“…Created By The Most Successful Creator of Intellectual Property of Our Time.” – Digging Deeper Into The Post-Mortem Fake Creations of Stan Lee

It’s been barely two months since we commented on the exciting announcement of Stan Lee Comics, an upcoming publishing venture consisting of apparently unreleased original Stan Lee creations headed up by his acolyte and sometimes ghost writer Michael Uslan. If you tragically missed that glorious post, you can read it here, o frantic one: https://fourcolorsinners.wordpress.com/2023/07/15/to-a-global-audience-as-never-before-the-endless-fake-creations-of-stan-lee/

What I should have done was cover competing announcements (!) of seemingly unknown Lee characters in chronological order, for just a few weeks before that announcement, we were also greeted with the uplifting news that a company called SpaceMob also had obtained potentially lucrative and groundbreaking Stan Lee characters that no one had ever heard of.

SpaceMob doesn’t have Michael Uslan, but it does have Shirrel Rhoades, a man in his Eighties touted in press releases for being an Executive Vice President at Marvel from 1996 to 1999. You know, the glory years.

I found it compelling that so many Stan Lee creations would suddenly turn up and surprise us, being that Lee’s POW! Entertainment really had a prolific work rate when it came to bombarding us with press announcements of characters and projects that never, ever came to fruition. And then this disclaimer really stood out to me…

I’ll just cut to the chase and tell you: I do not believe the characters about to be inevitably rolled out by both Stan Lee Comics and SpaceMob were “created” by Lee whatsoever.

I honestly think it’s hilarious and I honestly believe both are going to be abject failures and I wish them all the best, I mean that. But I believe that what we’re seeing with this Golden Age of Lee’s creations from beyond the grave is, essentially, the result of Lee signing agreements during his lifetime for the ongoing use of his name, likeness and the right to claim Lee’s involvement in the creation process.

I can only speculate as to what Lee’s motivations really were, but I believe it’s safe to say that he was likely trying to expand his opportunities outside of Marvel while also furthering the perception of himself as a grand creator of multiple successful properties. It was short-term thinking or indifference towards the future or both, but we are now left with Stan Lee being given credit half a decade after his cremation for literally over a hundred new derivative concepts.

It’s interesting to me that the omnipresent POW! and Gill Champion aren’t connected with these recent announcements, which only furthers just how tenuous the outreach of Lee was in the last decade and half of his life in regard to what he’d put his name to.

We’re going to look at more (but not all) of his announced and sometimes released “major projects” during his Golden Years in today’s installment, but first a bit more on what’s being called The Omniverse Collection.

First, we’re baited with the information that these are “lost” stories and characters- a marketing tactic meant to imply to the consumer that these were potentially created during a fertile time for Lee- perhaps during the legendary Marvel Age of the Sixties? And then “lost” just to be recovered, therefore implying some hope of characters and stories that match the grandeur and quality of that much cited magical time in comics.

It’s said that these were “uncovered” by Rhoades, again suggesting that this wasn’t a blatant business deal but some sort of notable and worthy discovery that SpaceMob is bringing back for the dedicated Lee fan.

• “Having worked side-by-side with Stan Lee at Marvel, I was honored when asked to curate his later works,” says Shirrel Rhoades, former EVP of Marvel Entertainment. “I was amazed to find characters I’d never heard of, superheroes designed for the Internet Age. Among these were long-lost creations like Slam-Girl, Stan’s planned successor to Spider-Man, and The Drifter, a superhero with alien DNA who jumps among the multiverse. These characters will indeed put fresh luster on Stan’s reputation as one of the greatest creators America has ever produced,” stated Shirrel Rhoades.”

Ah, The Drifter. Reading through the press release, we learn that these creations date back to 2000 and Lee’s disastrous “Stan Lee Media” company with Peter Paul. Could Paul somehow be responsible for setting this in motion…? Should someone tell Rhoades that The Drifter was already released two decades ago and failed then?

• “The role that Stan Lee—the renowned creator of Spider-Man, the X-Men, and Iron Man—played in the early days of the internet as an entertainment medium has largely been lost to history. As both Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Stan established Stan Lee Media, a studio that produced the internet’s first high-concept animated “webisodes” (a term coined by Stan Lee himself). The studio won many awards, beating out such mainstays as Disney and Warner Bros.” – From the SPACEMOB Press Release

Note that even in 2023, Lee is still given sole credit as the creator of those Marvel characters. But something tells me these properties aren’t being aimed at educated comic readers. (Not that being an educated comic reader guarantees you’ll care about proper credit, but)

So, you know… all of these are going to fail. You don’t have to believe me. We can simply look at history.

“Stan Lee Universe” (2020)

Now, I’m starting with this simply because I think it’s possible that Stan Lee Universe is connected and/or the same thing or part of the same thing that SpaceMob recently announced. Otherwise, it’s pretty amazing that two separate companies announce their obtaining over 100 previously unheard-of creations by the Smiley one. But I mostly think this is separate, for a crucial reason I’ll get to shortly.

The SLU was initially announced in July 2020 in Variety magazine, who reported the agreement “will create a joint venture for over 100 original Stan Lee creations.” (As of September 2023, not one of the one hundred creations have ever been revealed or released in any format.)

Variety also describes Lee as “the creator, writer, editor and publisher of superhero comic characters, including Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, Black Panther…“

Andy Heyward, the CEO of Genius Brands was quoted as saying “In all of Hollywood, there is no greater prize. This is the Holy Grail. …a once in a lifetime asset drawn from over 100 original, heretofore unexploited properties, created by the most successful creator of intellectual property of our time.”

• “I have no doubt that the greatest characters, the greatest stories, and the greatest hits from the mind of Stan Lee have yet to be told.” – Andy Heyward

And though the Stan Lee Universe is still rather mysterious, Heyward alludes to some of those creations we may have been seeing (and may still be, if the announced ‘Stan Lee Comics‘ line is at all connected to this):

• “As big as Spider-Man, Black Panther, X-Men, and the Avengers are today, tomorrow it will be Stan’s ‘Tomorrow Men’, his ‘Stringbean’, his ‘Black Fury’ and ‘Virus’.“

I don’t know about you, but I’m personally curious about Stan Lee’s Stringbean. Anyway, I told you there’s a reason why I believe these 100 unknown properties are different from those other 100 unknown properties that ol’ Stan was creating on the sly all that time: the aforementioned Genius Brands.

They’re responsible for the recent (and horrific) Stan Lee documentary on Disney Plus. They’re the corporation that literally owns Lee’s name and likeness. From their own press release:

“…Genius Brands owns all rights to the name, voice, likeness, signature, and licensing of Stan Lee and select post-Marvel Stan Lee created IP.”

Stan Lee was always an invented character. Now he’s reduced to a trademark, owned by a company that’s not even a household name. It’s somehow remarkably fitting.

But first! Lo, let us look at those loathsome and forgotten creations of Stan Lee of the somewhat recent past– if only to give further context on the future failures from “Stan” that we’re about to get!

‘The 7th Portal’ (2000)

This was a massive launch for the time, unveiled at a reported $1 million-dollar gala press event emceed, bizarrely, by Dick Clark. Lee’s handlers went to great lengths to stress that Lee had coined the term “webisode” which is still not in use today.

Lee sounded hopeful about this venture in 1999:

• “People wonder why am I interested in the internet when this seems to be a young person’s thing? But I think I feel like a young person, and I find that the internet isn’t a matter of age, it’s a matter of the exciting possibilities that it offers… And I don’t think it has anything to do with what generation you’re in, it’s just the excitement of telling stories and feeling that I am telling them to friends and hoping that these friends will enjoy them as much as the stories I told years ago. Maybe more.” – Stan Lee, 1999

The 7th Portal, as you may have deduced, was an online animated series, when such a venture was still a relatively new concept. It did not air the full 22 episodes produced before the company involved ran out of money. Perhaps some of it was spent at that event Dick Clark was at.

To add insult to injury, two writers who had worked with Lee half a decade earlier claimed that Lee stole the concept outright from them and filed a lawsuit where they apparently provided damning evidence of Lee’s theft.

Maybe I shouldn’t say apparently. They won.

‘The Forever Man’ (2003)

In early 2003, Lee announced a major motion picture featuring what he described as “probably my favorite creation in quite some time“, the FOREVER MAN. The press release charmingly stressed that this was “based on Lee’s own idea“, like Lee was a little kid showing you his newest drawing or something.

• “It has to do with crime and punishment in the not-too-distant future and a unique way of punishing people who are menaces to society… it’s a concept that hasn’t been seen before, with tremendously interesting villains with unique powers.” – Stan Lee, 2003

Hollywood Reporter quoted a producer Quay Hays who said, “this new project is one of the most exciting and fresh ideas from the man whose fertile imagination raised the bar on originality.” Twenty years later, The Forever Man still hasn’t been heard from.

‘Stan Lee’s Harpies’ (2007)

This SyFy original movie starring Stephen Baldwin could be considered a success in the sense that it actually moved past being announced and got made. Included because Gill Champion boldly said in a press release that Harpies would be “guaranteed to be the next big action monster franchise!” To date, no further television films set in the Harpies extended universe have been planned.

‘Arch Alien’ (2015)

Again, POW! made a big media blitz with this announcement of an “action film franchise” created by Lee with a script co-written by Bill Macdonald. Macdonald has the greatest quote of the piece:
“Leave it to Stan Lee to not only reinvent himself, but wholly immerse himself in a new film property! Part thriller, part sci-fi, part paranormal, but all Lee!”

Though it was touted as being “the next big one, as big as Avengers” from POW!, Arch Alien was- you guessed it- never made.

‘Stan Lee Comics Line at BOOM! Studios’ (2010)

This line of modern comics possibly had the most clout as well as the best chance of succeeding against Lee’s other attempts at franchise creation in his old age. It had the involvement of fanboy icon Mark Waid and writers like Doctor Who’s Paul Cornell, as well as the then-value of BOOM! Studios publishing it. Notably, Lee simply gave concepts he apparently created and let the modern creators do the heavy lifting.

Big things were expected. My favorite anecdote of the Lee line at BOOM! is when Mark Waid recounted Lee looking over submitted pages and telling him “I can’t have my name on this.” They still pulled out all the stops, with Waid and Lee doing multiple joint interviews and convention panel appearances where Waid was proactive in stressing the endless creativity and hard work of Stan:

• “…and then once we got down to business, he was all business. He schooled me. He wasn’t angry, but boy, was he intense and emphatic about zeroing in on the places I’d been too clever by half and had gone off the rails, and buddy, I was floored. I was being lectured by Professor Stan, and he wasn’t just to-the-point…he was to-the-point and dead right and, I suspect, a little irked that I’d made some amateur mistakes. And then as soon as he was finished very rightly, very justifiably lecturing me…he became Smilin’ Stan again and ended the meeting as brightly and charmingly as he’d begun it.”– Mark Waid, 2010

• “These guys do the heavy work,” said Lee. “They come up with the ideas, they do the writing, they do the drawing and I say, ‘I think maybe you ought to change that word, or maybe his arm should be this way instead of that way,’ and I get the credit for this thing. How can you do better than that?” – Stan Lee, 2010

Lee’s line at BOOM! Studios was a commercial failure, lasting one year before each title was cancelled with issue #12.

‘Stan Lee’s VERTICUS’ (2012)

I really love that Verticus is summed up in press releases as being an “infinite faller” (?!)- the story implications for Verticus then just falling on villains while deeply asleep, or, more grimly, sentenced to an eternity of falling through streets and layers of earth just really amuses me, as if Lee didn’t consider what the term infinite faller meant. Oh, who am I kidding- Stan Lee didn’t consider anything about this outside of possibly coming up with the name.

This was highly touted at the time as Lee’s first original character created solely for video games and, predictably, POW! Entertainment unsurprisingly stated that Verticus would change the gaming industry for years to come. A decade later, no one remembers or plays Verticus who, presumably, is still falling somewhere.

‘Nitron’ (2016)

During Lee’s last year I remember looking up Keya Morgan out of curiosity and seeing that he’d added “co-creator with Stan Lee” as his Twitter/Instagram bio which I found hilarious. But it looks like the jokes on me, as I’ve since discovered Morgan was one of the writers on Lee’s grandiose ‘Nitron‘, another property that POW! pulled out all the stops for when they announced it during the summer of 2016.

Variety listed Lee as the sole creator of “such characters as Spider-Man, X-Men, the Avengers and Iron Man” and is partnering with Keya Morgan….”

POW! announced they had secured an initial $50 million to finance the development with Benaroya Films as an anchor investor. Nitron was never released in any format and no preliminary work has ever leaked, to my knowledge.

• “POW flooded the press with news about an overwhelming number of deals and projects that had emerged, Athena-like, from the head of Stan… none of these ever saw the light of day.” – Josephine Riesman

I wonder if you’ve noticed a pattern developing.

Multiple companies hoping to seize on the next big blockbuster, vaguely aware of Lee as some sort of Disney-esque guru of marketable and lucrative characters, thinking they’ve hit paydirt by securing deals with Lee and his company and then sinking literally millions of dollars in order to obtain association with him in the press.

It began with grandiose and unrealistic promise in the late nineties and Stan Lee Media; meetings with Mary J. Blige and RZA, photo sessions with Ringo Starr for a proposed Ringo comic that was never made, announced meetings with Francis Ford Coppola. So many announcements. So many promises. All went unfulfilled. How could someone so highly regarded as a singular creative genius have such bad luck in an industry supposedly indebted to his work?

It’s a grift, plain and simple- aided and abetted by Gill Champion who facilitated the deals, Lee and POW! stayed both financially secure and as relevant as senior citizens can be in the world of Entertainment trade papers. Possibly, they rationalized these deals as fair and honest: after all, it was up to the purchasers to develop and produce the final product, was it not?

Or perhaps Lee really did just believe he could sell these ideas and believed the people working for him had his best interests at heart. That makes it even a sadder story almost. Lee created literally nothing of lasting value over a period of several decades to begin with, but especially in the final two decades of his life when, public awareness finally caught up with him and he had more fame, more respect and more appreciation than he ever could dream of. He was cited and sought out. He was held up as an example of rare genius.

That image remained pristine. Only those mesmerized by it would continuously choose not to see that the road to the end was lined with faint promises and abject failures.