Legendary Marvel Comic’s Son Slams Disney+ Stan Lee Documentary 

The face of Marvel, Stan Lee, has been immortalized in a Disney+ documentary. Airing on June 16, the story behind the comic book writer and editor who created—or co-created—the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, the Amazing Spider-man, Thor, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Daredevil was told by the late Lee and other creative voices.

Taking on the heroic upheaval of producing consistent comic creations with deep explorations of science, history, and artistic perspectives as a sole entity is the stuff of legends. In the competitive comic book space that has dominated the box office in recent years, there’s bound to be at least one other hat in the ring behind the franchises’ most iconic characters.

But in the documentary by David Gleb titled Stan Lee, it would appear Lee was the lone entity behind the creation of the well-known heroes and villains millions of fans flock to see. While no one can diminish Lee’s contributions to Marvel, the son of comic legend, Jack Kirby claims credit for his father’s work was carved out of the storyboard.

A Man and a Legend

In response to the documentary’s debut on Disney+, Neal Kirby, son of the iconic comic artist Jack Kirby, took to his daughter’s Twitter account to share a comprehensive statement in his father’s defense.

The documentary, detailing the life and success of Lee, who passed away in 2018 at 95, doesn’t pay tribute to the skilled artist Jack Kirby. Credited with the creation of The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America, Kirby passed away in 1994 at 76. Since then, Lee has taken the reigns on Marvel’s presentation to the world, casting aside his instrumental influence.

In the statement Neal Kirby released on his daughter Jillian Kirby’s Twitter account (@Kirby4Heroes), he expressed his disappointment in his father’s contributions being “diminished” in the film:

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. So, for several decades he was the ‘only’ man standing, and blessed with a long life, the last man standing (my father died 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

Kirby brought light to some of the personal touches directly associating his father with the Marvel works:

According to Lee, it was always his idea. Lee spends a fair amount of time talking about how and why he created the Fantastic Four, with only one fleeting reference to my father. Indeed, most comics historians recognize that my father based the Fantastic Four on a 1957 comic he created for DC, ‘Challengers of the Unknown,’ even naming Ben Grimm (The Thing) after his father Benjamin, and Sue Storm after my older sister Susan.

More Credit in Question

The documentary didn’t just gloss over Jack Kirby. Neal mentioned comic artist Steve Ditko as another Marvel heavy-hitter who went toe-to-toe with Lee to garner proper credit for his work:

There is more attention paid to the strife between Lee and Steven Ditko, with Lee’s voice proclaiming, ‘it was my idea, therefore I created the character,’ Ditko’s rebuttal being the his art and storyline is what brought life to Spiderman.

Recalling his father working 14-16 hour days, seven days per week, in their basement nicknamed “The Dungeon,” where he saw “the Marvel Universe being created,” he continued:

I am by no means a comics historian. But there are few, if any, that have personally seen or experienced what I have, and know the truth with first-hand knowledge.

After Jack Kirby’s retirement in 1980, Neal commented about Lee’s “over 35 years of uncontested publicity” that led to his father’s name being left out of film credits and beyond. He concluded his statement with this:

It’s way past time to get at least this one chapter of literary/art history right. ‘Nuff Said.