ROTTEN TOMATOES: Stan Lee Chats About Iron Man, The Hulk, and The Fantastic Four

Stan Lee Chats About Iron Man, The Hulk, and The Fantastic Four

A few thoughts on the Marvel films of the past and future

by Scott Weinberg | July 18, 2007

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When Marvel man Stan Lee isn't doing goofy little cameos in superhero movies, he's hosting a TV series called "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?" -- but let's just focus on the movies for now.

During a recent and lengthy interview with the fine geeks at SuperheroHype.com, Mr. Lee was asked a barrage of questions about various Marvel projects. Although he's only seen a few bits of Jon Favreau's Iron Man so far, Stan has (of course) already shot his cameo.

On the topic of The Incredible Hulk, Mr. Lee says pretty much the same thing everyone else does about the first Hulk: "I think it is a great idea because the Hulk is a terrific character and I think there were just a few things wrong with the first movie. I think those things can be rectified and remedied in the second movie. I think the second movie will really surprise everybody. I think it will be an enormous hit."

Regarding the 'overstuffed' nature of the third Spider-Man movie, Lee just chalks it up to the producers trying to "give people their money's worth." He also wouldn't mind a little bonus check from Sony for all the hype he's given SM3 -- like it ever had a chance to become less than a blockbuster.

And while good ol' Stan hasn't seen the Fantastic Four sequel, he's still careful to make a clever plug: "I think (director Tim) Story is a real fan and I think he is doing the best he can. The best thing about it was the cameo he gave me so he is a hero to me."

Check out a whole lot more from Stan Lee at the link below.

Source: SuperheroHype.com

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(1-20 of 24 posts) | Reply

DanielLee8793 writes:
on Jul 18 2007 07:48 AM

good for Stan Lee, he deserves everything he gets.

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Mr. Kong writes:
on Jul 18 2007 08:04 AM

Agreed.

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Gimy writes:
on Jul 18 2007 08:17 AM

while he's pretty much an entertainment genius...he has THE worst cameos of anybody i've ever seen in movies. its like watching a p3rno and seeing a midget come onscreen...jump on the bed, dance a jig...and then run away. it only lasts a few seconds but afterwards you're like...what the h3ll, why was that even in there?? i know all these cats wanna be like Hitchcock but...c'mon...

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cgcbooks writes:
on Jul 18 2007 09:17 AM

Stan Lee receives and takes too much credit for creating the Marvel Universe. He really hasn't done anything worthwhile since the early seventies. Without the incredible talents of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Dick Ayers, Bill Everett, John Buscema and others, there would not have even been a Stan Lee to make a fuss over.

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taran72 writes:
on Jul 18 2007 09:37 AM

Stan is the salesman, and deserves respect. As for his tactful comments about movies, they are appropriate for this role. He must really think FF2 sucks ***.

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taran72 writes:
on Jul 18 2007 09:38 AM

Stan is one of the all-time greatest salesman, and deserves respect. As for his tactful comments about movies, they are appropriate for this role. He must really think FF2 sucks ***.

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taran72 writes:
on Jul 18 2007 09:38 AM

Dang RT - sorry for the repeats.

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H Tht Hs N Vwls writes:
on Jul 18 2007 09:45 AM

I have to agree with cgc on this one. You know when the Captain America movie eventually comes out Stan will have his cameo even though he's not one of the original creators of the character. Who here actually enjoyed Stripperella or saw that movie he did The Condor? Both his characters and both legitimately bad.

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arendr writes:
on Jul 18 2007 11:24 AM

I love how he hasn't seen Fantastic Four 2 "yet".

It's his empire. What reason does he have other than he doesn't want to see it?

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aknddon3 writes:
on Jul 18 2007 11:27 AM

So it is proven that H Tht Hs N Vwls and cgcbooks know nothing about comics. How can an artist come up with a character without a writer to give him the idea? HE CREATED SPIDERMAN, FANTASTIC FOUR, HULK, DAREDEVIL, THE XMEN, IRON MAN,ETC. So how is he not important to Marvel? You guys have no idea what you are talking about.

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Sputnik99 writes:
on Jul 18 2007 11:35 AM

In reply to this comment (#942865)
Don't be bad-mouthing Stan Lee! Sure, there have been hundreds of incredible writers and artists that have CONTINUED what he CREATED 40 years ago, because most of the successful Marvel Universe was his idea. Think logically! Who in their right mind would be reminding us of their failures? Of course he's had some, but failures are forgotten, not dwelled upon, except by enemies!

He doesn't run around claiming that he made Captain America. Sure, other people made smaller characters that are part of the X-men or Avengers, but they sure aren't going to get a movie, are they? What movie-worthy character that was not started by Stan Lee has his own comic that wasn't started 40 years ago? Ok, Punisher and Wolverine. Keep going... Have you ever heard him take credit for any of the new X-men, or the Avengers? I sure haven't.

So what if he gets a cameo in the Capt. America movie. But that's just insultive speculation. It would be because he's a comic book icon who gets cameos in all the Marvel movies. I doubt that you will hear him take credit for the Captain. People are trying to give a good man a bad rap, and I think that's pretty scummy.

He hasn't made many characters since the 70's because he began expanding Marvel Entertainment. Didn't you ever watch Spider Man and His Amazing Friends? That was Stan Lee's voice narrating that cartoon! He was a busy man. Don't put out some image of him as some slacker who free-floated his way into star-dom. He earned the fame he has now, and deserves every bit of praise he gets. Even if it's not from disrespectful people who can't see on a grand scale.

It's a shame that comic book creators don't get more credit, but, well, Stan Lee is more than just a comic book creator. He is a comic entertainment creator. He expanded beyond the printed page, and that is why eveyone knows his name. Todd McFarlane expanded beyond the printed page, but he tried retail instead of film, so he didn't succeed like Lee, but he's young. Maybe things will change for him too, although his successes are FAR less then the great Stan Lee.

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Product_of_You writes:
on Jul 18 2007 02:44 PM

I respect Stan Lee a lot as well. And as far as the cameo in Captain America, he may not get one; because I was under the impression he only got cameos in movies of the characters he created. PROOF: he didn't have a cameo in either The Punisher or Ghost Rider films. I think it's great he has a cameo in the movies of the characters he created, I love it. And I do agree about the Fantastic Four 2 thing... sounds like he hated the film so just said he hasn't seen it yet, or expected he would hate it, so just never bothered with it.

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iakobos writes:
on Jul 18 2007 09:02 PM

Regarding FFF, "I think (director Tim) Story is a real fan and I think he is doing the best he can."
Reading between the lines I think he's trying to be diplomatic towards a movie series he evidently doesn't like and I can see why. The dynamic between Ioan Gruffudd (Read Richards) and Jessica Alba (Sue Storm) in the movies is blah. And furthermore Gruffudd is a dud as the leader of the team. He has none of the take charge attitude that Stan's original charcter had.
Not to mention they jumped the shark with all the rediculous product placement in FFF2.

But I do love his cameos. I thought the funniest part of FFF2 was when he, Stan Lee the creator of FFF, couldn't get into the wedding of Reed and Sue. So I say bring on the cameos.

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CoUcH ToMaToE DoUgIe writes:
on Jul 19 2007 12:20 AM

guys, all the stan lee bashing in the world can't scar "the man"'s reputataion. not even striperella because a cartoon version of pam anderson on a pole and fighting crime wasn't so bad if the the sound was off and you remember who you are watching is an all time sex goddess. STill, even if you disagree with that statement, don't forget Pam's Cartoon hotness made it somewhat watchable while Jessica alba, Jennifer Garner, Eva Mendes and Halle Berry couldn't save much more important films from disgracing the comic book it was based on. With Striperella, Stan knew he need not worry about standards or quality with pam and only concern himself in making everyone realize why we love her.

Oh, when it comes to disgraces and Stan Lee being insulting to the core, look no further to the the horrible Sci-fi's original : "Who wants to be a superhero".
Worst show ever on Sci-fi! And thats saying a whole lot!

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Loserman writes:
on Jul 19 2007 12:35 AM

It looks like a few of you here need a little more book learnin' to do about your comics history, particularly you aknddon. Before you start pointing fingers at people and claiming they don't know diddly-doo about comics, you might want to make sure you know what the heck you're talking about before you make a complete fool out of yourself. Too late, apparently.

I'm not going to do your homework for you. You might learn soon enough that you're wrong and that Stan Lee is a used car salesman huckster who has taken credit (and pocketed bushels of dough) while simultaneously elbowing the co-creators out of the limelight.

And BTW, his cameos stop every film dead in its tracks because he's so freaking awful. Please stop him...and please stop making comic book superhero movies. One or two every two years is fine...but when they are seriously talking about making an Ant Man movie, you know that's scraping the underside of a Port-A-Potty.

Take THAT "True Believers"!

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pota1967 writes:
on Jul 19 2007 06:04 AM

God Love Stan Lee-- me too, but he hasnt really done anything "classic" since the early 70s. He reminds me of a circus ringmaster where everything is stupendous, tremendous, spills, thrills and chills etc.... now matter how mediocre it is. JMHO

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Paul_Is_Drunk writes:
on Jul 19 2007 08:48 AM

Stan Lee has very little to do with X-men's success. Sure, he created the originals, but abandoned the title shortly there after and let it rot until Chris Clairmont came around and added Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, et al. (Well, technically someone else did 2 issues before, but I don't feel like writing an essay).

Given the Marvel bullpen style of writing at the time, it can just as easily be said that Jack Kirby invented these characters. See, the style was to have a general outline, say a paragraph, have the artist draw the whole comic from that, then good ol' Stan the Man come in and write dialogue. AFTER all the action and pacing for the comic had been set.

The only comic Stan Lee every put serious effort into was the Fantastic Four, which along with Jack Kirby was up 'til recently the longest running writer/artist team on a comic book (see: Ultimate Spider-Man) and he didn't even see the sequel to the comic team he had the most to do with creating!

Stan needs to retire, stop suing marvel comics, and stop creating really crappy new characters for TV or Movies. Anyone see his DC re-imagining series? Ugh.

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Dinalfos 2 writes:
on Jul 19 2007 09:03 AM

"give people their money's worth."

Good movie = money's worth. Sony fails to understand this.

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