One other comment on this:
I was hesitant to say this before because I genuinely do feel Stan Lee deserves tremendous credit for the 40-or-so years he spent in California trying to get people to make properties like Spider-man into movies — Lee was a major part of the Marvel publicity machine and that is one big reason these properties are so successful. But I found Lee’s comments here interesting:
Question: But it doesn’t appear for the film itself; and his fans feel he should get that recognition, with the movie exposing his work to a whole new audience.
Stan Lee: I know, but you’re talking to the wrong guy because I have nothing to do with the credits on the movies. I’m credited as one of the executive producers because that’s in my contract. But Jack was not an executive producer. So I don’t know what he’d be credited as. Again I know nothing about that, I have nothing to do with the movie’s credits. You’d have to talk to whoever is the producer of the movie. Is there anything you want to ask me about the documentary because I thought that’s what I was supposed to be talking about.
Again, I do feel Lee deserves some credit for promoting these properties for decades, and this analogy is not perfect, but to me Lee’s comments made me think: what if Paul McCartney was out there answering questions about something like a new Beatles movie based on the song “I am the Walrus.”
Hypothetical scenario: a reporter tells Paul McCartney: “John Lennon is not mentioned in the credits for the Beatles’ I am the Walrus film. His fans feel he should get that recognition, with the movie exposing his work to a whole new audience.”
Could you imagine Paul saying, something like, “I’m credited as one of the executive producers because that’s in my contract. But John was not an executive producer. So I don’t know what he’d be credited as. “
Imagine that. You can’t, right? Because Paul is a class act. He would be furious if somebody put out a Beatles movie, where he’s listed as an Executive Producer, without a John Lennon credit anywhere in the movie, and I guarantee he would take action.
Do I expect Lee to do something like that? Of course not. Stan Lee clearly does not care at all about honoring and promoting the legacy of Jack Kirby.
As it turned out, apparently Jack did get a credit in the film, somewhere (I recently saw Captain America and you’d need a magnifying glass to read the “Based on the Marvel Comic by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby” credit buried after all the actors in the final credit roll), but I think this exchange with Lee shows you that clearly Stan Lee is not interested in whether or not Kirby gets any kind of token credit on something like the Avengers movie. Lee actually finds the reporter’s question annoying; Lee’s there to talk about HIMSELF: his self-produced movie about himself! Is that reporter an idiot for not knowing that?
Sadly, like John Lennon, Jack is no longer with us; I wish both men were here — they both still had a lot of great art and stories in them. Fortunately for Lennon, some of his collaborators are still alive and they continue to give us new insights into John’s life and work.
Unfortuately for Jack Kirby, Stan Lee is one of his only surviving collaborators, and as you can see, Stan Lee finds even being asked about Jack getting credit in a Marvel movie — a nuisance.
Occasionally some emails get lost in the shuffle. Here is one from earlier in the year on this post, Captain America # 105 Collisions – Adkins, from Mike Hoffman.
