Stan Lee wants his superheroes to take over the world
by John Gaudiosi@FortuneMagazine
March 3, 2014, 10:00 AM EDT
The 91-year-old former Marvel publisher talks to Fortune about his new international heroes and his numerous TV and film cameos.
FORTUNE — Stan Lee won’t comment on whether he was ever bitten by a radioactive spider or if he experienced an overdose of gamma radiation, but at 91 the former publisher of Marvel Comics is busier than ever. Lee recently made a cameo in the ABC TV series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
“The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. role was almost a starring vehicle for me, I think I was on screen for almost a full minute,” quipped Lee. “It was fun.”
Lee admitted that the Marvel TV series didn’t get off to the fast start that he thought it would, but he believes it’s starting to build “beautifully because they’re starting to get more fantasy into it.” He hopes to see the ratings go up, and not just because of his little performance.
MORE: World’s Most Admired pitchmen
The co-creator of superheroes such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men, the Hulk, and the Fantastic Four is keeping his acting resume full. Lee has a cameo in the Disney Blu-ray and DVD release of Thor: The Dark World (out now) and will be seen on the big screen this year in Disney and Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier (out April 4) and Sony Pictures’ The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (out May 2). He’ll be making a cameo in the new Marvel Daredevil TV series from Netflix NFLX , as well as new superhero movies. He’d love to have a cameo in “everything,” although he won’t be appearing in Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past or Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy this year.
With new Marvel big screen adaptations being greenlit regularly by Disney DIS , it’s hard to find a superhero who’s not getting a movie franchise. But Lee wants every one of his comic book characters to get their own film.
“I think everything we’ve ever done would make a good movie, but of course I’m prejudiced,” he says.
Lee, who starred as himself in Activision’s ATVI The Amazing Spider-Man video game last summer, has embraced games and technology, including motion comics and digital comics.
“When you think about it, it’s as though entertainment is becoming more and more personal,” said Lee. “The person being entertained, the viewer or the customer or whatever you want to call him or her, is becoming more and more involved in the story.”
Since 2004, Lee and partner Gill Champion have been working on brand new superheroes for film, TV, comics, video games, digital, and even musicals through Pow Entertainment. The company, which went public in 2006, even has its own fall expo with Stan Lee’s Comikaze at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
MORE: Fortune investigates: A new beer called Fortune
Champion said that the success of the Los Angeles show, along with Stan’s brand, has provided a catalyst to bring the convention to other U.S. cities, as well as to international cities in countries like China and India.
“The only thing that’s holding us up is it’s taking me a hell of a long time to learn to speak all those languages,” added Lee.
International territories are a focus for Pow Entertainment. Lee has created new heroes targeted to specific countries and cultures that have massive audiences like China, Latin America, and India. The Annihilator will debut as a $150 million feature film from Pow and Magic Storm Entertainment. The Bourne Legacy screenwriter Dan Gilroy has penned the first draft of the script, which introduces Chinese expatriate Ming (played by Wang Leehom) as a prisoner who enlists in a secret U.S. super-soldier program that uses targeted genetic enhancements from animal species.
Lee launched his first Indian superhero, Chakra: The Invincible,” last fall on India’s Cartoon Network alongside a comic book. The story focuses on 14-year-old Raju Rai in Mumbai, who fights crime using a special suit that unlocks centers of life-force in his body (known as chakras in Hinduism). Champion said the character is being developed for a full-length motion picture with plans to build out an international universe around him, including a U.S. comic book.
And there’s a Latin superhero, whose name is currently being kept under wraps by Lee.
“We’re trying to show no particular prejudice,” said Lee. “We want everybody to share in the wonderment of what Pow Entertainment can do, so we’re also working on a Latin superhero and we’re very excited about that. I’m just writing the outline for the movie now. You’ll hear more about it as time goes by. We want to make sure that every country, every culture, every part of the world is represented. We don’t want anybody to be mad at Pow.”
MORE: Delta takes off
But Lee isn’t ignoring his American fans. The first of three planned animated movies based on Stan Lee’s Mighty 7 premiered this month on the Hub Network. Based on the print and digital comic book series, the premise finds Lee starring as himself in a story that has him mentoring two groups of aliens to become superheroes, while writing a comic book about their exploits. Lee voiced his character in the film, alongside actors like Sean Astin (Kid Kinergy), Mayim Bialik (Lady Lightning), Darren Criss (Micro), Armie Hammer (Strong Arm), Teri Hatcher (Silver Skylark) and Christian Slater (Lazer Lord).
“We have two more animated movies that are going to appear on the Hub Network, and then we hope to eventually have a live-action film, a TV series, and comics,” said Lee. “Whenever we do anything and it’s off to a good start, we always imagine this would make a good movie, a good TV series, there’ll be some great toys and video games coming out of it, merchandizing. The whole trick is to try to make something that would be the next Spider-Man. And that’s a hell of a great goal to shoot for.”
With Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark now officially closed on Broadway, Lee has his sights set on a superhero vs. super-villain rock opera with Yin Yang: The Battle of Tao in Macau, China. The story interweaves mythological Chinese storytelling with an original score and plenty of action.
“I love music,” said Lee, who offered to hum a tune. “Any way we can bring characters to life with music, with action as close to 3-D as possible; makes them seem alive. That’s wonderful. Even the background music in the movies is so important, but to do a Broadway quality show where the music is part of the story, that’s exciting.”
Insert-tag-herefortune.com/2014/03/03/stan-lee-wants-his-superheroes-to-take-over-the-world/
by John Gaudiosi@FortuneMagazine
March 3, 2014, 10:00 AM EDT
The 91-year-old former Marvel publisher talks to Fortune about his new international heroes and his numerous TV and film cameos.
FORTUNE — Stan Lee won’t comment on whether he was ever bitten by a radioactive spider or if he experienced an overdose of gamma radiation, but at 91 the former publisher of Marvel Comics is busier than ever. Lee recently made a cameo in the ABC TV series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
“The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. role was almost a starring vehicle for me, I think I was on screen for almost a full minute,” quipped Lee. “It was fun.”
Lee admitted that the Marvel TV series didn’t get off to the fast start that he thought it would, but he believes it’s starting to build “beautifully because they’re starting to get more fantasy into it.” He hopes to see the ratings go up, and not just because of his little performance.
MORE: World’s Most Admired pitchmen
The co-creator of superheroes such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men, the Hulk, and the Fantastic Four is keeping his acting resume full. Lee has a cameo in the Disney Blu-ray and DVD release of Thor: The Dark World (out now) and will be seen on the big screen this year in Disney and Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier (out April 4) and Sony Pictures’ The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (out May 2). He’ll be making a cameo in the new Marvel Daredevil TV series from Netflix NFLX , as well as new superhero movies. He’d love to have a cameo in “everything,” although he won’t be appearing in Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past or Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy this year.
With new Marvel big screen adaptations being greenlit regularly by Disney DIS , it’s hard to find a superhero who’s not getting a movie franchise. But Lee wants every one of his comic book characters to get their own film.
“I think everything we’ve ever done would make a good movie, but of course I’m prejudiced,” he says.
Lee, who starred as himself in Activision’s ATVI The Amazing Spider-Man video game last summer, has embraced games and technology, including motion comics and digital comics.
“When you think about it, it’s as though entertainment is becoming more and more personal,” said Lee. “The person being entertained, the viewer or the customer or whatever you want to call him or her, is becoming more and more involved in the story.”
Since 2004, Lee and partner Gill Champion have been working on brand new superheroes for film, TV, comics, video games, digital, and even musicals through Pow Entertainment. The company, which went public in 2006, even has its own fall expo with Stan Lee’s Comikaze at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
MORE: Fortune investigates: A new beer called Fortune
Champion said that the success of the Los Angeles show, along with Stan’s brand, has provided a catalyst to bring the convention to other U.S. cities, as well as to international cities in countries like China and India.
“The only thing that’s holding us up is it’s taking me a hell of a long time to learn to speak all those languages,” added Lee.
International territories are a focus for Pow Entertainment. Lee has created new heroes targeted to specific countries and cultures that have massive audiences like China, Latin America, and India. The Annihilator will debut as a $150 million feature film from Pow and Magic Storm Entertainment. The Bourne Legacy screenwriter Dan Gilroy has penned the first draft of the script, which introduces Chinese expatriate Ming (played by Wang Leehom) as a prisoner who enlists in a secret U.S. super-soldier program that uses targeted genetic enhancements from animal species.
Lee launched his first Indian superhero, Chakra: The Invincible,” last fall on India’s Cartoon Network alongside a comic book. The story focuses on 14-year-old Raju Rai in Mumbai, who fights crime using a special suit that unlocks centers of life-force in his body (known as chakras in Hinduism). Champion said the character is being developed for a full-length motion picture with plans to build out an international universe around him, including a U.S. comic book.
And there’s a Latin superhero, whose name is currently being kept under wraps by Lee.
“We’re trying to show no particular prejudice,” said Lee. “We want everybody to share in the wonderment of what Pow Entertainment can do, so we’re also working on a Latin superhero and we’re very excited about that. I’m just writing the outline for the movie now. You’ll hear more about it as time goes by. We want to make sure that every country, every culture, every part of the world is represented. We don’t want anybody to be mad at Pow.”
MORE: Delta takes off
But Lee isn’t ignoring his American fans. The first of three planned animated movies based on Stan Lee’s Mighty 7 premiered this month on the Hub Network. Based on the print and digital comic book series, the premise finds Lee starring as himself in a story that has him mentoring two groups of aliens to become superheroes, while writing a comic book about their exploits. Lee voiced his character in the film, alongside actors like Sean Astin (Kid Kinergy), Mayim Bialik (Lady Lightning), Darren Criss (Micro), Armie Hammer (Strong Arm), Teri Hatcher (Silver Skylark) and Christian Slater (Lazer Lord).
“We have two more animated movies that are going to appear on the Hub Network, and then we hope to eventually have a live-action film, a TV series, and comics,” said Lee. “Whenever we do anything and it’s off to a good start, we always imagine this would make a good movie, a good TV series, there’ll be some great toys and video games coming out of it, merchandizing. The whole trick is to try to make something that would be the next Spider-Man. And that’s a hell of a great goal to shoot for.”
With Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark now officially closed on Broadway, Lee has his sights set on a superhero vs. super-villain rock opera with Yin Yang: The Battle of Tao in Macau, China. The story interweaves mythological Chinese storytelling with an original score and plenty of action.
“I love music,” said Lee, who offered to hum a tune. “Any way we can bring characters to life with music, with action as close to 3-D as possible; makes them seem alive. That’s wonderful. Even the background music in the movies is so important, but to do a Broadway quality show where the music is part of the story, that’s exciting.”
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