They don’t call him “The Man” for nothing.
It’s hard to think of anyone else who’s currently having as big a pop-culture impact as Stan Lee. During one fertile period in the 1960s, the Marvel Comics honcho and his artistic collaborators, including Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, dreamed up many of the iconic superheroes that now decorate lunchboxes, line toy shelves and, most important, create long lines at the box office.
“The Avengers,” “Spider-Man,” “The Hulk” and the “X-Men” all came out of his typewriter.
Lee, now 91, is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations at Marvel. He runs a company called POW! Entertainment and makes a few personal appearances throughout the year.
The latest spinoff from Stan’s world is “Marvel’s Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N.,” opening Friday at Discovery Times Square. The interactive exhibit takes visitors into Marvel’s cinematic universe and lets them operate Iron Man’s suit and test themselves against Captain America.
Seeing as how superhero movies are all the rage, we asked Lee about what the future might hold for the genre.
Which Marvel character would you like to see get a movie next?
We have so many. There’s the Black Panther, there’s Doctor Strange. They’re working on Ant-Man. Basically, every colorful lead character that we have is being thought of for a movie. There’s somebody working on a story now.
You moved out to California in the 1970s to try and get Marvel properties translated to the big and small screens. Most of these efforts, including TV movies featuring Spider-Man and Captain America, flopped. Why are Marvel movies hitting now?
Because now they’re able to come up with special effects that make everything look believable. When you see Spider-Man swinging on a web over the city, it’s believable. You’d swear that’s a man web-swinging from building to building. We couldn’t have done that as well 20 years ago.
Which Marvel movie has been your favorite?
Oh, I love them all. I really do. ‘Spider-Man’ has been sensational. ‘X-Men’ have been great. ‘Iron Man’ was wonderful. And ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Captain America,’ they were all good. I’m not saying that as someone connected to Marvel, I’m saying that as a fan.
How long do you think superhero movies can remain popular?
Forever.
You really believe that?
As long as they make them well, and they don’t run out of ideas and they don’t oversaturate the market. There will be a time when they have to lay off one of the characters for a year or two, then by popular demand, they’ll have to bring it back. But I think anything that is as popular as these characters are now, there’s no reason for them to ever fade away because there are always new generations that will want to see them.
Is there a danger of oversaturation?
I don’t know. There are a lot of movies, but it’s not always the same character. For example, we haven’t seen the Fantastic Four for a while, we haven’t seen Daredevil for a while. They go on hiatus, then they come back, and there’s always new excitement for them.
What do you think about rival publisher DC’s proposed Justice League movie?
If I were at DC and Warner Bros., I would certainly be trying to think of something like that, based on the success of ‘The Avengers.’
How do DC movies [Batman, Superman] compare to Marvel movies?
You’re asking me a loaded question. Obviously, I like the Marvel movies better. They did a Batman movie that was pretty good a while ago. I forget the name of the fellow who played the Joker [Heath Ledger], but he made the movie. That was really great. Other than that, their movies have been OK, I think.