You have to admire Stan Lee. At age 85, when most men would be quietly drooling their way through life, pausing only to smell of wee and Werther’s Originals, Lee just keeps rolling on, churning out ideas, web comics, TV shows and enough enthusiasm to power a small car (if cars could run on enthusiasm, that is).
Never mind that most of his ideas since his glorious link-up with the late, great Jack Kirby haven’t hit the heights of The Hulk, Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Daredevil, The Fantastic Four and others, because frankly, little could. Nevertheless, Lee has kept plugging away.
And today, it was announced that the first look deal that his company, POW! Entertainment, struck last year with Disney, has paid off with no fewer than three new projects being set up at the studio, all with attached talent.
And the projects all sound like they could only have come from the mind of Lee, a man who – in the best possible way – gives the impression that he’d rather the Sixties, with its emphasis on BOLD IDEAS in CAPITAL LETTERS and OUTLANDISH NAMES, had never ended.
The first is Nick Ratchet, a private eye flick to be written and directed by Richard LaGravenese, writer of The Fisher King (ooh!) and writer/director of P.S. I Love You (oh).
Then comes Blaze, to be written by Gary Goldman. Little is known about that thus far.
And finally we have Tigress, perhaps the most typically Lee-esque tale, about a woman who begins to develop tiger-like instincts. British writer Zoe Green will knock out the screenplay for that one.
Lee and his producing partner, Gill Champion (who sounds like a Lee character come to life) have envisaged – as is the case with so many films these days – each project as a potential franchise, with the first film serving as an origin film for each character. Only time will tell, but Lee – the great showman – is as confident as always.
"I only hope Disney will have room at the theme park once they become the tentpole franchises that we envision them to be,” he said. Excelsior, Stan! Make Mine Disney! (No, that doesn’t quite work, does it?)