All language subtitles for Slugfest s01e10 Just Imagine.eng

- NARRATOR: In the
mid-nineties, Marvel had fallen on hard times

and had to declare
bankruptcy.

In an effort to restructure
the organization,

they voided
all contracts,

including a contract with a
legend synonymous with Marvel Comics,

Stan Lee himself.

Sensing a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity, one film producer with a foot in DC

attempted to make a
twelve-year dream come true

and pull off
the unthinkable.

[music playing]

- NEWSREADER: Holy Batman, it
was an old-fashioned Hollywood premiere

in Los Angeles last night
for the movie version of Batman.

- NARRATOR: In 1989, the
much-anticipated release

of the Tim Burton-directed
Batman movie

brought this classic hero to
the forefront of pop culture.

- BOB: I think Michael Keaton
will far surpass what you expect.

It's gonna be the new wave
Batman of the nineties.

- It was the premiere
of our very first Batman movie.

Every star in Hollywood
I think was there

but there was nothing
more exciting for me then to hang out,

out of everybody, with
Bob Kane and Stan Lee.

Bob and Stan
were old friends.

Stan was Bob's guest
there that night

and as we were watching the
circus unravel in front of us...

[chuckling]

Stan and Bob started to get
into a bit of a repartee.

- If you had let me
in to draw Spider-Man,

you could have had
all of this success, too.

- And maybe if you had let me
have a hand in Batman,

you wouldn't have had to waste
your whole career

waiting for a night like this.

- MICHAEL: As I was listening
to Bob and Stan go back and forth,

I'm thinking what if Stan
Lee had created Batman?

This was fan boy Michael

with two of his idols,
whose head was reeling

thinking about
what the possibilities could be.

- NARRATOR: Seven years
after DC scored big

with the smash
hit Batman movie

Marvel fell
on hard times.

- It is a catastrophe
that not even Spider-Man

or the Incredible
Hulk could prevent.

- REED: In the 1990s,

Marvel Comics was famously
going through bankruptcy

and that meant they voided
contracts, including Stan Lee's contract.

And so, for the first time
in decades, Stan Lee was a free agent.

- NARRATOR: Seeing this
golden opportunity,

Michael Uslan jumped at the
chance to turn his wild idea

that started at the
Batman premiere into reality.

- MICHAEL: I
checked in with Stan

and I said, "I would like to
bring you over to DC Comics,

so you could recreate
whatever DC heroes you'd like,

the way you would have done it,
if it had all taken place at Marvel."

And Stan laughed, he says,
"Michael, you're dreaming wildly."

He said, "It would
be like Henry Ford

being brought over to GM
to design a Ford for GM."

I said, "Yeah,
but what if?"

And he said,
"Sounds creative,

sounds phenomenal. I'm in."

And it was Stan Lee,

so he probably used another ten
or twenty adjectives in the process.

- Well, he's created some
of the most popular superheroes in history.

Comic book writer Stan Lee
is now rewriting history for someone else.

- STAN: Well, nobody could
say no to an offer like that.

It sounds like such fun.

My heart still belongs to
Marvel. It was just an offer I couldn't resist.

- Stan Lee, DC
Comics, together.

I mean, just saying that, that
kind of blows my mind, to this day.

- I gotta be honest.
I never read the DC books.

So, in a way, I'm coming into
this with a clean slate.

Everybody knows who Superman is.

How would I rework it to make
it special and exciting?

Maybe I'll make it a woman,
maybe I'll make it a teenager,

a janitor or a meter maid.
Can you imagine! Ooh.

- MICHAEL: He said,
I have an edict here.

I don't want one person
to think that I am doing this

because of some ego trip whereby
I think I could do a better job.

I want it to be a tribute to
not only these characters,

but to the people
who created them.

- STAN: I am a great admirer
of Siegel and Shuster,

and Bob Kane and of
all the other guys

And this isn't me
sitting down and saying,

I'm gonna show them how
it should have been done.

This is just me sitting
down and saying,

"Wouldn't it be fun
to get a different take?"

- NARRATOR: Stan
worked tirelessly

to make sure every detail
represented his vision.

- MICHAEL: I happen to
be in his office when John Buscema's original art

was delivered for
the first Superman

and I'm looking at them and,
like, my tongue is hanging out.

He gets to one page. He goes,
"No, he missed the whole thing here.

We got to fix this."

And he goes running
over to his desk,

and he takes out some
tissue paper and some tape

and he puts it over
John's original artwork,

and he hands me a pen.

He gets up on his couch,
puts one foot on the end table,

nearly knocking over
a lamp in the process

and he's looking at me and he
goes and does the pose on his couch.

He goes, "Draw this".

I was in awe every single day
that we worked on the series

and for the first time,
I had this opportunity

to work with a man who had
been my idol, then my mentor, then my friend.

Who gets the
opportunity to do that?

Thank you, Stan.
Thank you for that.

REPORTER: Today, at a
Hollywood comic book store,

Stan Lee met with fans to
unveil his latest creation.

Just imagine!

A new series of comic
books that takes a new look

at classic heroes like
Batman and Wonder Woman.

- I didn't realize the books
would be that meaningful.

I'm gonna go back
and read them again.

- ALEX: He had Wonder Woman
as Hispanic. He had Batman as African-American.

He had Flash as a woman.

This was definitely a more
progressive reconceptualization of these characters

that were created
from a more conservative time.

- MICHAEL: Good
evening, sir.

[chuckling]

- REED: You know, Marvel and
DC sometimes are bitter competitors

but when it comes down
to, like, a human level...

- Hi, Jenette,
how are you, dear?

- ...the people that work
at the companies,

there is a kind of detente,
there is a kind of respect

for what those people do

and so giving him this was
a way to honor Stan Lee

in a way that they
hadn't been able to do before

because he had never
worked for them before.

- At the end of the day,
we just love comics

and there's great love for
the creators and talent everywhere.

Ultimately, comic book
fans are comic book fans.

- DEBORAH: We all
would like to be heroes

and I don't know that we
always get the opportunity to do that.

I think we feel powerless
a lot in our lives

and I think these stories
give us an opportunity

to be inspired to
do the right thing.

- VINCENT: I think it's
part of who we are.

I think the idea that they
can live vicariously through these characters

I think will attract
people from now until the end of time.

- DEBORAH: What always
attracted me to Stan

was that he felt very much like
that little boy who had never grown up.

He had gotten more mature
sensibilities but it was still about that open heart,

that curiosity, that excitement
to learn and to tell stories.

- I think I'm most
grateful for the fact

that I've been able
to write these stories,

and that people seem
to have enjoyed them.

That's very lucky for me.

- DAN: The Stan Lee Just
Imagine books will never really make an impression

on Stan's overall career,

but it's a wonderful
little piece of time that we have here at DC

that we can refer to and
just know that he came over here for a moment,

and had a chance to play
for a little while, too.

- Breaking news in the
world of Hollywood, an American icon has passed away.

Marvel Comics co-creator Stan
Lee, he was ninety five.

- ROY: Certain people who are
just such giants that when they pass,

everybody on both sides of
the aisle take a moment to stop and say,

this is really bigger than
any kind of rivalry

between the two companies.

- To us, he's a superhero.

- It's the passing of an icon.

- MICHAEL: When we all
pitched in to throw Stan Lee's Memorial

at Grauman's Chinese Theater,

it was a huge event that
closed Hollywood Boulevard.

- SIMONE: Stan Lee's
memorial really showed

a man who had meant
so much to so many.

It was a true celebration
of someone's life's work.

- In addition to that,
DC had a memorial page for Stan.

- DAN: Stan Lee is
so unique to Marvel

that we wanted to honor him,
but we felt it was their moment,

their icon.

So, what we want to do
is take a half step back

and recognize him quietly.

- MICHAEL: Now, how
often is it in the industry

when a comic book
company will tear out a page,

and use it to honor the
epitome of a rival publisher.

- REED: Without Marvel, DC
probably wouldn't exist,

and without DC, Marvel
certainly wouldn't exist.

And so they have this weird
synergistic relationship between the two.

- IVAN: It would be bad for
DC if Marvel were out of business.

It would be bad for Marvel
if DC were out of business.

It's better that everybody
is strong and punching each other,

like a good comic
book fight, really.

- NARRATOR: These two comic
book giants have inspired each other for decades,

and continue to
redefine popular culture

and provide experiences
that change the world.

What started off simply
as ideas on paper

now transcends the comic book
pages and spans across all fors of media.

Whoo!

These two companies, just
like the characters they helped create,

are larger than
life, extraordinary

and definitely not afraid
of pushing the boundaries.

Marvel and DC are not
going away anytime soon.

Their rivalry will continue
as long as there are compelling stories to tell.

And you can guarantee
that as we continue

to watch these
larger-than-life companies duke it out,

we'll be right there on
the side lines, eagerly watchig the slugfest unfold.

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