10 Stan Lee Facts For His True Believers
6. He Desperately Tried To Make Movies For Decades
It’s hard to believe that kids nowadays don’t know a time where the Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn’t dominating the box office. Not only has every MCU film turned a profit (apart from The Incredible Hulk), Avengers: Endgame made over $2.97 billion, making it the most successful film ever made.
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to be an unstoppable juggernaut, that was not always the case. Stan Lee was trying to adapt his stories into movies since the 1970s. When he approached the executives of his company, he was rejected because “When people don’t like the movie, then they won’t buy the comic anymore. So I am not going to take a chance.” When Stan saw the success of the Batman and Superman films, he said it was the lowest point of his career. Batman co-creator, Bob Kane was friends with Stan and regularly teased him about the success of the DC films.
When the film, Captain America was released in 1990, it was torn to shreds and didn’t even receive a cinematic release. Stan had to wait years before films like Blade, X-Men and Spider-Man made audiences take Marvel seriously. He wished Bob Kane lived long enough to see the success of the Marvel films so Stan could “return the teasing.”