Stan Lee’s Tumultuous Final Years to Be Explored in Documentary

The beloved comic book writer and Marvel legend Stan Lee’s eventful later years, filled with collaborations, controversies, and lawsuits, are coming to the big screen in an unauthorized documentary.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the documentary titled Excelsior! Stan Lee’s Life, Times, and Extraordinary Coincidences aims to go “beyond the myth” and “tell the true story of the life and times of Stan Lee.” The film will be directed by Taylor Morden, who is known for making several popular documentaries about the comic book industry including ones on comic book legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

While Lee’s entertainment company POW! Entertainment asserts the documentary is unauthorized, the film’s producer, Patrick Meaney, says they “received brief blessing from Lee while he was alive” and that they “also shared some footage with him during production.” Meaney also asserts that the documentary is not a hagiography, claiming that “Lee was not without his faults and flaws.”

Lee’s final years were filled with lawsuits, including one from his daughter, and various collaborations with artists he had worked with earlier in his career. He was also involved in the production of a dramatic TV movie about his own life and made appearances at conventions and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. He died in 2018.