The X-Men. Spider Man. The Incredible Hulk. Thor. The Fantastic Four. These superheroes and more come (or so they say) from the mind of Stan Lee. You may not recognize him by name, but if you’ve seen any of the movies based on the Marvel heroes, you probably recognize his face — he’s had mini-cameos in just about every one of them. Now he’s got a movie of his own, With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story, a documentary that appears, from its trailer (via EW), to be a dangerously puffy puff piece.
Watch it below:
With Great Power looks to have been made in collaboration with it’s subject, so I doubt it’ll get too in-depth into the controversy over Lee‘s authorship of his most famous characters. The trailer is just a series of people — Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Patrick Stewart, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicolas Cage, and Jon Favreau, among others — complimenting Lee on his greatness.
Now, don’t get me wrong: Lee‘s influence on comic history and now film history is unmistakable. I just think this film looks like more of a celebration of the 88-year-old’s life and career than an insightful or revelatory documentary investigation. I suppose we’ll find out when it premieres at the Slamdance Festival in Utah on January 24th.
Does this trailer look promising to you?