NBCU Takes Stake In Stan Lee and NHL’s Superhero Franchise

COMMENTS (13)

• The question hanging from the bloodied lips of comic and football fans everywhere is… Will it be as woefully awful as “The Governator”?!

  Comment by The Governator — Wednesday June 15, 2011 @ 10:25pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I hope the super heroes are as cool as Stripperella.

  Comment by thekidslepthere — Wednesday June 15, 2011 @ 10:28pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Yet another stan lee announcement we’ll never hear anything about ever again. More power to him for making tons of money for doing nothing. He’s catching up with Oprah and her deal with Sirius/XM.

  Comment by Scott — Wednesday June 15, 2011 @ 11:28pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Stan is a sweet guy. I like him on a personal level. However, why anyone would do business with him is beyond me. Every idea that comes from his camp is not just bad, but downright awful. The worst. He was relevant 40 years ago. Let that be his legacy, not this horrible shit.

  Comment by Gil Brooks — Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 12:28am PDT  Reply to this post

• Really? There are that many compelling stories to go around? I think Lee is skating on thin ice here. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

  I’m not a fanboy, and only marginally interested in superhero movies, but Bob Iger must be wishing Disney had waited before rushing head-long into the superhero business. If “Thor,” “X-Men:First Class” and “Green Lantern” are any indication of what we can expect going forward, the industry is in serious trouble.

  What seemed obvious to me from the get-go, is that there are only a handful of buff actors who can handle these “men in tights” roles. (Robert Downey, Jr., was the rare exception.)

  And what about the story-telling? So many of the original comics featured copycat scenarios set on home worlds with unpronounceable names. I think we will find in short order that we were all spoiled by the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. As Peter Jackson proved to the world, satisfactory myth-making is hard work.

  And at the end of the day, the only movie I want to see this summer is “Deathly Hallows, Part 2.” Stan Lee be damned.

  Comment by Rick — Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 2:05am PDT  Reply to this post

• John V. Karavitis Unfortunately, the comic book superhero to movie idea has been done to death, and it, in my humble opinion, quickly go the way of the zombie movie. All the good superhero characters have been done to death, and the ease with which one can create their own comic book means that there won’t be as much of a chance for any single superhero idea to take hold of and capture the American imagination (the way Superman and Batman have). Even the last Iron Man movie was TERRIBLE, as was the Thor movie. I think that the only thing that will save the Green Lantern movie will be the CGI special effects (surely it won’t be Ryan Reynolds’ acting ability!). Anyway, when you see the average Joe start making superhero movies with their cellphones, the way zombie movies have been flying around left and right over the last decade, you’ll know that I’m right. It was good while it lasted. John V. Karavitis

  Comment by John V. Karavitis — Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 4:40am PDT  Reply to this post

• It seems Stan’s greatest talent is talking investors into putting money into these hare-brained, doomed to be rejected, schemes than actually coming up with something that comic/cartoon fans want to see.

  Comment by Furious D — Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 5:08am PDT  Reply to this post

• this Stan Lee venture sure has gotten lots of publicity in Deadline.com

  Stan is 88 years old. What is the future of this venture?

  Comment by Martine — Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 6:24am PDT  Reply to this post

• ITS A ABOUT FRICKIN TIME STAN LEE GETS PAID.
  there is no producer, director, writer nor actor has worked longer than Stan Lee to receive a decent paycheck.

  That guy was creating, writing and drawing comics as a low paid cubicle staffer in 1945 just for the love and a small wage.

  its about time he gets his due, too many others never did, they died penniless with no credit, just for others to steal their creations and live lavishly boasting about their original ( more like stolen) ideas.

  Comment by Mark cain — Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 8:15am PDT  Reply to this post

  • This is snark, right?

    There is no comics creator who has ever received the credit and money that Stan Lee has over the past several decades. And for the record, Stan never did any drawing, at least not any drawing that ever mattered in the history of comics.

    He’s gotten his due many times over. It’s way past time that Jack Kirby started getting even a portion of what Stan has received. Who’s Jack, you say? There would be Marvel super-heroes without him either.

    (And by the way, Jack co-created Captain America. Stan was working as his errand boy during those days.)

    Comment by filmlover 24/7 — Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 11:59am PDT  Reply to this post

• This is a GREAT deal. You people are all looking at this wrong. It’s not about 1 movie or 1 comic book. It’s about promoting a sport, getting a new younger audience interested in the sport (via the Guardian project) and helping a 10 year investment by NBC (into the NHL).

  When was the last time you heard anything about the greatest sport on earth? Yes, I’m talking about the NHL. Even with the Stanley Cup just being played we won’t hear about it til next June (when more riots occur for the losing team… see the streets of Vancouver today). But being that NBC just took a 10 year investment with the NHL, this is a huge promotional venture for the NHL. You people think that Stan Lee is going to run this program. He’s not. He’s a name, but now with the original creators of the Guardian Project and NBCU behind it, Stan is probably out (and onto other ideas he can milk before he leaves us).

  The Guardian Project is a unique idea to a sport that needs all the help it can get. You think TV execs are bad, try NHL execs. They have proven over and over again that they have no clue how to market or promote this game (especially with Sidney Crosby’s unknown future). The NHL is clueless (they’ve even tried hiring an entertainment executive committee that apparently can only get together once a year in Las Vegas to play hockey). Morons. Anyway, this is great for both NBC and the NHL and this is written by an employee of neither, just a fan of the game who wants to see and spread the greatness that hockey offers.

  Comment by bigjohn — Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 8:58am PDT  Reply to this post

  • 16 years ago the NFL and Marvel combined to do a similar type project that failed miserably.
    Sports and comics don’t mix.

    Comment by Lytton Strachey — Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 11:04am PDT  Reply to this post

• the last poster sounds super jealous. what a great idea! especially for young viewers

  Comment by tory — Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 4:38pm PDT  Reply to this post