It is difficult to imagine a world without it Stan Lee. No, not for the countless cameos he has made over the years, much less for the American conventions where he had now become a star. It is difficult to imagine a world without the one who contributed in countless ways to improve it. I think one person can make a difference. This is the line that goes in Raimi's Spider-Man 3 to Peter Parker: he definitely did it. Before understanding why, let's find out its path in a few lines.
Stan was born in 1922 in Manhattan to Jewish immigrants. He lived in the poverty for much of his youth, with his parents ready to sacrifice even their dignity for his two children. In his teens he read many books and saw many films, studied and was a great writing enthusiast. He did a lot of jobs, until he came to Timely Comics in 39, a company that in the 60s changed its name to Marvel Comics. From a simple filler writer, he quickly moved on to screenwriter at the age of 17, becoming the youngest editor.
With a small hiatus due to his participation in World War II, Stan returns towards the late 50s, while the DC Comics boasted the success of the Justice League. Right there, the then head of Marvel Comics, Martin Goodman, gave Stan the task of creating new characters.
If I told you to list any Marvel characters, which ones would you come up with? Hulk, Thor, Iron Man? Or the X-Men, the star of Netflix Daredevil, or the character with the most films, theSpiderman (now called Spider-Man)? They were all born of him. Of course, he was not alone on this journey: Jack Kirby, Steve Dikto, Bill everett were at his side, accomplices in the creation of something that still makes millions of children and adults dream. To Stan Lee and Jack Kirby we also owe the birth of the Fantastic Four, which despite the lack of success of the films, are much loved by fans of the comic. But what was the real change?
Stan Lee was a superhero who invented superheroes: he decided to tell stories outside the classic Golden Age scheme of the perfect superhero, preferring instead ordinary, real, almost tangible people. Superheroes with super problems he called them, and this style, born to rival the Distinguished Competition is now called Marvel Style, now inherent in the DNA of House of Ideas. Because after all, inside that big pot now in the hands of Disney, Stan Lee is written on every wall.
Now think of all the heroes mentioned earlier. Think of characters revisited and contextualized over time like Captain America and Namor. Think of the 2099 universe, where a Miguel O'Hara still fires curses in the form of a rocket in today's comics. The comic at the time was not like today: it was a social and political denunciation, it had a very strong moral teaching and tried to tell something in the colorful guise of paper heroes. Yet that legacy has brought countless gifts to many people today.
Boys of all kinds and mentalities have found friends on printed paper, in tales of heroes far removed from those without blemish, indeed. Many adults still continue to follow their favorite superheroes, almost like old friends, like bar tales. Yet, like the butterfly effect that they also tell in the first season of Heroes - where even there it has a cameo - a series of lucky events were generated by these characters that even today generate consequences of all kinds.
The competitiveness between the two houses led to the DC Comics to continue his path of improvement, between continuous battles for the best stories; actors like Robert Downey Jr. or Hugh Jackman have become true personifications of Iron Man and Wolverine, finding a plethora of fans ready to welcome them as their favorites. In short, if the heroes are different today, it is also thanks to him.
His death shook the whole world. Every actor on the face of the earth is showing their condolences on social media: Mark Hamill, the actors of the TV series The Gifted, Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Jim Lee, Mark Millar. The whole world is joining in a great collective embrace towards the loss of the man who revolutionized the Pop industry. Now we will see him one last time in Avengers 4, with that big smile of his that granted him the nickname of The Smilin '. In the end let's face it, in front of all those cameos and all those interviews, his smile was given by the fact that he was in the place he wanted, doing what he enjoyed.
I was usually embarrassed because I was just a comic writer, while other people were building bridges or advancing their medical careers. Then I realized: Entertainment is one of the most important things in people's lives. Without it, they could end badly. I feel that if you are capable of entertaining, you are doing a good thing. - Stan Lee
Thanks for entertaining us. Thanks for reinventing entertainment. Nuff said.
Excelsior!
