Marvel Movie Magic
What if someone offered you the chance to purchase rights to all of the Marvel Avengers characters, for the price of just one? Sounds like the deal of a lifetime, maybe a little too good to be true?
Well, that is pretty much what happened in 1996, when Marvel filed for bankruptcy after being nearly $1 Billion in debt. The company and their IP were offered to a number of entertainment companies, including Sony and Warner Brothers.
Sony came closest to buying them, at an offer price of just $25 Million! But they had no faith in any character besides Spider Man, and ended up purchasing those rights for $20 Million. And thus, we had the Tobey Maguire led Spider Man trilogy from 2002-2007, but no Avengers in sight.
Since Iron Man came out in 2008, Marvel Studios have produced eight out of the top twenty-five highest-grossing films of all time. And yet before that, the very same characters and stories were considered practically worthless.
It’s no wonder that Kevin Feige, who has been the mastermind behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), is so widely lauded for having the belief and vision to turn this into the most impactful movie entity of the 21st Century. And to think, if they hadn’t cast Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, we might never have seen the Avengers Assemble in such glorious fashion.
When it comes to Art, and in this particular case, the movie business, how can one know what will be successful?
If you can think of any other movies that were once considered hopeless, and went on to become classics or great successes, reply and let us know.
Stan Lee Wisdom
It would be remiss to talk about the MCU without making mention of the man who created these iconic superheroes. Stan Lee got an early start in the world of publications, becoming editor of the comic division of Timely Publications (which became Marvel Comics) at the age of 18. He played along with stereotypical stories and after two decades, was ready to call it quits. As his last hurrah, he decided to create a group of characters called ’The Fantastic Four’, and the rest is history.
His art is timeless, and his impact on the world immeasurable. But such legacies are often built on many small steps, combined with a dose of good fortune. Below is a letter he sent to a young fan, whose mother had asked him what it would take to become a good comic book artist, since that’s all her son (Gabe) would talk about:
“It’s nice to hear that you’re interested in becoming a comicbook artist, but I suggest that you study every phase of illustration instead of just concentrating on the fight scenes and the typical comicbooky stuff.
Almost all the top artists in comics today have a very solid foundation in layout, composition, anatomy, still life, etc, in other words in every aspect of illustration rather than just doing comicbook-type scenes.
The better an illustrator you are, the better a comic book artist you will eventually be.
Good luck to you Gabe. You’re already very lucky in one respect – you seem to have a mother who really cares.
Excelsior!
Stan Lee”