斯坦·李開創(chuàng)了超級英雄事業(yè)，貢獻(xiàn)偉大創(chuàng)作的過程中也反映了他卑微的出身、出乎意料的成功，還有殘酷的失敗。三周前，漫威傳奇斯坦·李去世，享年95歲，他曾策劃漫畫、電影、電視節(jié)目、電子游戲和無數(shù)周邊商品，打造出價(jià)值數(shù)十億美元的特許經(jīng)營權(quán)。他還經(jīng)歷過破產(chǎn)，涉嫌股票欺詐，一些前商業(yè)伙伴貪污，跟一些親密合作者之間也不無摩擦。

斯坦·李的父輩是羅馬尼亞移民，大蕭條期間拼命找工作，經(jīng)常搬家，住過紐約市的各種舊房子，進(jìn)入漫畫世界之前他做過很多奇怪的工作，包括辦公室打雜、劇院迎賓，還有三明治送貨員。由于家庭關(guān)系，他在及時(shí)漫畫公司（Timely Comics）找到一份工作。天天在辦公室忙著給墨水瓶里加墨水，一邊看著插畫家，也是他的未來合作伙伴杰克·柯比工作，沒到20歲就當(dāng)上了編輯。

像許多成功故事一樣，李對工作并不滿意又滿懷抱負(fù)，所以不斷創(chuàng)新。在他看來，漫畫這種藝術(shù)形式比夢想中追求的文學(xué)事業(yè)低級，開始創(chuàng)作《美國隊(duì)長》漫畫時(shí)他將名字從“斯坦·利伯”改為“斯坦·李”，想著以后發(fā)表小說時(shí)自己的名字別跟漫畫聯(lián)系在一起。

李對工作不滿意，漫畫讀者也不斷流失，所以打算辭職不干。“我厭倦了畫這些故事，總是超級英雄打敗一切對手，還總來一句：‘鼠輩，接招吧。’”2015年他告訴美國國家公共電臺。“所以妻子對我說：‘你想辭職就辭。但是走之前為什么不試試自己寫個(gè)故事？寫個(gè)自己喜歡的。’”

所以在1961年，李在柯比的幫助下創(chuàng)造了神奇四俠，主角各有缺點(diǎn)，性格復(fù)雜而且愛開玩笑，英雄與反派經(jīng)常會轉(zhuǎn)化。公司受到重創(chuàng)，李幾乎自由指揮創(chuàng)意部，后來公司改名為漫威。接下來幾年，他在柯比、兄弟拉里·利伯和藝術(shù)家史蒂夫·迪特科的幫助下，結(jié)合冷戰(zhàn)、青少年焦慮、社會動蕩和種族騷亂和當(dāng)時(shí)的許多社會焦慮，創(chuàng)作出綠巨人、蜘蛛俠、X戰(zhàn)警、雷神、黑豹、蟻人和復(fù)仇者聯(lián)盟等故事。

李最重要的本事之一就是，作為漫威實(shí)際領(lǐng)袖直接管理創(chuàng)意部門。隨著員工人數(shù)不斷增長，加上新的動畫和后來的真人版系列，后來還有周邊銷售業(yè)務(wù)，他沒機(jī)會親自畫故事。他會告訴藝術(shù)家故事構(gòu)思，讓藝術(shù)家自行發(fā)揮然后回去寫故事。

復(fù)雜的商業(yè)交易

不幸的是，這種創(chuàng)作策略也引導(dǎo)致同事們承受痛苦。漫威的死忠粉絲都知道，柯比和迪特科雖然曾設(shè)計(jì)出蜘蛛俠，卻經(jīng)常被忽視。

幾十年里李和迪特科再沒說過話。李跟柯比也大吵一架，后來柯比離開去DC 漫畫，又回到漫威，然后因?yàn)閯?chuàng)造諸多經(jīng)久不衰的角色卻得不到署名再次離開。他聲稱自己創(chuàng)作了鋼鐵俠、雷神和綠巨人等角色，還起訴漫威爭奪所有權(quán)。漫威贏了官司，因?yàn)榭卤群灥淖杂伤囆g(shù)家合同上已經(jīng)聲明作品所有權(quán)屬于公司。

1994年柯比去世，多年來他的家人一直堅(jiān)持起訴漫威和后來的迪士尼。1995年李在凱文·史密斯小眾電影《耍酷一族》里客串令人印象深刻，之后再上新聞主要是因?yàn)橐悦碌墓矩?cái)務(wù)違規(guī)。

20世紀(jì)90年代末期，斯坦·李傳媒工作室想用在線直播和動畫系列蹭互聯(lián)網(wǎng)熱潮，當(dāng)紅流行音樂組合后街男孩還曾主演節(jié)目。2000年該上市公司破產(chǎn)，主要因?yàn)槁?lián)合創(chuàng)始人彼得·保羅的股票欺詐行為，保羅在出賣合伙人之后潛逃國外，導(dǎo)致股東損失2500萬美元。最后正義一方在巴西抓獲保羅，2009年被判10年監(jiān)禁。

2000年左右，李的運(yùn)氣開始轉(zhuǎn)好，剛開始是蜘蛛俠和X戰(zhàn)警系列電影大片成功，帶動漫威類型片重新煥發(fā)活力。隨后，2009年迪士尼斥資40億美元收購漫威，之前和之后的每部電影里他都有客串。收購交易中李賺了多少并不清楚，只知道此后的漫威電影宇宙凈賺了數(shù)十億美元。

李的凈資產(chǎn)估計(jì)為5000萬至7000萬美元，不過可能會受到有些未決訴訟的影響。與斯坦·李傳媒工作室出現(xiàn)復(fù)雜的問題后，2001年他聯(lián)合創(chuàng)立了制片公司POW! Entertainment。后來李聲稱兩個(gè)商業(yè)伙伴薩尼·達(dá)夫和吉爾·錢皮恩在與中國公司交易時(shí)合謀使用他的姓名和肖像，趁著他幾乎失明騙取或偽造簽名，還起訴索賠10億美元。

與此同時(shí)，另一位前同事凱亞·摩根指控斯坦·李68歲的女兒瓊·西莉亞虐待老人，還打電話報(bào)警。父女兩人都表示否認(rèn)，后來摩根因謊報(bào)李家發(fā)生持械搶劫案而被捕。還有更怪異的事，李曾起訴前任經(jīng)理杰拉多·奧利維耶盜取他的血液，做成簽字筆墨水在《黑豹》漫畫上簽名。

斯坦·李的晚年比較悲慘，其實(shí)整個(gè)職業(yè)生涯中經(jīng)歷的財(cái)務(wù)糾紛和境況也一直不佳。漫畫死忠粉對他的專業(yè)素質(zhì)一直爭論不休。不管對斯坦·李本人喜歡還是討厭，他對于哪些故事容易引起人們共鳴就是非常敏銳（還很聽老婆的話），而且在人們普遍認(rèn)為比較低級的藝術(shù)形式里突破界限，開創(chuàng)了眾人夢寐以求的偉大的文學(xué)事業(yè)。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：Pessy

審校：夏林

Stan Lee’s life in the business of superheroes mirrors the humble origins, unexpected triumphs, and brutal defeats of his greatest creations. The Marvel legend, who died at 95 at three weeks ago, masterminded comic books, films, TV shows, video games, and a few tons of merchandise that became a multi-billion dollar franchise. He also dealt with bankruptcy, alleged stock fraud, embezzlement at the hands of some of his former business partners, and frayed relationships with some of his closest collaborators.

Lee, the son of Romanian immigrants who struggled to find work in the Depression and moved around tenements in New York City, entered the world of comic books following a series of odd jobs that included office gofer, theater usher, and sandwich delivery boy. Thanks to family connections, he got a job at the publishing company Timely. Hustling around the workplace filling inkwells and watching illustrator and future collaborator Jack Kirby work, he graduated to an editor job before he was 20 years old.

Like many success stories, Lee’s dissatisfaction with his job and ambition led to his innovation. Feeling that comics were a lower artform than the literature he hoped to pursue, Lee altered his name from “Stan Lieber” in an early Captain America issue, so nobody would associate him with the genre when he released a novel someday.

Unhappy with the work, along with the declining audience of comic readers, Lee planned to quit. “I was getting sick of doing these one-character-punches-another and says, ‘Take that, you rat,’” he told NPR in 2015. “So my wife said to me, ‘You want to quit. Before you do, why don’t you get one story out of your system? Do one the way you want to do it.”

So in 1961, with Kirby’s help, he created the Fantastic Four, with heroes and villains relatable because of their flaws, complexities, and wisecracks. Now known as Marvel, the company had a hit, and Lee earned nearly free reign over the creative department. Within the next few years, he—along with help from Kirby, his brother Larry Lieber, and artist Steve Ditko—would mine the Cold War, teen angst, civil and racial unrest, and many other anxieties of the day to create the Hulk, Spider-Man, the X-Men, Thor, Black Panther, Ant-Man, and the Avengers.

Part of Lee’s genius was how he, as now the de facto head of Marvel, ran the creative side. Managing an ever-growing staff, plus new animated and later live-action series, not to mention merchandising, his role as hands-on writer diminished. He’d tell his artists his idea for the stories, have them illustrate it, then go back and write the book.

A Complex Web of Business Dealings

Unfortunately, this strategy also led to bitterness with his colleagues. As any diehard Marvel fan will tell you, Kirby and Ditko—who most notably designed Spider-Man—are often overlooked.

Lee and Ditko wound up not speaking for decades. Lee and Kirby had a falling out, with the latter leaving for DC Comics—then returning to Marvel before leaving again over his lack of credit for helping create so many enduring characters. He claimed he was the one who came up with Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk, among others, and sued Marvel for the rights to them. Marvel won the suit because Kirby’s contract, for a freelance artist, said any of his creations were its property.

Kirby died in 1994, though his family continued pursuing lawsuits against Marvel, and later Disney, for years. Lee, outside of a now-memorable cameo in the cult hit Kevin Smith film Mallrats in ‘95, found himself in the news mainly for the financial misdeeds of companies operating under his name.

During the late ‘90s, Stan Lee Media attempted to capitalize on the dot-com boom with online live and animated series, including a show starring the Backstreet Boys. The publicly traded company went bankrupt in 2000, thanks in part to stock fraud by company co-founder Peter Paul who fled the country after double-crossing his partner in the scheme, costing stockholders $25 million. The good guys eventually got Paul from Brazil and he went to jail for 10 years in 2009.

Lee’s luck started to improve around 2000 when the Marvel genre was rejuvenated by the blockbuster success of the initial Spider-Man and X-Men movies. He subsequently had cameos in all the Marvel films that followed—before and after Disney acquired the company for $4 billion in 2009. It’s not clear how much Lee made off that deal, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe netting billions more since then.

His estimated net worth is $50 to 70 million, though pending lawsuits will probably mar that, too. After the complicated issues with Stan Lee Media, he co-founded the production company POW! Entertainment in 2001. He later alleged that two of his business partners, Shane Duffy and Gill Champion, were conspiring to use name and likeness in deals with Chinese companies, using a signature obtained or forged while he going almost completely blind, and sued them for $1 billion.

Meanwhile, another former associate, Keya Morgan, accused Lee’s 68-year-old daughter Joan Celia of elder abuse and called the police. Both father and daughter denied the claims, and Morgan was later arrested for making false reports of an armed robbery at Lee’s house. In the most bizarre twist, Lee sued his ex-manager, Jerardo Olivare, for stealing his blood, which would be used to autograph Black Panther comics.

That late-in-life period is tragic, as are the financial disputes and situations Lee experienced throughout his career. And his professional character will be debated among diehard comic-book fans for eons. Love him or like him, Stan Lee’s intuition about what would resonate with everyday people (not to mention listening to his wife) and willingness to push boundaries in what was a lowly regarded art form created one of the greatest literary careers people would dream to have.