The son of the late comic book creator Jack Kirby has strongly criticised Disney+‘s new documentary on Stan Lee.
The new film, titled Stan Lee, looks at the late comic artist’s rise to prominence, though in a new statement, Kirby’s son labelled the movie “Stan Lee’s greatest tribute to himself”.
Kirby was well known for helping to create a number of well-known Marvel characters, including Captain America, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four and Black Panther.
“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,” Neal Kirby said in a statement shared by his daughter Jillian.
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
“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.”
The statement continues: “It should also be noted and is generally accepted that Stan Lee had a limited knowledge of history, mythology, or science.
“On the other hand, my father’s knowledge of these subjects, to which I and many others can personally attest, was extensive. Einstein summed it up better: ‘More the knowledge, lesser the ego. Lesser the knowledge, more the ego.’”
“If you were to look at a list and timeline of Marvel’s characters from 1960 through 1966, the period in which the vast majority of Marvel’s major characters were created during Lee’s tenure, you will see Lee’s name as co-creator on every character, with the exception of the Silver Surfer, solely created by my father.
“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.”
Neal Kirby goes on to cite examples in the film such as the creation of the Fantastic Four, “with only one fleeting reference to my father”, as well as a greater focus on the “strife” between Lee and fellow comic artist Steve Ditko.
“My father retired from comic books in the early 1980s and of course passed away in 1994,” the statement continues. “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.
“The decades of Lee’s self-promotion culminated with his cameo appearances in over 35 Marvel films starting with X-Men in 2000, thus cementing his status as the creator of all things Marvel to an otherwise unknowing movie audience of millions, unfamiliar with the true history of Marvel comics.
“My father’s first screen credit didn’t appear until the closing crawl at the end of the film adaptation of Iron Man in 2008, after Stan Lee, Don Heck, and Larry Lieber.”
“The battle for creator’s rights has been around since the first inscribed Babylonian tablet. It’s way past time to at least get this one chapter of literary/art history right. ‘Nuff said,” the statement concludes.
Lee passed away in 2018 aged 95, while Kirby died in February 1994, aged 76. The teaser trailer for the documentary was released last year, and featured a number of Lee’s well-known cameos in Marvel films.
NME has reached out to Disney+ for comment.