A new partn🧸ership between two of the late Stan Lee's most frequent business partners in the past 20 years to organize over 100 of his various post-Marvel Entertainment creations was ann♋ounced by one of the parties Monday.
Genius Brands International announced what they describe as a partnershi🍌p with Lee's former company POW! Entertainment for a new joint venture that is framed as the Hollywood "Holy Grail" - with "over 100, original, heretofore unexploited properties" created by the Marvel legend, with names like Tomorrow Men, Stringbean, Black Fury, and Virus.
According to the announcement, POW! Entertainment, owners o🌊f the properties, has licensed their rights to the joint venture with Genius, with plans that include comic book🐈s, films, TV, online efforts, and licensing.
"It’s almost impossible to conceive that one mind created all this wealth," said Genius Brands chairman/CEO Andy Heyward in the announcement. "The spin-offs alone defy the imagination. From animated television, to toys, apparel, video games, and every conceivable licensed product imaginable, Stan Lee characters populate the screens and retail shelves worldwide.There is no creator who has influenced pop culture and created more successful entertainment. Not even Walt Disney."
The two companies (and Lee, before his passing) have had a long partnership leading up to this newly-announced venture, begiꦜnning in 2003 with an animated series called Stan Lee's Secret Super Six. Other projects have included th♏e Stan Lee Comics line with Archie Comics and the upcoming animated series Superhero Kindergarten.
According to Geni𝐆us Brands, Stan Lee Universe aims to "develop and license approximately seven properties per year" from this collection of Lee's non-Marvel 🦋work.
Genius B𝓀rand's digital s𒈔treaming channel, , plans to have dedicated programming black for Stan Lee Universe projects.
Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Assoc✤iation's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)
