Marvel To Release Documentary About Its Most Important Figure
Marvel announces a new documentary about Stan Lee arriving in 2023 on Disney+
To celebrate what would have been Marvel icon Stan Lee’s 100 birthday, Disney+ released a teaser trailer indicating that Marvel is about to release a documentary focusing on one of the comic industry’s most influential figures. Per The Hollywood Reporter, a documentary about Stan Lee will be streaming on Disney+ in 2023.
The late Marvel Comics visionary is well-loved by comic fans everywhere, so it was only a matter of time before a documentary was made about him. Since Disney owns the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Stan Lee’s image, it’s no surprise that the entertainment company will be the one to produce the highly anticipated documentary. To announce the upcoming project, Marvel posted a teaser trailer for the Stan Lee documentary to their Instagram account.
The entertainment conglomerate captioned the video, “100 years of dreaming. 100 years of creating. 100 years of Stan Lee.”
With epic string music playing, the teaser trailer slowly zooms out as the screen flashes through many of Stan Lee’s famous Marvel movie cameos. The documentary will be a way for Marvel to celebrate Stan Lee’s life and the contributions that he made to the comic book world and the movies based on his characters.
Lee was a legendary comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a testament to Stan Lee’s prolific legacy, as Lee co-created many quintessential comic book characters, like Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Hulk, Thor, the X-Men, Silver Surfer, Nick Fury, Ant-Man, and many more.
Before Marvel, there was Timely Comics, where Stan Lee started working as an editor in 1939. As Lee climbed his way up the corporate ladder, the company rebranded to Marvel, and Stan Lee eventually got named publisher in 1972. After more than 30 years of working in the comic book industry, Lee became the face of the company, though he was still beginning to build his legacy.
As an inspiration to comic book readers worldwide, when Hollywood began making movies about his Marvel characters, Stan Lee gained a brand new fan base. No longer were his characters confined to the pages of a comic book, but with the explosion of the MCU, characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Ant-Man became a part of popular culture, and Stan Lee joined the ranks with them. The writer and publisher became endearingly famous for his brief but hilarious cameos in every Marvel movie.
Stan Lee died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in November 2018 at the age of 95. After his death, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that, to Marvel fans, Stan Lee was a superhero, just like his characters. Iger also said that the only thing bigger than Lee’s imagination was his compassionate heart.
Marvel’s Stan Lee documentary likely won’t be the last we see of Lee on the screen. Earlier this year, Marvel signed a 20-year deal with Genius Brands International and POW! that gave the studio rights to Lee’s likeness for films, television shows, and even appearances at Disney theme parks. What else Disney and Marvel plan to do with Stan Lee’s likeness we will have to wait and see.
