It’s been almost five years since we lost Stan Lee and last year in 2022 would have been his 100th birthday. To commemorate the late legend and what would have been his 100th birthday, Disney+, in collaboration with Marvel Studios (this is very important to note), has released a one-shot documentary about parts of his life and his time at Marvel.

Excelsior!

Disney+’s Stan Lee documentary is just about one and a half hours long in runtime, and it covers quite a lot in that short duration. This includes starting from his birth in November 1922, how he started working at Marvel (Timely Comics at the time), how he met Jack Kirby for the first time, how he coined his iconic pen name, how he met his wife (the late Joan Lee, who passed away just one year before Stan Lee did), the Comics Code Authority and how Stan Lee defied them and more. However, since this documentary was made in collaboration with Marvel Studios, it ultimately focuses most of its content on Stan Lee’s time at Marvel and how he created his most iconic characters such as the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and more.

One would think that since that’s the case, the Disney+ documentary is simply a corporate-mandated fan-service flattering look at the late Stan Lee as a way of making Marvel look good. For the most part, that’s somewhat true, but there are moments in the documentary which potentially teased what could have been meatier and more compelling content if the documentary makers had more time and resources, perhaps more episodes instead of a one-shot. For instance, I loved the part when Stan Lee wanted to quit but his wife encouraged him to do what he liked, which was how he went on to create the Fantastic Four with Jack Kirby.

Speaking of Jack Kirby, the documentary also features several real sound bites and audio from the late legendary comic book artist. Plus, for much of the documentary’s runtime, it’s also the real Stan Lee’s voice as the narrator, and perhaps they achieved that by taking existing audio from him before he passed away, but I digress. Some of the best parts of this Stan Lee documentary isn’t just how it shows Stan building up Marvel over the years and different eras, but also in showing how instrumental Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were in helping Stan achieve that. Comic book fans could argue that the documentary doesn’t delve deep enough (and that’s also true), but the documentary does a decent job of introducing the names of the late Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko to more casual viewers who otherwise wouldn’t have even known these two late legends existed.

Back to my earlier point, due to the involvement of Marvel Studios, the Disney+ Stan Lee documentary does feel a bit too clean and sanitized. The best documentaries aren’t afraid to delve deeper into any controversial drama or unsavoury parts, but this documentary is from Disney so it had to be family-friendly. It glosses over many of the darker parts of Stan Lee’s life and barely touches his life outside of Marvel, so this documentary really acts as more of a summary of his time and contributions to Marvel, not to Stan Lee’s life as a whole. As a result, we don’t see much of the real conflict and disputes between Stan Lee and Jack Kirby or between Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. That said, the documentary does show a small part of that by featuring a public argument between Stan Lee and Jack Kirby on live radio. However, it doesn’t delve any deeper, and it mostly skips a lot of the drama from Stan Lee’s later years at Marvel before the Marvel Studios era, including when Marvel almost went bankrupt in the 90s (which is how other companies like Sony were able to purchase the rights to Marvel characters like Spider-Man).

Nuff Said

And yet, I can’t deny how much Stan Lee meant to me, and to countless others across the world. On the day that Stan Lee passed away (on 13 November 2018), I wrote a heartfelt article about what Stan Lee meant to me and how he was like a grandfather I never had. Even before Marvel Studios released their first movie, Iron Man, in 2008, I was already a longtime fan of Stan Lee ever since I could remember. Ever since I was a kid, the main reason why I wanted to attend Comic-Con was simply for the opportunity to meet Stan Lee in person. While I will never be able to do that now, I’m glad that there are people out telling stories about Stan Lee, even if it doesn’t show him as the great but flawed individual that he was.

Having said all that, the Disney+ Stan Lee documentary is great for casual viewers who don’t really know much about the late legend, but it doesn’t offer much for comic book fans or those who already know more. Still, I couldn’t help but tear up when I finished watching the Disney+ Stan Lee documentary. Firstly, it ends with a picture of Stan Lee, together with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, side by side, showcasing that no matter what their issues were in life, they all worked together and without even any one of them, Marvel wouldn’t be what it is today.

The documentary also ends with one of the last speeches Stan Lee ever made, back in 2017, which I believe perfectly encapsulates why I and countless others look up to him as an inspiring figure.

These were his words, and I dare you not to cry:

“If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don’t let some idiot talk you out of it. That doesn’t mean that every wild notion you come up with is gonna be genius, but if there is something that you feel is good, something you want to do, something that means something to you, try to do it.

Because you can only do your best work if you’re doing what you want to do and if you’re doing it the way you think it should be done, and if you can take pride in it after you’ve done it, no matter what it is, you can look at it and say, “I did that and I think it’s pretty damn good.” That’s a great feeling.

I want to wish all of you the best luck in the world.

Just do your thing. Whatever you do, give it your best shot.

Excelsior!”

In the words of the late Stan Lee, nuff said.

FINAL SCORE: 70/100

We received an early screener of Stan Lee courtesy of Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia. Stan Lee is slated to premiere on Disney+ Hotstar on 16 June 2023.