20th-Century-Fox are working on the development of an action-adventure film based on 93-year-old American comic book writer Stan Lee, who brought us The Amazing Spider-man and the Uncanny X-Men.
One of the founding fathers of Marvel Comics, Lee holds high status in the industry and has been recognised for his work through his inductions into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby hall of Fame in 1995 as well as receiving a National Medal of Arts in 2008, so this announcement is seemingly very fitting to what appears to be an illustrious career.
Known not just for his successful writing work, Lee has also built up a reputation for his fun Tarantino-style cameos in various different Marvel films including Hulk and Iron Man as well as more recently making a brief appearance in Deadpool and Ant-Man.
The film is going to be produced by Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey, who are the men responsible for bringing the likes of The Maze Runner, Twilight and the upcoming Power Rangers movie, and could possibly be based around the time in the 1970s when Stan Lee moved to Hollywood in an attempt to see his comic book characters move to the big screen.
However not everyone will be pleased by this news, as the movie could possibly be in store for criticism from a section of comic book fans should Lee be made out purely as a lone heroic figure. There has been some backlash over the years, claiming that however important Lee’s role has been in the comics medium (and it certainly has been significant), that ‘Stan the Man’ didn’t always give enough credit to his peers and collaborators – many feeling the likes of Jack Kirby were sidelined financially despite their own significant contributions.
Whether you believe that Stan Lee is deserving of this film or not it seems to definitely be going ahead, with the potential controversy surrounding it from comic book fans unlikely to put Fox off – possibly quite the opposite. Equally the tone of the film might ultimately decide its success, whether it be straight biopic or more elaborate and stylised. Either way the film will certainly generate interest, so we shall have to wait and see how it all turns out…
