Where I Watched It: Disney Plus

English Audio Description Available?: Yes

I have a theory about biopics and documentaries that involve the participation of the subject in a creative position. I think that they control the narrative, and that we get the version they want us to see. An example of this would be The Theory of Everything, which clearly wanted to push some boundaries regarding fidelity, but seemed to brush over the subject matter because it was shot while Stephen Hawking was still alive. There are so many parts in Stan lee where he’s clearly being interviewed,that I can only assume he knew at some point it would be used for a documentary about him, and when that very documentary winds up on Disney plus, home of Marvel, it’s going to paint our comic hero in the best possible light.

And I’m willing to concede that there’s a possibility that Stan lee is Santa Claus. That he is an infallible human being who was benevolent and kind to all he met, and always operated with the best intentions. That could be Stan lee. But even the Fred Roger’s documentary Won’t You be My Neighbor found a few nit picky things to say about someone who dedicated their lives to enriching the quality of children’s programming.

I wanted someone to come out and say “Stan was a great guy, but if you pushed him about this topic, he could be a little son of a bitch” or something. Something that suggested that he was human. We all have bad days, we all have regrets, and we all have interactions we wish we could have handled better, but Stan Lee portrays any of those challenges as peripheral to Stan Lee and not as something he had a hand in. A life of no regret.

I suppose that’s not entirely fair, as we do learn that he lost a child shortly after they were born, which I’m sure gave him personal regret, but he also is able to bring this up and it’s not something anyone expects personal accountability for. So, if you like your Stan Lee to be cleaner than even the heroes he created, this is the documentary for you. i do feel like I learned more about Stan, and who he was other than “the Marvel guy”. i kinda wishh Disney had given even a five second shit about the title. Stan lee is so boring. For a man who helped launch a thousand heroes, there were much better options.

Stan lee: With Great power…

Excelsior!: The Stan Lee Story

Stan Lee: mr marvel

hell, even michael J fox’s documentary came up with Still. We could have done more. They just didn’t care.

The audio description suffers from the documentary syndrome to some extent, by having talking heads, and it being a struggle to always identify them. Luckily, Stan sat down for most of the necessary interviews, so his own thoughts take up most of the talking in the documentary. Some others bounce around without a clear focus of who is controlling the narrative, but it’s very clear who the puppet master is here. it’s just even more impressive that he remains so from beyond the grave.

We’ve had a lot of terrific documentaries already this year centered around a celebrity of some kind, so the bar is already high. I wanted more from this, but it certainly wasn’t bad, nor did I feel like my time was wasted. Is there probably a more honest cut? Sure. Will we ever see it? In fifty years perhaps.

Final Grade: B