You have certainly heard of Stan Lee, the editor-in-chief and chairman of Marvel Studios who passed away in November 2018 but left a legacy that lives on in many universes with no expiration date and leaves valuable advice for entrepreneurs. How so?
Responsible for making brief (and precious!) cameo appearances in every film of the franchise, he always left great lessons in just a few seconds on screen.
The patriarch inspired generations of children and adults, whether they are fans of comics or fans of Lee’s characters. And all of his work has kept the Marvel Universe playing an excellent and strong role in the entertainment industry to this day, one that only tends to grow.
With such representation, Stan Lee did not just enchant the geek audience, fans of comic books and superheroes; the master of the franchise also made sure his characters were as accessible and real as possible, bringing more belonging and connection with the audience.
His whole career and his quotes are a great inspiration for entrepreneurs, so we have brought the main ones in this article especially for you.
Connecting society to art
One of the great differentiators of Stan Lee’s franchise is that his characters were very close to the reality we know, very different from its competitor, DC Comics.
While the rival franchise created heroes with superpowers obtained by inheritance, like mystical superior beings who got involved with humanity only to control their powers and become more human, Marvel brought heroes who came from ordinary backgrounds, close to us.
Stan Lee’s characters have the stories of simple people who gradually acquired powers and greater responsibilities, getting closer to the reality of most people and creating identification.
Spider-Man, for example, was a teenage, nerdy photographer whose own ego ended up causing the death of his beloved uncle. And the X-Men were inspired by the struggles of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X to achieve equal civil rights.
Challenges that led to success
Stan Lee’s characters succeeded because they achieved relevance with readers, but he himself still faced significant challenges during his career.
Specifically, he had difficulty being taken seriously in an industry that had not yet won the respect of other writers, and he admitted that in the early days he was embarrassed to be “just a comic book writer.”
Hard to believe, but the powerful and rich Marvel we know today once declared bankruptcy in 1996 because of a drop in comic book sales and other internal problems.
Stan Lee is known as a great entrepreneur, visionary, pioneer, and very successful at the end of his life; however, he was never considered a businessman. But he knew how to make good use of opportunities and identify what he could do to keep Marvel from dying.
Lee left behind a great career of intense victories, decisions, and setbacks to inspire entrepreneurs all over the world. So take a look below at the patriarch’s main pieces of advice and what you can learn from each one.
1- “The greatest superpower is luck.”
Lee did not downplay the importance of hard work in any way, but he tried to remind himself and others that it took more than a strong work ethic and talent to get ahead. Luck plays a big role in success, so you need to know how to identify it throughout life, along with the opportunities it creates.
For example, Stan Lee’s Marvel made great deals that brought it to the peak where it stands today and that can certainly be considered very lucky steps.
Deals such as ceding the X-Men, Deadpool, and other names from the franchise to 20th Century Fox to work in those universes, and Spider-Man to Sony Pictures, were decisions that brought Stan Lee luck, since the productions in those universes raised Marvel’s name and made it stronger.
Universal Studios still draws on the Marvel Universe today at its amusement park in Orlando, Florida (USA), where there is Marvel Super Hero Island, themed around the franchise’s superheroes.
In 2009, Disney bought the entire Marvel universe, and it was considered one of the most advantageous acquisitions in the film industry. The investment from one of the largest media companies took Stan Lee’s franchise even further.
Their first release together was The Avengers, the film that opens Phase 1 of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), followed by more productions with independent characters that kept all the universes connected through Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, which together grossed more than US$ 4.84 billion at the worldwide box office.
There were many partnerships and important steps that brought Stan Lee a lot of luck, and that is undeniable. Unless entrepreneurs recognize this fact, they risk burning out and giving up too early, before realizing that counting on luck and trusting in its fruits in the future is essential for business.
2- “With great power comes great responsibility.”
This quote is probably one of the most important pieces of wisdom available in all the Marvel films, with Stan Lee’s signature. As you climb the ladder of life and gain growing influence, it is important to take care of the people around you.
For example, a designer who is promoted to creative director suddenly has more power, but also greater responsibility to both the company and their subordinates.
Caring about the people around you is a mark of good leadership. CEOs of large corporations have enormous demands on their time, but the best of the best remember that it is their employees who make the machine move.
The main lesson in this phrase is: when you rise to the great responsibilities you have as a businessperson and leader, you will begin to acquire the great power Lee talks about. It is an equation that feeds itself.
3- “I just hoped the comics would sell and I would keep my job.”
Lee acknowledged that his main goal was to create an enjoyable product that was good enough to keep him employed and moving. If you build a product that is worthwhile and that resonates with your audience, you will achieve success over time.
Apple is a great example of a company that creates worthwhile products. The easy-to-use interfaces on its devices demonstrated creative brilliance from the start and immediately captivated the public.
Although several important features have since been adopted by many companies, Apple made history by being the first, and remains the largest technology company in the world by revenue.
Just as he created so many appealing characters, Lee never took a passive approach to building his own brand. Even though other writers and artists such as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were equally responsible for many of Marvel’s creations, Lee’s ability to push his own narrative was the reason he was often regarded as the deity of the Stan Lee Universe.
And although this talent was a frequent target of criticism, it was a skill shared by many of the titans of technology, such as Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. Stan Lee’s career shows that you have to fight to pursue your dreams, and remember that, to a large extent, entrepreneurs are the authors of their own destinies and the superheroes of their own stories.
