Marvel's Stan Lee documentary criticised by Jack Kirby's son
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Jack Kirby's son has disputed the version of events told in the Stan Lee documentary for Disney+.
New doc Stan Lee chronicles the comic world legend and cameo king's journey, from his beginnings, when he was still known as Stanley Lieber, to his time as the creative leader of Marvel Studios until his retirement in the 1990s and death in 2018.
In a lengthy statement posted to Twitter by his daughter Jillian, Neal Kirby argued that his late father, comic artist and writer Jack Kirby, had been overshadowed by Lee.
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"It's not any big secret that there has always been controversy over the parts that were played in the creation and success of Marvel's characters," Kirby wrote.
"Stan Lee had the fortunate circumstance to have access to the corporate megaphone and media, and he used these to create his own mythos as to the creation of the Marvel character pantheon. He made himself the voice of Marvel."
Kirby also alleged that, unlike his father, Lee "had a limited knowledge of history, mythology, or science", whose tropes and elements are often incorporated into Marvel characters and storylines, thus challenging the idea of Lee as the main Marvel creative.
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"Are we to assume Lee 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," Jack Kirby's son wrote.
"My father retired from comic books in the early 1980s and of course passed away in 1994.
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
"Lee had over 35 years of uncontested publicity, much, naturally, with the backing and blessing of Marvel as he boosted the Marvel brand as a side effect of boosting himself."
Jack Kirby was a prolific comic artist, behind superheroes Black Panther, Captain America and the X-Men, to name but a few. He died of heart failure in 1994.
Stan Lee is available now exclusively on Disney+.
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