Last month, we revealed that Stan Lee was jealous of not having had this role in the trilogy. Spider-Man by Sam Raimi. And speaking of the famous screenwriter of the House of Ideas, a new book about him was recently announced, returning to a dark side of the one who was known under the nickname of “Stan the Man”.
A new book on the dark side of Stan Lee
To mark its 85th anniversary, Marvel has released several tribute videos, looking back at the evolution of the franchise, which is probably the most well-known superhero franchise in the world today. And when you think of Marvel, the older generation will think of comics. And when you say comics, you necessarily say Stan Lee, who has become a true standard-bearer of the Marvel universe.
As such, the American screenwriter also served as a producer on many films. He has also had cameos in most of the Marvel film adaptations. as a tribute, whether in films X-Men from Fox, but also in the trilogy Spider-Man Raimi’s, and of course in all the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films, until his death in 2018.
But if Stan The Man remains an emblematic figure of the Marvel franchise which rocked an entire generation, he was only a man, with his flaws and his faults. And among the main criticisms that could be attributed to him during his lifewe find in particular his tendency to want to attribute all the credit for Marvel Comics to himself, even if it meant excluding some of his collaborators, in particular Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. This had already been addressed in the biography True Believer : The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee by Abraham Riesman released in 2021.
And more recently, another book has sought to highlight another dark side of the screenwriter, namely that he was often prone to exaggeration, leading him to stray too far from reality. This is why, as reported by Bleeding Cool, Author Chaz Gower has released a new book titled Stan Lee Lied: Your Handy Guide to Every Lie in The Origins of Marvel Comics. Here is its synopsis:
In 1974, Stan Lee published ‘Origins of Marvel Comics’, in which he claimed credit for creating some of the greatest superheroes in comic book history. For 50 years, the lies and inaccuracies in this book were overlooked, if not ignored, by the mainstream media and many comic book journalists.
For the first time, a thorough examination shows how inaccurate Lee’s story is, verified by modern means of information gathering and interviews with people who were present at the time.
Stan Lee lied. A LOT.
And that is a fact.
In this book, Gower returns to the book Origins Of Marvel Comics which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and aims to refute as many of the claims contained therein as possible. It should be noted that Gower’s work is deliberately impartial.then being thought of as a sort of incriminating case against Stan The Man.
The author’s goal here is not only to show that Stan Lee lied repeatedly, but that he did so for a specific purpose.namely to promote himself by increasing the role he may have had in the development of Marvel Comics. He believes that all his lies were used to construct a narrative in which he would have the leading role, in order to profit from this reputation.
And to continue on the same theme, here is a selection of iconic characters from the Marvel universe that were not created by Stan Lee.
