The biggest name (and probably largest draw) for C2E2 2014 was Stan Lee. That’s right, True Believers, the venerable face of Marvel made an appearance in Chicago this past weekend and ComicUI definitely made sure to tell him hello. In fact, we got a chance to pose up with him and get our photographs with one of the co-creators behind Marvel’s biggest characters: Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor (comics version, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Avengers, and more!
By far the most exciting part was him calling me ‘a good man’ and those were his words folks! From now on, I’ll be Stan Lee’s good man, let it be known right now. It was mesmerizing.
While Stan was there, he also hosted a panel in which he talked about himself, the movies he’s appeared in, and why the iconic mustache had disappeared.
First up, Stan was asked to talk about his recent projects he’s been involved with. First off, the Eagle Awards, a British prize for comic book titles and creators, was recently changed to the Stan Lee Eagle Awards in his honor. Secondly, he mentioned Mighty 7, as “a movie, an animated movie, the world’s only ‘reality’ movie, because a real person is in it. That’s me! I play Stan Lee, and, of course, I steal the whole thing!” Then of course he talked about the TV show, Stan Lee’s Superhumans, which is now available on home-release, Lee exclaimed, “Oh, it’s terrific. As all of you must know, we find people who can do things nobody else can do. One guy takes an electric drill and he holds it against his forehead and it doesn’t go in. But here’s my problem: What makes a guy wake up in the morning and say, ‘Gee, I wonder — if I put an electric drill to my head and it doesn’t hurt me?”
The moderator then asked Stan about his movie cameos, since he has been in so many Marvel films. Apparently, Mr. Lee himself is the mastermind behind their success. His insight on them was brilliant, “I’ll tell you why they made this much. I do a cameo in most of them. I’m not in the new ‘X-Men,’ because they filmed it somewhere I couldn’t be at the time. Here’s why they make the money. My cameos are very brief, so someone’s in the movie and he may reach down for some popcorn, and when he misses my cameo, or, he might turn to his girlfriend and ask, ‘What are we gonna do after the movie?’ and he misses the cameo. What happens when the movie ends and you say, ‘Gee, I missed Lee’s cameo?!’ You run back into the box office — and that’s why the movies make so much money, because my cameos are so short!”
The first fan question was about how the Marvel name came into being. (You can also read the History of Marvel Studios that we wrote last month as well) Lee explained that the publisher, when he started, was named Atlas Comics. After “Fantastic Four” and “Spider-Man,” the comics started selling like crazy. They were big and successful, and he thought of the name Marvel, based off the company’s other former name, Marvel Mystery Comics. Lee took a moment to point out that around the same time, National Comics officially changed their name to DC Comics, a name change he felt wasn’t quite as marketable as Marvel. “We could say welcome to Marvel Comics! Make mine Marvel! What can you say with DC? Welcome to DC?” he said, drawing out the “DC” with a pained groan.
Now what many of you have asked about ComicUI’s photos with Stan came to light when a fan asked Lee what happened to his trademark mustache. “Oh, you know what happened? Somebody decided they wanted to do a hologram –” Lee stopped, looking over to the side of the stage where one of his associates was shaking his head, “Oh. I can’t talk about that! Well, I had to do something before the camera that called for me not wearing a mustache, so I shaved it off for this. I got home, and my wife said, ‘Wow, you look better without the mustache.’ And the guys at Pow! said, ‘Oh, you look better without the mustache.’ Well, I don’t need a house to fall on me, so I want to keep it off. But now everyone says, ‘Where the hell is the mustache?!’ So I don’t know what to do.”
Next up came a fan who wanted to know if Lee would be featured in Marvel Studios’ next film, Guardians of the Galaxy. “I already did! I cant tell you want it is –” Off stage, the associate who earlier stopped Lee from elaborating on the hologram was shaking his head. “Aw, now they’ll get mad at me. I can tell you I don’t understand what it was or why I did it. It was with a girl, a pretty girl. But you’ll get a kick out of it. But if you understand it, write me a note an explain it to me!” This is most surprising, as he recently stated he did not know what the Guardians of the Galaxy were, nor if he would be in the film. Now we know that Stan is the only person connecting ALL of the Marvel universes together.
Lastly, he mentioned about Marvel’s cinematic universe in which Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury, and that he needs more room to yell and scream at people in the movies. Lee mentioned that in his eyes, Jackson shines best in those roles (and we’ll agree).
We can’t wait to see Stan again and we hope everyone else gets a chance to see Mr. Lee when he comes to your town. You won’t want to miss out on that chance.
Missing pieces provided by: CBR
