 736 00:34:20,750 --> 00:34:23,250 who actually got construction crews 737 00:34:23,291 --> 00:34:28,208 and they built these shelters, cement-reinforced, 738 00:34:28,250 --> 00:34:33,208 and heavy doors that would seal shut above the shelter 739 00:34:33,250 --> 00:34:35,250 and they stocked them with water 740 00:34:35,291 --> 00:34:38,166 and all kinds of canned food and they were 741 00:34:38,208 --> 00:34:40,875 gonna sit it out if ever any atomic bomb 742 00:34:40,916 --> 00:34:43,041 or missile was launched. 743 00:34:43,083 --> 00:34:46,708 People were really afraid they'd be either killed 744 00:34:46,750 --> 00:34:49,625 or burned alive or horribly disfigured, 745 00:34:49,666 --> 00:34:51,791 and everybody was involved in science 746 00:34:51,833 --> 00:34:54,750 and nuclear fission, so when I created the Hulk, 747 00:34:54,791 --> 00:34:57,875 I wanted to give it a scientific basis. 748 00:34:57,916 --> 00:35:00,833 [light rock music] 749 00:35:04,666 --> 00:35:07,666 [explosion roaring] 750 00:35:12,666 --> 00:35:16,875 I had always loved the movie Frankenstein, 751 00:35:16,916 --> 00:35:21,958 and I really thought that the monster was the good guy. 752 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,000 He didn't wanna hurt anybody, he just wanted 753 00:35:24,041 --> 00:35:27,125 to be left alone, but those idiots with torches 754 00:35:27,166 --> 00:35:29,541 kept chasing him up and down the hills 755 00:35:29,583 --> 00:35:33,375 and through the countryside and he always had my sympathy. 756 00:35:33,416 --> 00:35:37,416 I had also always loved Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 757 00:35:38,708 --> 00:35:41,541 And I said, "What if my monster could be a guy 758 00:35:41,583 --> 00:35:45,333 "like Dr. Jekyll, and when he becomes the monster, 759 00:35:45,375 --> 00:35:47,291 "that's like Mr. Hyde." 760 00:35:48,166 --> 00:35:49,875 So I thought, psychologically, 761 00:35:49,916 --> 00:35:52,708 we could have fun with that story-wise. 762 00:35:52,750 --> 00:35:55,750 The two entities of this one person, 763 00:35:57,041 --> 00:35:58,541 and they both hate each other 764 00:35:58,583 --> 00:36:01,625 and would like to destroy each other. 765 00:36:03,458 --> 00:36:07,083 - The Hulk is a guy that's kind of a lost soul. 766 00:36:07,125 --> 00:36:09,791 He's had no connection, doesn't remember where he came from, 767 00:36:09,833 --> 00:36:14,208 and is basically searching for someone to like him, 768 00:36:14,250 --> 00:36:17,708 to be nice to him, that he's an okay guy. 769 00:36:20,083 --> 00:36:25,291 - Stan walked in and, in his take on super-humans, 770 00:36:25,333 --> 00:36:28,500 he paid way more attention to the human than the super. 771 00:36:28,541 --> 00:36:30,625 He made the characters real. 772 00:36:30,666 --> 00:36:32,708 He made them feel like people who you knew, 773 00:36:32,750 --> 00:36:34,541 they were your friends, they were neighbors. 774 00:36:34,583 --> 00:36:36,708 And suddenly, people got emotionally invested in this 775 00:36:36,750 --> 00:36:37,708 and they cared about it. 776 00:36:37,750 --> 00:36:38,958 - And I think what Stan did 777 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,541 was make really humanistic super-heroes. 778 00:36:42,583 --> 00:36:44,375 - One of the things that I've learned from Stan 779 00:36:44,416 --> 00:36:48,041 is what's really important is not Spider-Man, 780 00:36:48,083 --> 00:36:50,708 it's the guy in the Spider-Man costume. 781 00:36:50,750 --> 00:36:52,333 It has to be about Peter Parker. 782 00:36:52,375 --> 00:36:55,375 - Peter Parker was supposed to be every man, 783 00:36:55,416 --> 00:36:58,916 or every young man, with all the conflicts 784 00:37:00,375 --> 00:37:05,750 and uncertainties and confusions that any young man has. 785 00:37:05,791 --> 00:37:09,041 - Peter Parker is your normal kid from Queens 786 00:37:09,083 --> 00:37:12,333 who's a bit socially awkward, has girl problems, 787 00:37:12,375 --> 00:37:14,083 they have money problems. 788 00:37:14,125 --> 00:37:16,250 - I tried to put him in the real world 789 00:37:16,291 --> 00:37:19,541 and give him the kind of things that regular readers 790 00:37:19,583 --> 00:37:21,041 could relate to. 791 00:37:21,083 --> 00:37:23,916 I mean, he'd have ingrown toenails. 792 00:37:23,958 --> 00:37:28,125 His costume would tear while he was fighting. 793 00:37:28,166 --> 00:37:31,875 It was very easy for me to identify with Peter Parker, 794 00:37:31,916 --> 00:37:34,541 'cause all I had to do was think of a lot of things 795 00:37:34,583 --> 00:37:36,541 that happened when I was young. 796 00:37:36,583 --> 00:37:38,458 For example, I might have a big date 797 00:37:38,500 --> 00:37:40,750 with a girl that I really liked, 798 00:37:40,791 --> 00:37:43,083 and wouldn't you know, I'd have an allergy attack 799 00:37:43,125 --> 00:37:46,250 at that night and I'd be sneezing all over the place. 800 00:37:46,291 --> 00:37:48,458 Or there'd be another girl that I really wanted 801 00:37:48,500 --> 00:37:49,791 to make an impression on. 802 00:37:49,833 --> 00:37:53,041 I'd take her out to dinner and then on the way home, 803 00:37:53,083 --> 00:37:56,208 I realized I didn't have enough money for a cab. 804 00:37:56,250 --> 00:37:58,416 And you could imagine the great impression 805 00:37:58,458 --> 00:38:01,125 it would make on a date if you have to take her home 806 00:38:01,166 --> 00:38:02,833 in a crowded subway. 807 00:38:02,875 --> 00:38:06,166 So it was not too hard for me to come up 808 00:38:06,208 --> 00:38:07,833 with things for Peter Parker. 809 00:38:07,875 --> 00:38:10,791 I just had to think of the things that happened to me. 810 00:38:10,833 --> 00:38:14,041 - Spider-Man is Stan, I absolutely feel that. 811 00:38:14,083 --> 00:38:17,625 All of the things that Stan is, his morality. 812 00:38:17,666 --> 00:38:19,875 Uncle Ben, you know when... 813 00:38:19,916 --> 00:38:23,833 All of that is Stan's attitude towards mankind. 814 00:38:25,125 --> 00:38:28,666 - You see, I always felt with superheroes, 815 00:38:28,708 --> 00:38:31,458 why would somebody spend his whole life 816 00:38:31,500 --> 00:38:33,291 fighting the bad guys? 817 00:38:33,333 --> 00:38:35,208 Why not just get married and have kids 818 00:38:35,250 --> 00:38:36,791 and lead a normal life? 819 00:38:36,833 --> 00:38:41,375 So I wanted to give Spider-Man a real motive, a real reason 820 00:38:41,416 --> 00:38:44,208 and let the reader understand that he always 821 00:38:44,250 --> 00:38:46,500 carried this guilt feeling with him, 822 00:38:46,541 --> 00:38:48,250 and that was the reason for that. 823 00:38:48,291 --> 00:38:52,083 With great power, comes great responsibility. 824 00:38:54,083 --> 00:38:55,875 - It's a great morality tale. 825 00:38:55,916 --> 00:38:58,791 Peter Parker didn't come out of the gate as a good guy. 826 00:38:58,833 --> 00:39:00,125 He was selfish. 827 00:39:00,166 --> 00:39:02,041 He was like, look, I got these powers. 828 00:39:02,083 --> 00:39:04,666 You know what, I'm gonna go make some money. 829 00:39:04,708 --> 00:39:06,291 I'm gonna cashout on this. 830 00:39:06,333 --> 00:39:08,041 And he went for that. 831 00:39:08,083 --> 00:39:09,916 And he made a mistake. 832 00:39:11,458 --> 00:39:14,041 And in a very karmic way, lets somebody 833 00:39:14,083 --> 00:39:17,541 who should have been apprehended by him. 834 00:39:17,583 --> 00:39:21,041 And that person ended up killing his Uncle Ben. 835 00:39:21,083 --> 00:39:23,833 That was a real important lesson. 836 00:39:26,083 --> 00:39:28,541 - [Stan] My father, he just always told me, 837 00:39:28,583 --> 00:39:33,041 "Stan, the most important thing is to do the right thing." 838 00:39:33,083 --> 00:39:35,458 And I used to write, you know, if you treat other people 839 00:39:35,500 --> 00:39:36,916 the way you'd wanna be treated, 840 00:39:36,958 --> 00:39:39,083 there couldn't be anything bad in the world. 841 00:39:39,125 --> 00:39:40,916 - So from that came the nature 842 00:39:40,958 --> 00:39:43,750 of the man writing Spider-Man and the whole thing. 843 00:39:43,791 --> 00:39:46,000 - How I came up with the idea for Spider-Man. 844 00:39:46,041 --> 00:39:49,250 I have said this so often at so many places 845 00:39:49,291 --> 00:39:52,083 that for all I know, it might even be true. 846 00:39:52,125 --> 00:39:55,375 I was trying to think of a new character, 847 00:39:55,416 --> 00:39:58,875 and obviously one of the most critical decisions 848 00:39:58,916 --> 00:40:03,208 you make is what superpower does the character have? 849 00:40:03,250 --> 00:40:06,000 Well, we already had the strongest man in the world, 850 00:40:06,041 --> 00:40:08,375 someone who could fly, on and on. 851 00:40:08,416 --> 00:40:10,041 What was left? 852 00:40:10,083 --> 00:40:13,208 And then I saw a fly on the wall and I go, 853 00:40:13,250 --> 00:40:17,166 wow, wouldn't it be something if I had a character 854 00:40:17,208 --> 00:40:20,333 who could stick to walls like an insect? 855 00:40:20,375 --> 00:40:22,833 So I liked that and I said, "I'm gonna do that." 856 00:40:22,875 --> 00:40:23,875 Then I needed a name. 857 00:40:23,916 --> 00:40:25,625 Names are very important. 858 00:40:26,916 --> 00:40:30,208 So I thought of the first logical one, Insect-Man. 859 00:40:30,250 --> 00:40:33,250 Somehow it didn't sound glamorous or dramatic. 860 00:40:33,291 --> 00:40:35,000 I figured, well, Fly-Man? 861 00:40:35,041 --> 00:40:36,500 No, that didn't do it. 862 00:40:36,541 --> 00:40:37,416 Mosquito-Man? 863 00:40:37,458 --> 00:40:39,000 I went down the list. 864 00:40:39,041 --> 00:40:41,083 I got to spider, Spider-Man. 865 00:40:42,416 --> 00:40:46,958 I don't know why, but it sounded dramatic, frightening. 866 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:52,333 I would want to read something called Spider-Man. 867 00:40:52,375 --> 00:40:56,166 - Who wouldn't want to be able to swing on a web 868 00:40:56,208 --> 00:40:57,708 and stick to walls? 869 00:40:57,750 --> 00:40:58,708 Are you kidding me? 870 00:40:58,750 --> 00:41:00,375 I'm 46, if I could do that tomorrow, 871 00:41:00,416 --> 00:41:03,958 I'd come in from the top of this roof into the building 872 00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:06,250 everyday going, yeah, I'm a Spider-Man. 873 00:41:06,291 --> 00:41:08,958 - I've tried to call myself the co-creator 874 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:10,791 of these characters. 875 00:41:10,833 --> 00:41:14,708 On Spider-Man, I came up with the idea, 876 00:41:14,750 --> 00:41:19,083 and then I first gave the strip to Jack Kirby to draw, 877 00:41:19,125 --> 00:41:21,458 and Jack drew the first couple of pages, 878 00:41:21,500 --> 00:41:23,375 and I was looking over his shoulder and I said, 879 00:41:23,416 --> 00:41:24,958 "Wait a minute, you're still 880 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:27,458 "making him too glamorous-looking." 881 00:41:27,500 --> 00:41:28,500 So I said, "Ah, forget it, 882 00:41:28,541 --> 00:41:30,375 "Jack, I'll give it to someone else." 883 00:41:30,416 --> 00:41:32,875 So it occurred to me to give it to Steve Ditko, 884 00:41:32,916 --> 00:41:36,708 and Steve brought so much to the strip, 885 00:41:36,750 --> 00:41:38,208 and I don't think the strip 886 00:41:38,250 --> 00:41:42,333 would have been as successful without Steve. 887 00:41:42,375 --> 00:41:46,541 I don't know what the universal conception of creator is. 888 00:41:48,625 --> 00:41:52,750 Steve definitely felt that he was the co-creator 889 00:41:52,791 --> 00:41:56,000 of Spider-Man, and that was really, 890 00:41:56,041 --> 00:41:58,375 after he said it and I saw it meant to a lot to him, 891 00:41:58,416 --> 00:42:00,041 that was fine with me. 892 00:42:00,083 --> 00:42:01,833 So I said, "Fine, I'll tell everybody 893 00:42:01,875 --> 00:42:03,333 "you're the co-creator." 894 00:42:03,375 --> 00:42:06,583 That didn't quite satisfy him, so I sent him a letter, 895 00:42:06,625 --> 00:42:08,875 I put it in writing. 896 00:42:08,916 --> 00:42:12,250 To whom it may concern, this is to state 897 00:42:14,250 --> 00:42:18,250 that I consider Steve Ditko to be the co-creator 898 00:42:18,291 --> 00:42:20,333 of Spider-Man along with me. 899 00:42:20,375 --> 00:42:21,750 Something like that. 900 00:42:21,791 --> 00:42:22,958 And I sent it to him and I said, 901 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:25,666 "You can show this to anybody you want to." 902 00:42:25,708 --> 00:42:29,166 Steve actually still lives in Manhattan, New York. 903 00:42:29,208 --> 00:42:33,083 And when I was in New York a few years ago we did meet. 904 00:42:33,125 --> 00:42:36,875 And we did discuss doing a strip again sometime. 905 00:42:36,916 --> 00:42:39,208 Who knows, maybe we'll still come up with something 906 00:42:39,250 --> 00:42:41,541 and surprise the public with it. 907 00:42:41,583 --> 00:42:43,083 I would love that. 908 00:42:45,041 --> 00:42:46,416 When is Valentine's Day? 909 00:42:46,458 --> 00:42:47,916 - [Female] 14th of February. 910 00:42:47,958 --> 00:42:49,958 - Why does nobody ever say, what is your wife 911 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:51,708 gonna get you for Valentine's? 912 00:42:51,750 --> 00:42:53,208 Why does nobody ever say that? 913 00:42:53,250 --> 00:42:55,750 - Well, she's probably out shopping right now, 914 00:42:55,791 --> 00:42:56,750 figuring it out. 915 00:42:56,791 --> 00:42:59,041 - Yeah, it's a big problem for me. 916 00:42:59,083 --> 00:43:01,750 - He's the most romantic man in the world. 917 00:43:01,791 --> 00:43:04,958 Happy anniversary to beautiful Joanie. 918 00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:10,041 Wanted to give you the world, but it wasn't for sale. 919 00:43:10,083 --> 00:43:13,500 Don't know about perfume, because I'm a male. 920 00:43:13,541 --> 00:43:18,375 Can't buy jewelry, my picks would just be a waste. 921 00:43:18,416 --> 00:43:22,125 I'm a dunce about clothes, and you have plenty of those. 922 00:43:22,166 --> 00:43:26,333 So all I can do and all I can give you is my love. 923 00:43:32,791 --> 00:43:34,375 Sorry, can't go on. 924 00:43:36,416 --> 00:43:38,416 I adore you, to my wife. 925 00:43:42,375 --> 00:43:44,750 - My wife is really the greatest person in the world. 926 00:43:44,791 --> 00:43:47,166 She's far more talented than I am. 927 00:43:47,208 --> 00:43:50,666 She sings, dances, had been an actress, was a model. 928 00:43:50,708 --> 00:43:54,208 It's a funny story, when I first married her, 929 00:43:54,250 --> 00:43:57,208 she had been acting and singing 930 00:43:57,250 --> 00:43:59,333 and had a great career ahead of her. 931 00:43:59,375 --> 00:44:03,583 But in those days, guys tried to be very macho, 932 00:44:03,625 --> 00:44:06,583 and I said to her when we got married, I said, 933 00:44:06,625 --> 00:44:10,000 "No wife of mine is gonna work." 934 00:44:10,041 --> 00:44:11,625 And she said, "Okay." 935 00:44:12,750 --> 00:44:16,500 And it was the stupidest thing I ever did. 936 00:44:16,541 --> 00:44:19,875 She could've been supporting me all these years. 937 00:44:19,916 --> 00:44:22,000 - You know Stan's story told us, 938 00:44:22,041 --> 00:44:25,333 if you wanna be successful and prolific, 939 00:44:25,375 --> 00:44:28,375 put yourself in debt and the way to do that 940 00:44:28,416 --> 00:44:31,541 is to marry a wife who's a spender. 941 00:44:31,583 --> 00:44:33,791 And Joan Lee, he says, is responsible 942 00:44:33,833 --> 00:44:36,125 for half of his production because if she didn't 943 00:44:36,166 --> 00:44:37,750 get into so much debt, he wouldn't have had 944 00:44:37,791 --> 00:44:40,833 all the motivation to produce his body of work. 945 00:44:40,875 --> 00:44:44,291 So Stan Lee's debt has made the world richer. 946 00:44:44,333 --> 00:44:46,750 And Joan is responsible for that. 947 00:44:46,791 --> 00:44:48,416 - My daughter is not sensible and cautious 948 00:44:48,458 --> 00:44:50,375 and I am not sensible and cautious. 949 00:44:50,416 --> 00:44:53,125 We just spend his money gleefully. 950 00:44:54,416 --> 00:44:56,291 - [Interviewer] What's it like having a father who 951 00:44:56,333 --> 00:44:58,916 is the king of the comic books? 952 00:45:00,375 --> 00:45:03,041 - Well his, um, how do I say it? 953 00:45:04,916 --> 00:45:06,000 He's unbeatable. 954 00:45:06,041 --> 00:45:08,291 I mean, his imagination, his creativity, 955 00:45:08,333 --> 00:45:11,291 and his brilliance has not made it easy 956 00:45:11,333 --> 00:45:13,041 for other men that I've met in many ways. 957 00:45:13,083 --> 00:45:14,541 - Now I'll stop twisting your arm. 958 00:45:14,583 --> 00:45:15,750 [laughing] 959 00:45:15,791 --> 00:45:17,666 - [Interviewer] How much did that cost you? 960 00:45:17,708 --> 00:45:19,291 - You see this new outfit? 961 00:45:19,333 --> 00:45:21,333 - [Interviewer] Maybe this is an actress 962 00:45:21,375 --> 00:45:23,041 he hired to come and do this. 963 00:45:23,083 --> 00:45:25,125 - I have to say, I'm his greatest fan. 964 00:45:25,166 --> 00:45:26,958 - Now I'll send you back to Central Casting 965 00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:29,375 and I'll tell my daughter that everything went well. 966 00:45:29,416 --> 00:45:31,375 [laughing] 967 00:45:31,416 --> 00:45:33,750 - [Guest] That's a great line. 968 00:45:33,791 --> 00:45:36,791 - [Stan] Coming from you, I appreciate it. 969 00:45:36,833 --> 00:45:38,333 - Out of all the characters your father's created, 970 00:45:38,375 --> 00:45:39,291 who's your favorite? 971 00:45:39,333 --> 00:45:40,125 - Me. 972 00:45:40,166 --> 00:45:41,041 [laughing] 973 00:45:41,083 --> 00:45:43,375 - That's a better line. 974 00:45:43,416 --> 00:45:44,541 Son of a gun. 975 00:45:44,583 --> 00:45:46,833 [laughing] 976 00:45:50,083 --> 00:45:55,125 Her mother took care of most of the cultural life, I think, 977 00:45:55,166 --> 00:45:56,416 and she grew up wonderfully. 978 00:45:56,458 --> 00:45:59,125 She's the most beautiful woman, talented. 979 00:45:59,166 --> 00:46:03,458 She's a jewelry designer, she's an artist, 980 00:46:03,500 --> 00:46:05,708 been an actress, she's... 981 00:46:05,750 --> 00:46:07,416 We're very proud of her. 982 00:46:07,458 --> 00:46:11,083 We had another daughter who didn't survive, 983 00:46:11,125 --> 00:46:14,708 but we called her Jan, which Joan felt 984 00:46:14,750 --> 00:46:16,541 was the closest thing to Stan. 985 00:46:16,583 --> 00:46:19,166 Joan had her room all prepared, 986 00:46:20,583 --> 00:46:22,750 it was so beautifully decorated. 987 00:46:22,791 --> 00:46:25,458 - So she lived about seven days. 988 00:46:26,750 --> 00:46:27,791 And she died. 989 00:46:29,625 --> 00:46:33,458 But we never really discuss it, it's interesting. 990 00:46:33,500 --> 00:46:37,041 We never really went on a great discussion about Jan. 991 00:46:37,083 --> 00:46:40,458 I saw her once, I just insisted that I see her. 992 00:46:40,500 --> 00:46:43,583 And she was small, smaller than Joan. 993 00:46:44,916 --> 00:46:47,166 A pretty, pretty little baby. 994 00:46:48,583 --> 00:46:51,458 And I'll never forget, because they were so thrilled. 995 00:46:51,500 --> 00:46:53,375 They kept telling me, oh she took a little water today. 996 00:46:53,416 --> 00:46:55,833 She took a little of this today. 997 00:46:55,875 --> 00:47:00,416 I was there the eight days that she was in the incubator. 998 00:47:00,458 --> 00:47:01,958 The nurse that was there just came 999 00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:04,333 and said the baby then died. 1000 00:47:07,250 --> 00:47:11,541 I had had my tubes tied off, they did that. 1001 00:47:11,583 --> 00:47:13,375 And not only did my doctor tie them off, 1002 00:47:13,416 --> 00:47:17,125 because tubes can be changed, but he cut them, 1003 00:47:17,166 --> 00:47:19,916 so they could not be ever undone. 1004 00:47:22,083 --> 00:47:25,541 I tried to adopt, and I couldn't adopt. 1005 00:47:25,583 --> 00:47:29,750 I couldn't adopt a Jewish baby, because I'm not Jewish. 1006 00:47:33,416 --> 00:47:35,875 I couldn't adopt from a Catholic family, 1007 00:47:35,916 --> 00:47:37,708 because I'm Episcopalian. 1008 00:47:37,750 --> 00:47:40,958 But in that particular time, you couldn't do it. 1009 00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:46,583 You couldn't adopt into any mixed marriage at that time. 1010 00:47:46,625 --> 00:47:48,291 - All anybody had to do was come 1011 00:47:48,333 --> 00:47:51,041 and look at the way we lived, look at our daughter, 1012 00:47:51,083 --> 00:47:54,041 look at my wife with our daughter, look at me, 1013 00:47:54,083 --> 00:47:58,625 and they were investigating her and talking to her. 1014 00:47:58,666 --> 00:48:00,708 She'd come home in tears. 1015 00:48:00,750 --> 00:48:03,916 You don't remember how angry you were when you'd come home 1016 00:48:03,958 --> 00:48:07,041 and you said, "I won't put myself through this anymore," 1017 00:48:07,083 --> 00:48:10,375 about those interviews you had to go to. 1018 00:48:10,416 --> 00:48:11,583 Have you forgotten? 1019 00:48:11,625 --> 00:48:12,958 Boy, that was... 1020 00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:14,875 And how angry that made me. 1021 00:48:14,916 --> 00:48:16,500 - And how would I bring the child up. 1022 00:48:16,541 --> 00:48:19,958 - There seems to be some quality in human nature 1023 00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:22,625 where if everybody had the same religion 1024 00:48:22,666 --> 00:48:25,291 and everybody lived in the same country, 1025 00:48:25,333 --> 00:48:29,583 probably the black-haired people would hate blondes 1026 00:48:29,625 --> 00:48:32,208 and maybe the redheads would be shunned. 1027 00:48:32,250 --> 00:48:34,250 I don't know, it seems that some people 1028 00:48:34,291 --> 00:48:36,208 have to have somebody else 1029 00:48:36,250 --> 00:48:39,708 to feel superior to and to dislike. 1030 00:48:39,750 --> 00:48:43,208 - His work was very symbolic of the era that he lived in. 1031 00:48:43,250 --> 00:48:46,458 He really sort of took a lot of the stuff that was happening 1032 00:48:46,500 --> 00:48:48,500 and infused it in these characters. 1033 00:48:48,541 --> 00:48:52,250 - One thing I felt there were not enough black superheroes, 1034 00:48:52,291 --> 00:48:55,208 so I created the Black Panther. 1035 00:48:55,250 --> 00:48:57,375 - Stan was right there at the beginning. 1036 00:48:57,416 --> 00:49:01,125 The Falcon, Captain America's, not sidekick, 1037 00:49:01,166 --> 00:49:03,333 Captain America's partner. 1038 00:49:03,375 --> 00:49:05,333 It was a whole new thing. 1039 00:49:05,375 --> 00:49:07,625 These are amazing, amazing themes 1040 00:49:07,666 --> 00:49:10,125 to be dealing with in comic books. 1041 00:49:10,166 --> 00:49:12,833 - In X-Men, I guess my intention 1042 00:49:12,875 --> 00:49:16,875 was to show that the world never fully tolerates 1043 00:49:16,916 --> 00:49:19,125 people who are different. 1044 00:49:19,166 --> 00:49:21,625 So here, nobody could have been more different 1045 00:49:21,666 --> 00:49:25,625 than these five or six mutants that I had created, 1046 00:49:25,666 --> 00:49:29,625 and actually we showed that people feared them, 1047 00:49:29,666 --> 00:49:31,791 and then little-by-little began to hate them 1048 00:49:31,833 --> 00:49:33,333 because they were different. 1049 00:49:33,375 --> 00:49:34,833 - I think the way X-Men preaches tolerance 1050 00:49:34,875 --> 00:49:37,541 is it comments on it quite blatantly. 1051 00:49:37,583 --> 00:49:39,583 It's all about outcasts and they talk about it 1052 00:49:39,625 --> 00:49:42,000 and they stick together and they prevail. 1053 00:49:42,041 --> 00:49:46,000 Although they are persecuted, they also are tolerant 1054 00:49:46,041 --> 00:49:50,875 of their persecutors, of humans, or bad mutants. 1055 00:49:50,916 --> 00:49:54,500 And in that way, they preach tolerance even as victims. 1056 00:49:54,541 --> 00:50:00,083 - A lot of people feel and have grown up feeling different. 1057 00:50:00,125 --> 00:50:02,375 That's really what the X-Men universe 1058 00:50:02,416 --> 00:50:04,583 is about is in difference. 1059 00:50:04,625 --> 00:50:06,458 - Growing up, I felt very much like an outcast, 1060 00:50:06,500 --> 00:50:08,708 although I imagine every adolescent feels that way. 1061 00:50:08,750 --> 00:50:10,916 Perhaps a personal fantasy that one of my weaknesses 1062 00:50:10,958 --> 00:50:12,500 or the things that make me different 1063 00:50:12,541 --> 00:50:14,125 could be what makes me strong. 1064 00:50:14,166 --> 00:50:16,708 And that's kind of at the heart of what X-Men is. 1065 00:50:16,750 --> 00:50:19,125 - What makes the X-Men heroic 1066 00:50:19,166 --> 00:50:21,291 is not so much their superpowers, 1067 00:50:21,333 --> 00:50:22,666 but their cause and their focus, 1068 00:50:22,708 --> 00:50:25,833 which is let's all embrace each other's individuality 1069 00:50:25,875 --> 00:50:29,083 and learn to live with each other. 1070 00:50:29,125 --> 00:50:32,333 - But it was a subtle underlying theme, 1071 00:50:32,375 --> 00:50:34,833 because basically the main theme was excitement 1072 00:50:34,875 --> 00:50:39,750 and adventure and color and if people got the theme, 1073 00:50:39,791 --> 00:50:42,375 fine, and if not we still, I thought, 1074 00:50:42,416 --> 00:50:44,083 had a good adventurer strip. 1075 00:50:44,125 --> 00:50:46,916 - There is something that anyone can take from it. 1076 00:50:46,958 --> 00:50:48,708 The things that these characters can do 1077 00:50:48,750 --> 00:50:51,083 will obviously appeal to young people, especially, 1078 00:50:51,125 --> 00:50:52,791 but then there are these other themes, 1079 00:50:52,833 --> 00:50:56,375 these more complex themes which give substance to the work. 1080 00:50:56,416 --> 00:51:00,041 - And as the 60's started to become the 60's, 1081 00:51:00,083 --> 00:51:02,958 where themes of alienation and acceptance 1082 00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:06,916 and feelings against the military industrial complex 1083 00:51:06,958 --> 00:51:10,708 became more and more important to a growing youth culture, 1084 00:51:10,750 --> 00:51:14,458 he really turned everything on its head once again. 1085 00:51:14,500 --> 00:51:16,875 - At that time, everybody was turned 1086 00:51:16,916 --> 00:51:20,208 off with the military industrial complex. 1087 00:51:20,250 --> 00:51:22,750 Just for fun, I thought I'd make Iron Man, 1088 00:51:22,791 --> 00:51:25,958 a symbol of the military industrial complex, 1089 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:28,208 and I'd make the readers like him. 1090 00:51:28,250 --> 00:51:30,041 - Iron Man has dealt with a lot of different themes 1091 00:51:30,083 --> 00:51:33,041 over the course of his long, storied career. 1092 00:51:33,083 --> 00:51:36,125 Everything from dealing with the mixed blessing 1093 00:51:36,166 --> 00:51:40,875 of a new, wonderful but dangerous technology. 1094 00:51:40,916 --> 00:51:44,583 He's dealt with alcoholism as well. 1095 00:51:44,625 --> 00:51:47,916 - Stan kept addressing the issues of the day, 1096 00:51:47,958 --> 00:51:51,333 the hot topics, and the personal issues 1097 00:51:51,375 --> 00:51:53,500 and angst that teenagers have. 1098 00:51:53,541 --> 00:51:55,791 - [Stan] So I decided to have a column every month 1099 00:51:55,833 --> 00:51:58,041 where I would talk to the readers. 1100 00:51:58,083 --> 00:52:00,708 I called it Stan's Soapbox, and I would talk 1101 00:52:00,750 --> 00:52:03,500 about anything that occurred to me about politics 1102 00:52:03,541 --> 00:52:05,125 or about school. 1103 00:52:05,166 --> 00:52:09,333 - [John] He was including the readers in everything we did. 1104 00:52:09,375 --> 00:52:11,333 - [Broadcaster] Over the past few years, Marvel comics 1105 00:52:11,375 --> 00:52:13,416 have become some of the most popular reading matter 1106 00:52:13,458 --> 00:52:16,375 on virtually every college campus in America today. 1107 00:52:16,416 --> 00:52:18,541 - [Broadcaster] Ladies and gentlemen, in the upcoming 1108 00:52:18,583 --> 00:52:20,708 segment of the broadcast, we're going to be talking 1109 00:52:20,750 --> 00:52:23,291 about comic strips, I guess. 1110 00:52:23,333 --> 00:52:25,541 - [Stan] Years ago, we realized how much influence 1111 00:52:25,583 --> 00:52:28,541 Marvel comics really do have on people 1112 00:52:28,583 --> 00:52:30,875 and our readership starts at the age of six 1113 00:52:30,916 --> 00:52:33,458 and goes up, as I mentioned, to and beyond college. 1114 00:52:33,500 --> 00:52:36,125 I would say that's my principle objective 1115 00:52:36,166 --> 00:52:38,708 to just sort of elevate comics to the point 1116 00:52:38,750 --> 00:52:42,750 where they're a more-respected medium of communication 1117 00:52:42,791 --> 00:52:43,916 and they're not thought of 1118 00:52:43,958 --> 00:52:46,541 as merely something for young children. 1119 00:52:46,583 --> 00:52:49,083 [funky music] 1120 00:53:00,750 --> 00:53:02,291 - [Broadcaster] The University of California's 1121 00:53:02,333 --> 00:53:06,000 humor magazine, the Pelican, recently called Marvel Comics 1122 00:53:06,041 --> 00:53:09,375 the greatest revolution in literature on campus 1123 00:53:09,416 --> 00:53:11,333 since the foldout news. 1124 00:53:12,833 --> 00:53:14,708 - About once a year we'd get a letter, 1125 00:53:14,750 --> 00:53:16,875 somebody would write, hey, I bought 1126 00:53:16,916 --> 00:53:19,208 one of your books and there's a staple missing, 1127 00:53:19,250 --> 00:53:20,708 I want my money back. 1128 00:53:20,750 --> 00:53:23,708 [laughing] 1129 00:53:23,750 --> 00:53:25,583 You know, I would run through the office, 1130 00:53:25,625 --> 00:53:28,125 waving this letter, we got a fan letter. 1131 00:53:28,166 --> 00:53:30,666 [funky music] 1132 00:53:35,083 --> 00:53:37,250 I do a lot of lecturing on college campuses 1133 00:53:37,291 --> 00:53:38,541 all over the country. 1134 00:53:38,583 --> 00:53:40,583 In fact, tomorrow morning I'm going to Las Vegas, 1135 00:53:40,625 --> 00:53:42,541 the University of Las Vegas. 1136 00:53:42,583 --> 00:53:44,333 I guess there's a certain irony 1137 00:53:44,375 --> 00:53:46,708 to the fact that some of the children 1138 00:53:46,750 --> 00:53:49,166 who had comic books taken away from them 1139 00:53:49,208 --> 00:53:51,375 when they were five years old, 1140 00:53:51,416 --> 00:53:53,208 when they were in college, 1141 00:53:53,250 --> 00:53:55,750 when they were 20 years old or so, 1142 00:53:55,791 --> 00:53:59,958 they were inviting me to come and speak at their college. 1143 00:54:01,583 --> 00:54:03,000 - [Attendee] I've got a question to ask you. 1144 00:54:03,041 --> 00:54:04,291 - [Stan] I have an answer for you. 1145 00:54:04,333 --> 00:54:05,750 - [Attendee] How did you create your new characters? 1146 00:54:05,791 --> 00:54:07,583 - [Attendee] Where would the ideas come from? 1147 00:54:07,625 --> 00:54:09,875 - [Attendee] I just wonder how far ahead you work on these. 1148 00:54:09,916 --> 00:54:12,041 - [Stan] Well, I guess we work, you would consider it 1149 00:54:12,083 --> 00:54:13,375 three months ahead. 1150 00:54:13,416 --> 00:54:14,791 - [Attendee] Have you ever had an issue 1151 00:54:14,833 --> 00:54:17,208 rejected by the Comics Code? 1152 00:54:17,250 --> 00:54:20,583 - Oh yeah, a few times, usually for non-sensible reasons. 1153 00:54:20,625 --> 00:54:23,125 [funky music] 1154 00:54:30,916 --> 00:54:33,041 I would talk for, oh, maybe 20 minutes 1155 00:54:33,083 --> 00:54:35,375 or as long as it was, but then the thing 1156 00:54:35,416 --> 00:54:38,250 I loved the best was the questions and answer period. 1157 00:54:38,291 --> 00:54:42,375 I didn't really do it to increase their 1158 00:54:42,416 --> 00:54:44,208 but to increase my own. 1159 00:54:45,458 --> 00:54:48,583 Every time I would leave one of those lectures, 1160 00:54:48,625 --> 00:54:53,125 I knew more about what interested our fans 1161 00:54:53,166 --> 00:54:55,666 than I did before I started the lecture, 1162 00:54:55,708 --> 00:54:57,708 and I would try to take that knowledge 1163 00:54:57,750 --> 00:55:01,333 back to the office with me and try to put it to use. 1164 00:55:01,375 --> 00:55:05,833 Little-by-little, I found I was getting more questions 1165 00:55:05,875 --> 00:55:08,791 about the Silver Surfer than any of our other characters 1166 00:55:08,833 --> 00:55:10,916 from the college kids. 1167 00:55:10,958 --> 00:55:14,083 And they were saying, "Stan, were you interested 1168 00:55:14,125 --> 00:55:16,125 "in getting a character who embodied 1169 00:55:16,166 --> 00:55:19,625 "the Judeo-Christian philosophy," and blah blah blah. 1170 00:55:19,666 --> 00:55:22,541 Things I hadn't even thought of. 1171 00:55:22,583 --> 00:55:24,875 - He took this character and he sort of altered 1172 00:55:24,916 --> 00:55:28,375 into sort of a flying flower child on a surfboard 1173 00:55:28,416 --> 00:55:30,500 who was constantly giving in to thinking 1174 00:55:30,541 --> 00:55:32,541 about the inhumanity of man to man 1175 00:55:32,583 --> 00:55:35,500 and talking about how love would conquer all and so forth. 1176 00:55:35,541 --> 00:55:38,333 And this kind of stuff spoke to a lot of the youth 1177 00:55:38,375 --> 00:55:41,625 and I think they embraced characters 1178 00:55:41,666 --> 00:55:44,500 [rock music] 1179 00:55:44,541 --> 00:55:46,791 [shouting] 1180 00:55:57,083 --> 00:55:59,708 - Marvel Comics began to take on a personality 1181 00:55:59,750 --> 00:56:02,208 and you began to see that there was one guy 1182 00:56:02,250 --> 00:56:04,250 behind this whole thing. 1183 00:56:07,125 --> 00:56:10,708 - He marketed comic books and superheroes first 1184 00:56:10,750 --> 00:56:14,875 to his core audience, second to the college audience, 1185 00:56:14,916 --> 00:56:17,041 convincing them that these were as mature 1186 00:56:17,083 --> 00:56:20,083 and sophisticated as they thought they were, 1187 00:56:20,125 --> 00:56:23,250 and then making sure the world at large knew about it. 1188 00:56:23,291 --> 00:56:26,416 - Our characters became popular all over the world. 1189 00:56:26,458 --> 00:56:29,000 And they'd gone to England and France and Poland 1190 00:56:29,041 --> 00:56:34,083 and Belgium and Spain and Italy and Japan and China. 1191 00:56:34,125 --> 00:56:37,541 And I began not to spend as much time in the office. 1192 00:56:37,583 --> 00:56:39,666 I didn't see the writers as much. 1193 00:56:39,708 --> 00:56:42,708 - He had to have Thor and Spider-Man 1194 00:56:43,958 --> 00:56:46,041 and Fantastic Four written by other people, 1195 00:56:46,083 --> 00:56:47,875 and these were comics that had never, 1196 00:56:47,916 --> 00:56:50,208 well, at least Spider-Man and Fantastic Four, 1197 00:56:50,250 --> 00:56:52,875 had never been written by anybody else. 1198 00:56:52,916 --> 00:56:54,916 - I devoted myself to just trying 1199 00:56:54,958 --> 00:56:58,000 to bring the company into other fields, 1200 00:56:58,041 --> 00:56:59,375 movies and television. 1201 00:56:59,416 --> 00:57:02,000 I had come out to California on business. 1202 00:57:02,041 --> 00:57:04,333 I'd stay for a day overnight, 1203 00:57:04,375 --> 00:57:06,541 and I thought these people don't realize 1204 00:57:06,583 --> 00:57:09,041 that they're living in paradise. 1205 00:57:09,083 --> 00:57:11,541 The weather, the open feeling, 1206 00:57:11,583 --> 00:57:16,125 so I steamed, how can I move out to Los Angeles, 1207 00:57:16,166 --> 00:57:18,291 when all of Marvel is in New York? 1208 00:57:18,333 --> 00:57:20,375 So I said to the powers that be, 1209 00:57:20,416 --> 00:57:23,875 "You know, why don't we set up our own studio 1210 00:57:23,916 --> 00:57:27,625 "out in Los Angeles and I will even make 1211 00:57:27,666 --> 00:57:32,416 "the supreme sacrifice, I will uproot my family 1212 00:57:32,458 --> 00:57:35,416 "and myself and we will move out there 1213 00:57:35,458 --> 00:57:38,125 "and make sure everything goes right. 1214 00:57:38,166 --> 00:57:41,333 "It's the least I can do for the company." 1215 00:57:41,375 --> 00:57:44,250 Well I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. 1216 00:57:44,291 --> 00:57:47,041 "You would do that for us, Stan?" 1217 00:57:47,083 --> 00:57:51,208 So they sent me out here to help set up Marvel Productions, 1218 00:57:51,250 --> 00:57:53,666 a little animation studio. 1219 00:57:53,708 --> 00:57:55,250 Moved out with my wife and daughter. 1220 00:57:55,291 --> 00:57:57,041 We sold everything in New York 1221 00:57:57,083 --> 00:57:59,208 and we've been here ever since. 1222 00:57:59,250 --> 00:58:01,666 [rock music] 1223 00:58:20,583 --> 00:58:24,416 Welcome to Marvel Productions near Hollywood, California. 1224 00:58:24,458 --> 00:58:26,250 This is where we're turning many 1225 00:58:26,291 --> 00:58:30,375 of your favorite comic book heroes into animated TV shows. 1226 00:58:30,416 --> 00:58:31,666 - [Spider-Man] Spider-Friends... 1227 00:58:31,708 --> 00:58:33,916 - [All] Go for it! 1228 00:58:33,958 --> 00:58:36,208 - Very nice, very nice, we can use that. 1229 00:58:36,250 --> 00:58:40,041 - At the animation studio, Marvel Productions, 1230 00:58:40,083 --> 00:58:43,083 I was the creative head of the studio. 1231 00:58:43,125 --> 00:58:46,250 Really, I butted in on all the things they were doing, 1232 00:58:46,291 --> 00:58:48,375 you know, on the scripts and the artwork 1233 00:58:48,416 --> 00:58:49,916 and the direction. 1234 00:58:49,958 --> 00:58:51,291 - [Narrator] The company is currently churning out 1235 00:58:51,333 --> 00:58:54,541 250 half hours of animated series 1236 00:58:54,583 --> 00:58:57,541 as well as three feature-length cartoons. 1237 00:58:57,583 --> 00:58:59,083 - I grew up with Stan. 1238 00:58:59,125 --> 00:59:02,875 You know, from his doing his animation 1239 00:59:02,916 --> 00:59:05,500 with his voice on Spider-Man and the Amazing Friends. 1240 00:59:05,541 --> 00:59:08,458 - [Stan] Hi, Spidey fans, this is Stan Lee, 1241 00:59:08,500 --> 00:59:13,291 inviting you to the annual dance at good ole ESU. 1242 00:59:13,333 --> 00:59:16,041 But take my advice, don't get too comfortable, 1243 00:59:16,083 --> 00:59:20,541 because we'll be knee-deep in danger before you know it. 1244 00:59:20,583 --> 00:59:21,875 - I knew him from the cartoon. 1245 00:59:21,916 --> 00:59:23,458 - I saw the cartoon on television, 1246 00:59:23,500 --> 00:59:24,958 which I became obsessed with. 1247 00:59:25,000 --> 00:59:28,541 - Thousands of people never heard of Spider-Man, 1248 00:59:28,583 --> 00:59:30,708 hundreds of thousands never heard of Spider-Man 1249 00:59:30,750 --> 00:59:32,083 till they saw that animated show. 1250 00:59:32,125 --> 00:59:35,875 So they were right, business-wise it 1251 00:59:35,916 --> 00:59:38,000 ♪ Wealth and fame, he's ignored 1252 00:59:38,041 --> 00:59:40,041 ♪ Action is his reward 1253 00:59:40,083 --> 00:59:43,583 ♪ To him, life is a great big bang up 1254 00:59:43,625 --> 00:59:45,875 ♪ Wherever there's a hang up 1255 00:59:45,916 --> 00:59:49,250 ♪ You'll find the Spider-Man 1256 00:59:49,291 --> 00:59:51,375 - My first stop will be the nearest TV studio. 1257 00:59:51,416 --> 00:59:54,000 - The experiment is sufficient as it stands. 1258 00:59:54,041 --> 00:59:54,958 - I'm not satisfied. 1259 00:59:55,000 --> 00:59:57,000 - I don't have to satisfy you. 1260 00:59:57,041 --> 01:00:00,375 [dramatic music] 1261 01:00:00,416 --> 01:00:05,791 - We did do a live action television series of Spider-Man. 1262 01:00:05,833 --> 01:00:09,416 There was no heart to the series. 1263 01:00:09,458 --> 01:00:11,208 A villain would be doing something 1264 01:00:11,250 --> 01:00:14,875 and he'd become Spider-Man and go chase the villain 1265 01:00:14,916 --> 01:00:18,291 and catch him and climb up a building and that was it. 1266 01:00:18,333 --> 01:00:20,250 And after the first few episodes, 1267 01:00:20,291 --> 01:00:23,333 I realized it was gonna go nowhere. 1268 01:00:23,375 --> 01:00:25,708 And I called a meeting, and we had a meeting 1269 01:00:25,750 --> 01:00:28,375 at the network and I thought these people 1270 01:00:28,416 --> 01:00:32,958 were sincere and they really wanted to hear my opinions 1271 01:00:33,000 --> 01:00:36,000 of what I thought was wrong and how the series 1272 01:00:36,041 --> 01:00:39,750 could be improved, and I said whatever I could. 1273 01:00:39,791 --> 01:00:42,625 No changes were made and the show went on 1274 01:00:42,666 --> 01:00:45,541 and it was canceled after a few more episodes. 1275 01:00:45,583 --> 01:00:49,750 Luckily, it didn't ruin the character for other things. 1276 01:00:51,250 --> 01:00:54,916 - Stan put in these emotions and these flaws 1277 01:00:56,166 --> 01:00:58,250 within each of these characters that made you 1278 01:00:58,291 --> 01:00:59,875 wanna turn the page and keep reading. 1279 01:00:59,916 --> 01:01:01,000 And people had been doing that 1280 01:01:01,041 --> 01:01:03,666 for decades and decades in comic books. 1281 01:01:03,708 --> 01:01:05,958 It hadn't been translated to film, necessarily. 1282 01:01:06,000 --> 01:01:08,208 There were some films in the 80's and the early 90's 1283 01:01:08,250 --> 01:01:10,791 which were, frankly, not very good. 1284 01:01:10,833 --> 01:01:12,416 Up until then, I do believe it was just 1285 01:01:12,458 --> 01:01:14,708 that surface translation that had been done 1286 01:01:14,750 --> 01:01:16,333 on most of the comic book films. 1287 01:01:16,375 --> 01:01:20,208 - It's hard to explain the frustrations of we have 1288 01:01:20,250 --> 01:01:23,041 these great characters and we knew 1289 01:01:23,083 --> 01:01:25,541 how they should be portrayed, 1290 01:01:25,583 --> 01:01:28,750 and there were people who wanted to do them, 1291 01:01:28,791 --> 01:01:31,375 but nothing really gelled. 1292 01:01:31,416 --> 01:01:33,375 - And fans didn't have any hope that Marvel 1293 01:01:33,416 --> 01:01:34,958 would ever have any good movies. 1294 01:01:35,000 --> 01:01:36,708 - Rock and roll. 1295 01:01:36,750 --> 01:01:37,583 All right. 1296 01:01:38,625 --> 01:01:39,708 Give me four. 1297 01:01:41,750 --> 01:01:43,083 [gun firing] 1298 01:01:43,125 --> 01:01:44,875 - Get down, get down. 1299 01:01:47,416 --> 01:01:49,000 - Hey, what's going on? 1300 01:01:49,041 --> 01:01:51,291 [grunting] 1301 01:01:52,750 --> 01:01:54,291 - Scare you? 1302 01:01:54,333 --> 01:01:56,833 - That was interesting. 1303 01:01:56,875 --> 01:01:58,458 I've never done that before. 1304 01:01:58,500 --> 01:02:00,500 - After years of lawsuits and ownership disputes, 1305 01:02:00,541 --> 01:02:03,083 Marvel Comics and Sony have settled their differences, 1306 01:02:03,125 --> 01:02:05,541 finally enabling the superhero, Spider-Man, 1307 01:02:05,583 --> 01:02:08,416 to be fully marketed as a major motion picture failure. 1308 01:02:08,458 --> 01:02:11,416 Now, the movie's only challenge is finding an actor 1309 01:02:11,458 --> 01:02:13,708 worthy of the tight spandex costume 1310 01:02:13,750 --> 01:02:14,958 and who, as chance would have it, 1311 01:02:15,000 --> 01:02:18,125 was also born without genitals. 1312 01:02:18,166 --> 01:02:21,708 - Finally, one day, a fellow named Avi Arad 1313 01:02:21,750 --> 01:02:26,375 came to our studio and Avi understood our characters. 1314 01:02:26,416 --> 01:02:31,791 - I remember my first meeting with Stan in the Bel-Air hotel 1315 01:02:31,833 --> 01:02:34,041 and he said to me, "Everybody said they'll make 1316 01:02:34,083 --> 01:02:38,000 "movies out of this," but that seemed a kind of false faith 1317 01:02:38,041 --> 01:02:42,000 that this thing could ever go to the next level. 1318 01:02:42,041 --> 01:02:44,541 There were false starts. 1319 01:02:44,583 --> 01:02:47,791 Movie-making was complicated, it's expensive. 1320 01:02:47,833 --> 01:02:51,625 What worked for us is there's a whole new generation 1321 01:02:51,666 --> 01:02:54,125 of filmmakers who really got turned on 1322 01:02:54,166 --> 01:02:56,625 to be in the business by comics. 1323 01:02:56,666 --> 01:02:58,208 - Geez, not yet, no. 1324 01:02:58,250 --> 01:02:59,958 I heard you were here and I said, 1325 01:03:00,000 --> 01:03:02,125 "I don't care what, I've gotta say hello to that man. 1326 01:03:02,166 --> 01:03:03,333 "I love him." 1327 01:03:03,375 --> 01:03:06,291 - I love you, I said, you're like a father. 1328 01:03:06,333 --> 01:03:08,083 [cheering] 1329 01:03:08,125 --> 01:03:12,208 - Sam Raimi and this guy, they made Spider-Man. 1330 01:03:12,250 --> 01:03:16,375 It couldn't have been what it was without this guy. 1331 01:03:16,416 --> 01:03:18,041 [cheering and applause] 1332 01:03:18,083 --> 01:03:22,041 - I had no doubt that those comic books 1333 01:03:22,083 --> 01:03:26,500 would become the most powerful and exciting entertainment 1334 01:03:26,541 --> 01:03:30,875 the world has to offer today when the technology 1335 01:03:30,916 --> 01:03:34,125 got to such a level that it could portray 1336 01:03:34,166 --> 01:03:38,125 that universe in a way that would work with audiences. 1337 01:03:38,166 --> 01:03:39,833 - One of the films everybody's looking 1338 01:03:39,875 --> 01:03:41,666 forward to this summer is X-Men. 1339 01:03:41,708 --> 01:03:43,625 Is that in this venue? 1340 01:03:43,666 --> 01:03:47,041 - X-Men is, I hope, gonna be great. 1341 01:03:47,083 --> 01:03:49,541 It's the first Marvel character 1342 01:03:49,583 --> 01:03:53,041 that's gonna be a big budget movie. 1343 01:03:53,083 --> 01:03:54,958 - A meeting was set up with the folks at Marvel, 1344 01:03:55,000 --> 01:03:56,833 and Stan Lee showed up at the meeting. 1345 01:03:56,875 --> 01:03:58,750 He was so enthusiastic so I thought, 1346 01:03:58,791 --> 01:04:01,208 well, I'm gonna go figure out how to honor 1347 01:04:01,250 --> 01:04:03,208 what he created in his enthusiasm. 1348 01:04:03,250 --> 01:04:04,250 - Everything they were saying 1349 01:04:04,291 --> 01:04:05,916 about the first X-Men was negative. 1350 01:04:05,958 --> 01:04:07,291 And you'd read in the talk back and then go, 1351 01:04:07,333 --> 01:04:11,500 well, it's a Marvel movie so you know it's gonna fail. 1352 01:04:13,458 --> 01:04:15,083 And then it wasn't until the movie came out 1353 01:04:15,125 --> 01:04:16,583 people's opinions changed on that 1354 01:04:16,625 --> 01:04:18,958 and launched sort of the Marvel era of films 1355 01:04:19,000 --> 01:04:20,250 that we're in now. 1356 01:04:20,291 --> 01:04:22,708 [epic music] 1357 01:04:40,166 --> 01:04:42,333 [zapping] 1358 01:04:47,166 --> 01:04:49,208 [crashing] 1359 01:04:49,250 --> 01:04:51,583 - The trick to the movies is when they capture 1360 01:04:51,625 --> 01:04:54,041 the essence of what the great comics are. 1361 01:04:54,083 --> 01:04:55,708 - And it's ironic that it took that long 1362 01:04:55,750 --> 01:04:57,791 necessarily to realize that the emotional journey 1363 01:04:57,833 --> 01:04:59,875 of who these characters are and what they expect 1364 01:04:59,916 --> 01:05:01,708 is what you start with, it's what you stay true to. 1365 01:05:01,750 --> 01:05:03,541 - If you told us when we were kids 1366 01:05:03,583 --> 01:05:06,208 that the weird, nerdy stuff would one day 1367 01:05:06,250 --> 01:05:10,041 be the biggest commercial successes, 1368 01:05:10,083 --> 01:05:11,458 I would have never believed that. 1369 01:05:11,500 --> 01:05:13,375 - When they realized, oh my god, 1370 01:05:13,416 --> 01:05:15,875 this is drama, this is comedy, this is this, 1371 01:05:15,916 --> 01:05:18,041 this is that, and it became such a phenomenon, 1372 01:05:18,083 --> 01:05:20,833 that everybody was in it. 1373 01:05:20,875 --> 01:05:23,625 - Stan Lee's decision to go Hollywood has paid off. 1374 01:05:23,666 --> 01:05:25,500 - Spider-Man, the action hero. 1375 01:05:25,541 --> 01:05:28,375 - [Reporter] Crawling all over 3600 movie screens. 1376 01:05:28,416 --> 01:05:29,958 - The boss of the box office. 1377 01:05:30,000 --> 01:05:31,875 - The most profitable movie of the year. 1378 01:05:31,916 --> 01:05:33,375 - It's bigger than life itself, 1379 01:05:33,416 --> 01:05:37,083 when you go into a theater and with all the special effects 1380 01:05:37,125 --> 01:05:38,833 and all, that's oh. 1381 01:05:38,875 --> 01:05:41,000 - It's hard to describe the feeling 1382 01:05:41,041 --> 01:05:45,416 of seeing characters that I had a hand in creating 1383 01:05:45,458 --> 01:05:49,166 up there on the big screen, and especially up there 1384 01:05:49,208 --> 01:05:51,166 and looking so good. 1385 01:05:51,208 --> 01:05:54,791 - Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer opens this week. 1386 01:05:54,833 --> 01:05:55,958 The first Fantastic Four movie 1387 01:05:56,000 --> 01:05:58,583 grossed more than $300 million. 1388 01:06:01,416 --> 01:06:04,333 - All the things that Stan injected into his characters 1389 01:06:04,375 --> 01:06:05,541 was in those films. 1390 01:06:05,583 --> 01:06:07,750 - Here we go, here we go. 1391 01:06:07,791 --> 01:06:09,875 - [Photographer] Swing back, Mrs. Lee, swing back a little. 1392 01:06:09,916 --> 01:06:12,125 - I created him, wow. 1393 01:06:12,166 --> 01:06:15,166 - [Photographer] Over by the poster. 1394 01:06:17,041 --> 01:06:18,166 - So I am just so... 1395 01:06:18,208 --> 01:06:19,250 Oh thank god. 1396 01:06:19,291 --> 01:06:20,375 How are ya, John? 1397 01:06:20,416 --> 01:06:23,583 Who's got a camera, who's got a camera? 1398 01:06:23,625 --> 01:06:24,958 - My grandmother had the candy store, 1399 01:06:25,000 --> 01:06:27,708 I used to wait for the comics to come in every week, 1400 01:06:27,750 --> 01:06:29,375 open 'em up with her, you know? 1401 01:06:29,416 --> 01:06:30,750 And then we'd put 'em on the shelf, 1402 01:06:30,791 --> 01:06:32,125 and I would read 'em all. 1403 01:06:32,166 --> 01:06:34,458 I was the first guy to read 'em, and they were yours. 1404 01:06:34,500 --> 01:06:35,708 - You keep seeing all your characters 1405 01:06:35,750 --> 01:06:37,083 coming to life like this. 1406 01:06:37,125 --> 01:06:39,416 Are you just like a kid inside just jumping up and down? 1407 01:06:39,458 --> 01:06:40,458 You're doing it on the outside. 1408 01:06:40,500 --> 01:06:41,833 - No, I'm like an old guy 1409 01:06:41,875 --> 01:06:43,958 wondering how successful it's gonna be 1410 01:06:44,000 --> 01:06:46,708 and how many more of these things I can come to 1411 01:06:46,750 --> 01:06:48,666 and talk to guys like you. 1412 01:06:48,708 --> 01:06:50,041 This is the fun of it, you know? 1413 01:06:50,083 --> 01:06:51,333 This is the payoff. 1414 01:06:51,375 --> 01:06:53,166 - I'm sorry, I'm too big for you now. 1415 01:06:53,208 --> 01:06:55,541 - You're damn right you are. 1416 01:06:57,333 --> 01:06:58,458 [growling] 1417 01:06:58,500 --> 01:07:00,500 Eat your heart out, Ed Norton. 1418 01:07:00,541 --> 01:07:03,208 [growling] 1419 01:07:03,250 --> 01:07:05,541 You know, it's funny, it's a funny situation. 1420 01:07:05,583 --> 01:07:08,375 You do all the work, and I get so much credit for this, 1421 01:07:08,416 --> 01:07:09,958 but I wouldn't have it any other way. 1422 01:07:10,000 --> 01:07:11,458 - We wouldn't be here without you. 1423 01:07:11,500 --> 01:07:14,666 - I know, I keep writing you all the time to tell you that. 1424 01:07:14,708 --> 01:07:16,125 I'm not upstaging you too much, am I? 1425 01:07:16,166 --> 01:07:17,625 - No, no. 1426 01:07:17,666 --> 01:07:21,416 - Hey, you know, I hear you have a bigger role than I do. 1427 01:07:21,458 --> 01:07:23,666 All I say is, "Wow." 1428 01:07:23,708 --> 01:07:25,708 I've always wanted to be an actor, 1429 01:07:25,750 --> 01:07:28,833 and to be able to have little part in a movie, 1430 01:07:28,875 --> 01:07:31,375 in any movie but especially a good movie, 1431 01:07:31,416 --> 01:07:33,166 it's really a thrill. 1432 01:07:35,958 --> 01:07:39,208 Welcome back to the Baxter, Dr. Richards. 1433 01:07:39,250 --> 01:07:40,708 Look out. 1434 01:07:40,750 --> 01:07:43,375 Security oughta be beefed up a lot more. 1435 01:07:43,416 --> 01:07:44,666 - Plate invitation, sir. 1436 01:07:44,708 --> 01:07:46,583 - I should be on that list. 1437 01:07:46,625 --> 01:07:48,208 - [Tony] Hey, Heff. 1438 01:07:50,000 --> 01:07:54,166 - You know, I guess one person can make a difference. 1439 01:07:55,916 --> 01:07:56,541 'Nuff said. 1440 01:07:58,083 --> 01:08:01,458 A million years ago, when I was writing these comic books, 1441 01:08:01,500 --> 01:08:04,541 I never suspected that one day I'd be walking 1442 01:08:04,583 --> 01:08:07,250 down a green carpet and being interviewed 1443 01:08:07,291 --> 01:08:09,500 and people would say, "How do you feel?" 1444 01:08:09,541 --> 01:08:13,250 Nobody cared how I felt about anything in those days. 1445 01:08:13,291 --> 01:08:15,458 Marvel is gearing up to do so many more. 1446 01:08:15,500 --> 01:08:18,375 We'll have Captain America, we'll have Thor, 1447 01:08:18,416 --> 01:08:20,208 we'll have Shield, we'll have... 1448 01:08:20,250 --> 01:08:21,125 It goes on and on. 1449 01:08:21,166 --> 01:08:22,416 Ant-Man. 1450 01:08:22,458 --> 01:08:23,791 Can you believe Ant-Man? 1451 01:08:23,833 --> 01:08:25,708 - You created so many characters with Jack Kirby, 1452 01:08:25,750 --> 01:08:27,333 what would he think of all of this? 1453 01:08:27,375 --> 01:08:28,541 - Oh he'd be thrilled. 1454 01:08:28,583 --> 01:08:29,791 He would be thrilled. 1455 01:08:29,833 --> 01:08:32,958 I'm so sorry that he isn't here to see it all. 1456 01:08:33,000 --> 01:08:34,750 Jack was one of the nicest, 1457 01:08:34,791 --> 01:08:37,166 most talented people I've ever known. 1458 01:08:37,208 --> 01:08:41,250 When Jack Kirby died, it was almost unbelievable, 1459 01:08:43,041 --> 01:08:47,041 because there had always been a Jack Kirby 1460 01:08:47,083 --> 01:08:50,375 and he was always the king of the comics 1461 01:08:50,416 --> 01:08:52,541 as far as everybody was concerned. 1462 01:08:52,583 --> 01:08:56,666 And I couldn't imagine not having him around, 1463 01:08:56,708 --> 01:08:58,125 not having him drawing. 1464 01:08:59,666 --> 01:09:03,250 He was certainly one of the best artists in the business, 1465 01:09:03,291 --> 01:09:04,625 if not the best. 1466 01:09:07,791 --> 01:09:10,041 - Mr. Kirby, he created or co-created 1467 01:09:10,083 --> 01:09:11,666 such classic comic book characters 1468 01:09:11,708 --> 01:09:16,000 as the Hulk, Captain America, Thor, and many, many others. 1469 01:09:16,041 --> 01:09:18,541 - There was nothing that Jack didn't do, 1470 01:09:18,583 --> 01:09:23,458 couldn't do, and he never did less than his best. 1471 01:09:23,500 --> 01:09:27,541 He was also one of the nicest, most cooperative, 1472 01:09:27,583 --> 01:09:31,833 most helpful, most decent human beings around. 1473 01:09:31,875 --> 01:09:34,708 It was a great loss when Jack went. 1474 01:09:34,750 --> 01:09:38,708 It was hard, because he meant so much to me 1475 01:09:38,750 --> 01:09:41,083 and I knew what we had lost. 1476 01:09:43,083 --> 01:09:45,666 [somber music] 1477 01:09:52,791 --> 01:09:54,291 Marvel went bankrupt. 1478 01:09:54,333 --> 01:09:56,916 It's hard to believe, because they're so great now, 1479 01:09:56,958 --> 01:09:58,250 but a lot of things happened. 1480 01:09:58,291 --> 01:10:01,041 - Marvel was financially bankrupt, 1481 01:10:01,083 --> 01:10:04,416 but the characters, the intellectual properties, 1482 01:10:04,458 --> 01:10:05,625 were not bankrupt. 1483 01:10:05,666 --> 01:10:07,250 - At one point of the bankruptcy, 1484 01:10:07,291 --> 01:10:09,166 one of the current heads of the company 1485 01:10:09,208 --> 01:10:11,291 said to a group of bankers, Spider-Man alone 1486 01:10:11,333 --> 01:10:13,208 is worth $1 billion. 1487 01:10:13,250 --> 01:10:17,125 - And my contract was invalid as all of them were, 1488 01:10:17,166 --> 01:10:19,833 and I didn't wanna stop working. 1489 01:10:20,750 --> 01:10:22,208 So we got a company together. 1490 01:10:22,250 --> 01:10:24,333 They wanted to call it Stan Lee Media, 1491 01:10:24,375 --> 01:10:26,083 which I found very flattering. 1492 01:10:26,125 --> 01:10:29,125 - Stan Lee Media was formed during the internet bubble, 1493 01:10:29,166 --> 01:10:32,916 which was the craze right around 1999. 1494 01:10:32,958 --> 01:10:36,416 - I started in comics when they were in their infancy. 1495 01:10:36,458 --> 01:10:40,041 Now I have an opportunity to get into the internet 1496 01:10:40,083 --> 01:10:43,750 when it is in its infancy, and it's a far bigger, 1497 01:10:43,791 --> 01:10:47,791 more powerful field than comics ever were. 1498 01:10:47,833 --> 01:10:49,833 These are the early days of what we're doing 1499 01:10:49,875 --> 01:10:52,166 and what everybody's doing on the web. 1500 01:10:52,208 --> 01:10:55,458 We're gonna make these things more and more interactive, 1501 01:10:55,500 --> 01:10:58,208 and that's the one thing they can't do in television. 1502 01:10:58,250 --> 01:10:59,458 And we're only starting. 1503 01:10:59,500 --> 01:11:01,375 Because I think we're taking over the world. 1504 01:11:01,416 --> 01:11:02,625 [laughing] 1505 01:11:02,666 --> 01:11:03,833 - Stan is an idea guy. 1506 01:11:03,875 --> 01:11:06,041 Stan is a creative dynamo. 1507 01:11:06,083 --> 01:11:09,250 [pleasant rock music] 1508 01:11:14,083 --> 01:11:15,541 - We were a fully-functioning company. 1509 01:11:15,583 --> 01:11:18,541 We had stock options, the company went public. 1510 01:11:18,583 --> 01:11:22,875 - Before I knew it, we had a staff of more than 200 people 1511 01:11:22,916 --> 01:11:24,958 and we were going great guns. 1512 01:11:25,000 --> 01:11:27,000 I never had so much fun. 1513 01:11:29,958 --> 01:11:32,958 [somber rock music] 1514 01:12:02,041 --> 01:12:03,791 - Stan is the consummate creator, 1515 01:12:03,833 --> 01:12:06,333 has nothing to do with business or financial side. 1516 01:12:06,375 --> 01:12:08,166 It's possible to get taken advantage of. 1517 01:12:08,208 --> 01:12:10,375 - It was a terrible blow to me, 1518 01:12:10,416 --> 01:12:12,541 especially people had invested in it, 1519 01:12:12,583 --> 01:12:16,083 it had my name on it, it was heartbreaking. 1520 01:12:16,125 --> 01:12:17,583 - People started to get laid off 1521 01:12:17,625 --> 01:12:18,875 and that's where it was really hard. 1522 01:12:18,916 --> 01:12:20,541 Everyone was sad, you know, we didn't wanna go. 1523 01:12:20,583 --> 01:12:24,250 We wanted to keep working and being productive. 1524 01:12:24,291 --> 01:12:25,958 - [Stan] Hi, Anthony, this is Stan. 1525 01:12:26,000 --> 01:12:28,291 I just wanted to tell ya how bad I feel 1526 01:12:28,333 --> 01:12:29,916 about the way things happened. 1527 01:12:29,958 --> 01:12:32,041 I didn't expect that would happen so soon 1528 01:12:32,083 --> 01:12:35,708 or the way it did and oh man I feel terrible about it 1529 01:12:35,750 --> 01:12:37,916 and I wanted to tell you it was just a pleasure 1530 01:12:37,958 --> 01:12:39,875 working with you, you were great. 1531 01:12:39,916 --> 01:12:41,625 - Stan Lee Media was unfortunate, 1532 01:12:41,666 --> 01:12:43,500 but that was just a blip on the radar screen. 1533 01:12:43,541 --> 01:12:45,416 - Even at age 84, he's still coming up 1534 01:12:45,458 --> 01:12:47,875 with ideas for superheroes for his new company-- 1535 01:12:47,916 --> 01:12:51,125 - POW! Entertainment, purveyors of wonder. 1536 01:12:52,625 --> 01:12:56,000 For the first time now, I'm able to do anything I want. 1537 01:12:56,041 --> 01:12:59,833 If we wanna do movies, television shows, 1538 01:12:59,875 --> 01:13:03,166 DVDs, we can do them and we are doing them. 1539 01:13:03,208 --> 01:13:05,250 - The new characters that Stan's creating for POW! 1540 01:13:05,291 --> 01:13:08,958 still have a lot of the original emphasis 1541 01:13:09,000 --> 01:13:12,666 and problems and sincerities that he had 1542 01:13:12,708 --> 01:13:15,458 when he created some of his earlier creations. 1543 01:13:15,500 --> 01:13:18,375 But today's world, they're maybe a little bit edgier. 1544 01:13:18,416 --> 01:13:20,291 The culture is a little different, 1545 01:13:20,333 --> 01:13:23,041 and the difference between heroes and villains 1546 01:13:23,083 --> 01:13:25,083 isn't as quite as clear. 1547 01:13:26,375 --> 01:13:30,375 - We have three movies in development at Disney. 1548 01:13:34,916 --> 01:13:38,041 I still am concerned with just writing the stuff 1549 01:13:38,083 --> 01:13:41,500 and making sure that somebody's gonna care about it. 1550 01:13:41,541 --> 01:13:43,375 - Stan, you've been doing this for so long, 1551 01:13:43,416 --> 01:13:44,708 you've been so successful. 1552 01:13:44,750 --> 01:13:47,208 Some people wonder, why don't you retire 1553 01:13:47,250 --> 01:13:49,875 and live permanently on exotic vacations? 1554 01:13:49,916 --> 01:13:51,208 Why do you keep doing it? 1555 01:13:51,250 --> 01:13:53,916 - The word retire is a dirty word. 1556 01:13:53,958 --> 01:13:55,625 You know, most people when they retire, 1557 01:13:55,666 --> 01:13:57,583 they say, "At last, I'll have a chance to do 1558 01:13:57,625 --> 01:13:59,333 "what I've always wanted to do." 1559 01:13:59,375 --> 01:14:02,166 But I'm doing what I've always wanted to do. 1560 01:14:02,208 --> 01:14:05,541 I'm working with artists, with writers, with directors. 1561 01:14:05,583 --> 01:14:07,583 I'm working on creative things. 1562 01:14:07,625 --> 01:14:09,041 I'm having fun. 1563 01:14:09,083 --> 01:14:12,791 Don't punish me by making me retire. 1564 01:14:12,833 --> 01:14:15,500 [heroic music] 1565 01:14:15,541 --> 01:14:17,541 Now that the comics are so successful 1566 01:14:17,583 --> 01:14:20,000 and the movies are so big, they think of it 1567 01:14:20,041 --> 01:14:23,541 as overnight success, I wanna tell ya 1568 01:14:23,583 --> 01:14:27,166 it's the longest overnight that anybody ever could have. 1569 01:14:27,208 --> 01:14:30,458 - Despite all his successes and recognition, 1570 01:14:30,500 --> 01:14:32,375 Stan is really a regular guy. 1571 01:14:32,416 --> 01:14:36,000 He truly is the guy that you recognize 1572 01:14:36,041 --> 01:14:39,041 behind the mask of all his characters. 1573 01:14:39,083 --> 01:14:41,875 [dramatic music] 1574 01:14:43,583 --> 01:14:45,708 - I've done everything I wanna do. 1575 01:14:45,750 --> 01:14:48,083 I've wanted to write and I've written. 1576 01:14:48,125 --> 01:14:49,375 I wanna do more movies. 1577 01:14:49,416 --> 01:14:51,416 I wanna do more television, more DVDs, 1578 01:14:51,458 --> 01:14:54,916 more mobisodes, I wanna do more lecturing. 1579 01:14:54,958 --> 01:14:57,375 I wanna do more of everything I'm doing. 1580 01:14:57,416 --> 01:14:59,291 The only problem is time. 1581 01:14:59,333 --> 01:15:02,000 I just wish there were more time. 1582 01:15:02,041 --> 01:15:04,625 [heroic music] 1583 01:15:18,958 --> 01:15:20,625 - All these wonderful things that I have, 1584 01:15:20,666 --> 01:15:23,333 I could never have them. 1585 01:15:23,375 --> 01:15:25,041 - Well you just bear that in mind 1586 01:15:25,083 --> 01:15:26,041 that they come from me-- 1587 01:15:26,083 --> 01:15:27,625 - Because you are not extravagant. 1588 01:15:27,666 --> 01:15:30,625 - I couldn't afford to be extravagant with you. 1589 01:15:30,666 --> 01:15:31,416 - Now don't look at the camera. 1590 01:15:31,458 --> 01:15:32,875 The only extravagant-- 1591 01:15:32,916 --> 01:15:35,208 - Wait, excuse me, dear, I was not looking at the camera, 1592 01:15:35,250 --> 01:15:36,708 I was looking this way. 1593 01:15:36,750 --> 01:15:39,041 Don't ever direct the master. 1594 01:15:39,083 --> 01:15:40,708 Now start again, if you wish. 1595 01:15:40,750 --> 01:15:42,416 - Now here it goes, now. 1596 01:15:42,458 --> 01:15:45,041 Let's get this straight. 1597 01:15:45,083 --> 01:15:49,166 In no way at all do you think that you are the master. 1598 01:15:49,208 --> 01:15:52,083 [chuckling] 1599 01:15:52,125 --> 01:15:53,625 Me, boss, my word. 1600 01:15:56,250 --> 01:15:57,500 All right, come around here, then, 1601 01:15:57,541 --> 01:15:59,458 I wanna show you something else I'm going to spend. 1602 01:15:59,500 --> 01:16:01,958 - I spent 60 years spoiling this woman. 1603 01:16:02,000 --> 01:16:03,458 - [Joan] Trying to impress me. 1604 01:16:03,500 --> 01:16:06,083 - [Stan] And I never succeeded. 1605 01:16:14,000 --> 01:16:17,333 [exciting heroic music]