Excelsior! A Stan Lee Documentary Is Coming To Disney+ In 2023!
When Stanley Martin Lieber was born on December 28, 1922, no one could have guessed that he would grow up to be a titan of pop culture. The New Yorker had aspirations of writing the "great American novel" in his youth, but after landing an assistant job at Timely Comics in 1939 with the help of his uncle, he went from filling ink wells and getting lunch for comic book artists to filling in text bubbles on "Captain America Comics" by 1941. And that's when Lieber became Stan Lee.
Now, Lee is celebrated as the architect of Marvel Comics as we know it today. In addition to taking a more realistic approach to superheroes and presenting "the world outside our windows," he co-created iconic characters alongside fellow comic book legends Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko such as Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, the Hulk, Black Panther, and the Avengers.
On what would have been his 100th birthday, Marvel and the Walt Disney Company have announced that a documentary about the amazing, incredible, and fantastic life of Stan Lee is currently in the works. The House of Ideas unveiled the project that appears to be simply titled "Stan Lee" with a short video on their YouTube channel.
Stan's Soapbox
As seen above, it's less than 30 seconds of clips of his trademark Marvel Cinematic Universe cameos that zoom out to an artistic rendering of the icon with his signature glasses and mustachioed grin. The video is also accompanied by this caption: "100 years of dreaming. 100 years of creating. 100 years of Stan Lee." Additional details about the creative team involved in the documentary, potential participants that would appear onscreen, or an official release date are not currently available. However, we do know that upon completion, it will be released on Disney+ sometime in 2023.
Considering that the doc is a Marvel project, it will be interesting to see if they explore his work outside of the company. Through his POW Entertainment brand, he created the adult animated series "Stripperella" starring Pamela Anderson for Spike TV, a manga series with "Shaman King" creator Hiroyuki Takei, the reality show "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?", and a number of other comics. He even worked with the distinguished competition, DC Comics, on the "Just Imagine..." line of comics, which reimagined Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash.
Regardless of what they cover, Stan Lee's work inspired generations of fans and creators alike, so there's surely no shortage of people that could be tapped to participate in telling his story. My guess is that Kevin Smith (who brought him in for his first non-Marvel movie cameo in "Mallrats"), Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, the various actors that have brought his creations to life, and Marvel Comics Editors In Chief of the past and present will likely be involved.
As more details regarding this new Stan Lee documentary from Disney emerge, we'll be sure to update you, True Believers!