Over the weekend, a new documentary starring Stan Lee started streaming on Disney+ after debuting at the Tribeca Film Festival, drawing a fiery response from the family of Jack Kirby.
Entitled simply “Stan Lee,” the film was directed by David Gelb and features the Man in a voiceover telling the story of his creation of the Marvel Universe.
Except, as we know he DIDN’T create the Marvel Universe. He co-created it with Steve Ditko, Bill Everett, Don Heck, and, most importantly, Jack Kirby – something the documentary skimmed over since it used Lee’s own words to tell the story. And sadly, Lee wasn’t known for being particularly humble or truthful at times. Indeed, a review in Rolling Stone labeled the doc an “infomercial”
The documentary led Kirby’s son, Neal, to fire back in a passionate statement posted on twitter by Jack Kirby’s grand-daughter, Jillian. Loaded with classical references, the statement chastises the filmmakers and Lee for underplaying Jack Kirby’s foundational involvement in creating Iron Man, Thor, the Fantastic Four, The Hulk and dozens of other characters who anchor the billion dollar MCU – up to and including Groot!
My father Neal Kirby (Jack Kirby’s son) has asked me to post this written statement in response to the Stan Lee documentary released yesterday on Disney+. pic.twitter.com/V4be2xyEJg
— Jillian Kirby (Granddaughter of Jack Kirby) (@Kirby4Heroes) June 17, 2023
“If you were to look at a list and timeline of Marvel’s characters in 1962-1966, the period in which the vast majority of Marvel’s major characters were created during Lee’s tenure, you’ll see Lee’s name as a co-creator on every character, with the exception of the Silver Surfer, solely created by my father,” Neal Kirby wrote. “Are we to assume only had a hand in creating every Marvel character? Are we to assume that it was never the other co-creator that walked into Lee’s office and said “Stan, I have a great idea for a character!” According to Lee it was always his idea. Lee spends a fair amount of time talking about how and why he created the Fantastic Four, with only one fleeting reference to my father. Indeed most comics historians recognize that my father based the Fantastic Four on a 1957 comic he created for DC, “Challengers of the Unknown,” even naming Ben Grimm (The Thing) after his father Benjamin, and Sue Storm after my older sister Susan.”
Neal Kirby notes that the documentary gave more airtime to the Lee-Ditko conflict, with Stan stating of Spider-Man, “it was my idea, therefore I created the character.” The younger Kirby’s rebuttal is devastating: “In 1501, the Opera del Duomo commission a 26-year-old Michelangelo to sculpt the statue of David for Cathedral of Florence – their idea, their money. The statue is called Michelangelo’s David – his genius, his vision, his creativity.”
Stan vs Jack (and the rest of the world) is a controversy that will never really go away. Kirby died in 1994, long before his creations were household names. Stan, who died in 2018, had 24 years to cement his version of the story in a willing media, while forging a seventh career as a cameo actor. It’s left to those of us who knew and admired Jack Kirby to support his family in keeping his name and contribution alive.
I’m not going to go into all the back and forth of who did what here, but before working at Marvel Jack Kirby created or co-created Captain America, the Newsboy Legion, romance comics, Challengers of the Unknown and dozens more. At Marvel he created or co-created Silver Surfer, Galactus, Doctor Doom, Black Panther, the Inhumans, and so on and so forth. After leaving Marvel he created Darkseid, Mister Miracle, Big Barda, the New Gods, and so on. Returning to Marvel, he created the Eternals and Devil Dinosaur.
Later in his career, Stan created a bunch of Silver Surfer graphic novels with Kirby, Moebius and Keith Pollard. You’ll recall the Silver Surfer was solely created by Jack Kirby. After leaving Marvel, Stan pacted with many many many companies, but probably the most famous character he created was Striperella, an exotic dancer superhero whose animated adventures lasted on Spike for 13 episodes in 2003, with Pamela Anderson voicing the main character.
While it’s hard to do a head to head comparison, this tweet from cartoonist Scott Gray offers an interesting take:
I think an interesting litmus test is Stan Lee’s Strange Tales run in the 60s: same cast as the Fantastic Four, made at the same time, but with Dick Ayers drawing instead of Jack Kirby. Few memorable characters or stories created.
I think an interesting litmus test is Stan Lee’s Strange Tales run in the 60s: same cast as the Fantastic Four, made at the same time, but with Dick Ayers drawing instead of Jack Kirby. Few memorable characters or stories created. pic.twitter.com/2KaWJ7WPbe
— Scott Gray (@Scott1Gray) June 18, 2023
In some ways it’s unfair to compare a writer and an artist – an artist can be a complete cartoonist and a writer can’t. But it’s easy to compare Kirby’s work before during and after Stan with Stan’s work before during and after Kirby, and it’s pretty clear who was the IP powerhouse.
To be honest, it’s also unfair to Stan’s very real legacy to repeat the ugly lie that he created the Marvel Universe. I’m not here to say Stan Lee was the worst person who ever lived, or that he didn’t have an irreplaceable role in the creation of the Marvel Universe. But he had the last word for 24 years, and it behooves those who value the truth and unstinting creativity to stop parroting the “Stan the Auteur” line.
Jack knew all that, though. In 1986 he told interviewer Mark Borax:
Kirby then tells Borax, “We did yesterday. But it resolves nothing. I can’t understand why there’s a struggle over who did what, cause Stan and I know. Nobody else knows. If Stan would only come out of his hiding place and tell the world everything would go great. It isn’t obscure. He knows it, and I know it. There won’t be a resolution. People don’t change. They can’t change. Sometimes it’s too late. You just go on being what you are. Human beings go on being human beings. I can predict everything that Stan will do. I know I can’t change Stan. He says his piece, and I say mine. I could shake hands with Stan till doomsday and it would resolve nothing, the dance goes on.”
Jack Kirby trended on Twitter on Father’s Day something Jillian reported with joy. There were also many supportive tweets, just a few here. Jeet Heer:
As I wrote earlier, it’s dismaying that Disney has decided to double down on Stan Lee’s demonstrably mythical version of Marvel comics history. The truer stories of the artists who actually created Marvel, amply documented by many researchers, is far more interesting.
As I wrote earlier, it’s dismaying that Disney has decided to double down on Stan Lee’s demonstrably mythical version of Marvel comics history. The truer stories of the artists who actually created Marvel, amply documented by many researchers, is far more interesting. https://t.co/X6ehdLkIQl
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) June 18, 2023
And director Guillermo del Toro, certainly someone who has felt Kirby’s influence:
Jack Kirby: One of the Gods in my Olympus. For any doubt regarding his World-building, look at his DC books. Demon / Jason Blood, New Gods Mythos or Kamandi- or his lisergic 2001. NO ONE beats his splash pages! A nimble, erudite, powerful storyteller and a true mensch.
Jack Kirby: One of the Gods in my Olympus. For any doubt regarding his World-building, look at his DC books. Demon / Jason Blood, New Gods Mythos or Kamandi- or his lisergic 2001. NO ONE beats his splash pages! A nimble, erudite, powerful storyteller and a true mensch. https://t.co/Np95yTUGYI
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) June 18, 2023
It’s insane that there isn’t a giant statue of Kirby at Avengers Campus in California Adventure. He should looming over it like the Celestials who gave life to the Marvel Universe. https://t.co/M9GHyMeDIf
— Jordan Blum (@BlumJordan) June 18, 2023
Finally Jordan Blum, co-creator of the Modok cartoon on Hulu (yes, that existed) wrote:
It’s insane that there isn’t a giant statue of Kirby at Avengers Campus in California Adventure. He should looming over it like the Celestials who gave life to the Marvel Universe.
This is absolutely true, but you’ll recall that the Kirby family and Disney were locked in a long legal dispute – while it was settled amicably, Disney may be slow to elevate the work of someone who fought his whole life for creative freedom and wasn’t afraid to be vocal about it.
That said they should get over it. Make Jack a Disney Legend! Put up that statue. Put up TWO statues. Stan and Jack are united forever in their work and need to be remembered….together.
