”The hardest choices require
the strongest wills.” Marvel is the most successful
film franchise in history. Every single one of its movies have become
hits — bringing in $22 billion worldwide. Competing franchises have yet to even come
close to beating that number, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, and James Bond. However, Marvel wasn’t always recognised as the greatest. ”Pizza time.” In fact, the company was once seen as embarrassing
and even shunned and casted out by many. Things didn’t start to change until an
assistant — who fetched coffees and swept floors for $8 a week — came up with the idea of creating
new and unlikely superheroes. They weren’t perfect, good-looking, and athletic
like traditional superheroes. Instead, they were flawed and had problems
and weaknesses like regular people. When the assistant pitched one of his
most imperfect superhero ideas to his boss, he was told it was the worst idea ever. Convinced his boss was wrong,
the assistant went behind his back and secretly released a comic to debut
his new and unlikely superhero. That superhero is now voted the most popular in the world. This is the story of how an assistant
turned Marvel from a company seen as a joke to a multi-billion-dollar empire. “If you have an idea that
you genuinely think is good. Don't let some idiot talk you out of it.” Stan Lieber was born in 1922 to Romanian-born
Jewish immigrants, Jack and Celia. Jack worked as a garment cutter and
Celia worked as a retail saleswoman. With help from relatives, the Lieber family managed
to live in a small apartment in Manhattan, New York. Growing up, the Lieber family struggled to make
ends meet, especially after Jack lost his job during the Great Depression — forcing them to
move to an even smaller apartment in the Bronx. Overtime, Jack and Celia grew distant
from each other, both constantly anxious and arguing about money. “My father was not a good
businessman and he was not lucky. Most of the time, he couldn’t find a job. I felt so sorry for him.” Ever wondered how you can
become a Lord or Lady? With today's video sponsor, Established
Titles, you or a loved one can! In the past, there were really only a handful
of ways that were out of reach for most. You would have to be born into it,
marry into it, or be appointed in the UK by the Prime Minister and the Queen. But today, thanks to a Scottish custom,
you too can call yourselves a Lord or a Lady by owning a small plot of land in Scotland
through Established Titles. You can even get your new title on your credit
cards, plane tickets, or simply your dating profile — plus a certificate with a unique plot number
to identify the exact location of your land. You can also gift a title to your loved ones
for special occasions like Mother’s Day. It makes for an extra special gift considering
a tree is planted with every order. Whether it’s for you or a loved one,
acquire a Lord or Lady title by going to EstablishedTitles.com/HOOK,
and you’ll get an extra 10% off. Having suffered many hardships from his
father’s unemployment, Stan developed a strong work ethic and worked various odd jobs, from
selling newspapers to delivering sandwiches. When he wasn’t working, he avoided the tension at
home by reading anything and everything — hoping to one day become a famous novelist like Mark Twain. After graduating from high school early at
16, Stan decided to not attend college to find work and support his family instead. Fortunately, it wasn’t long until he found a job
as an assistant for a publishing company owned by his cousin, Martin Goodman, called Timely. There, Stan fetched coffees and sandwiches,
swept the floors, proofread stories, and edited drawings for $8 a week. One year later, Timely began to ask Stan
for his opinion on the stories they were working on — whether or not he liked
them and what he would change about them. To Stan’s surprise, Timely
took some of his suggestions. They even asked him to write a comic for
their Captain America series, where a patriotic supersoldier battles against
spies, fifth columnists, and propagandists. In the episode that Stan worked on, he came
up with the idea of giving the supersoldier a signature move: the ricocheting shield-toss. From then on, Stan began to write a variety of
stories for Timely, including romance, mystery, and horror, and was promoted to editor at just 18. However, Stan still hoped to become a novelist
and started using the fake surname, Lee. He was scared that publishing companies
would choose to not publish his novels if they knew he wrote comics. “I realized that people had no
respect for comic books at all. Most parents didn't want
their children to read comics. And I was a little embarrassed to be doing
the work that I did,” Stan later admitted. Enjoying the video so far? Be sure to subscribe to Hook and ring the
bell to stay up to date with new stories about today’s most successful companies! Despite Stan’s insecurity about writing
comics, he had a knack for it and continued up until World War II began. At that time, Stan decided to voluntarily
enlist in the Army and was assigned to fix communications equipment and telegraph poles. But after making a mistake on the job, he was
moved to the training film division where he lucked out writing manuals, slogans, and even films. After the war ended, Stan returned to Timely and
was promoted to editor of the comics operation. Around this time, Stan also
married a woman named Joan. Together, they had two children,
first, Joan, and later, Jan. Sadly, Jan passed away three
days after she was born. Doctors told Joan that she could
not bear any more children. Stan and Joan then tried to adopt but were dismissed
by agencies because of their different religions. After giving up on growing his family,
Stan threw himself into work — churning out one story after another. Timely, now renamed Atlas, business
model prioritized quantity over quality and trend chasing over trend creating. “Whatever was selling at the moment,
Atlas would publish books in that genre. We were never leaders in the field. We always followed the trends.” While Atlas' business model proved to be
successful, there was one operation that they were forced to slow down: comics. At the time, many parents complained that
comics were bad for children since some were filled with violence and bloody details. They worried such comics would influence
their children in dangerous ways and some organized public comic burnings. Publishing companies like Atlas didn’t take their
complaints too seriously and continued business as usual — up until one book shook the entire
industry overnight: Seduction of the Innocent. In the book, author and child psychologist, Dr. Wertham, claimed that violence committed
by children was on the rise and that they were connected to reading comics. More parents and even politicians became convinced
that comics were bad for children — leading to some stores to stop selling them and congressional
hearings on whether or not to outlaw them. Comic sales were slashed and dozens of
publishing companies shut their doors. The remaining companies did their best to
survive by founding the Comics Code Authority — which ensured comics didn’t include stories
that would upset parents or politicians. If a comic was approved, it could use a
seal of approval on its cover to let people know it was safe for children to read. Six years later, Atlas managed to stay in business. However, few of the original team remained. By then, Stan had been with the company for
two decades and felt it was now time to leave. He missed the good old days with
his former colleagues and found writing for Atlas was no longer fun. The CCA and rise of television drove
many creatives away from the industry and made the work less exciting. As Stan walked into Martin’s office to deliver
the news, he was given a new assignment before he could get a word in: creating a new comic
book featuring a group of superheroes to compete with DC’s Justice League of America. Justice League had seven superheroes
who fought villains as a team: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern,
Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter. While Stan was excited by the idea, he
still had thoughts of leaving Atlas. None of the stories he had written
for Atlas had taken off and he felt like he was wasting his talent. “I was feeling like a DJ in a small town:
'Is anybody listening?' Did anybody care? I felt I was a better writer and that I
shouldn't be wasting my life on this.” Unsure of what to do next, Stan
turned to his wife, Joan, for advice. “Do one last book the way you want to. You want to quit anyway, so what have
you got to lose?” Joan pointed out. Stan agreed with Joan. If he took too much of a risk and
disappointed Martin, it wouldn’t matter because he had already planned to leave. But if he created something special that
pleased him, he might be able to recreate the good old days when Atlas was named Timely. As Stan thought about it more, an idea for a
new group of superheros quickly came to mind. Unlike Superman and Captain America, they would
not be perfectly good-looking or incredibly strong. Instead, they would have problems
and weaknesses like everyday people. At the time, this was unheard of since
publishing companies continued to target children instead of an older audience, and
the characters they created had little depth. To flesh out his idea, Stan turned to
one of the comic writers and artists who co-created Captain America: Jack Kirby. Together, the two built on Stan’s idea
and co-created The Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four were four astronauts named Reed
Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm. All of them formed different superpowers
after being exposed to cosmic rays. Reed became Mister Fantastic, who could stretch
to incredible lengths, Susan Storm became the Invisible Woman, who could make herself
and objects invisible, Johnny Storm became the Human Torch, who could engulf his body
in flames, and Ben Grimm became Thing, who transformed into stone and could smash opponents. One year later, the first Fantastic
Four comic book was released. To Stan’s surprise, it was an instant hit. Sales figures were Atlas’ best in years,
and for the first time, the company received fan mail from an older audience. For many of them, the Fantastic Four were
the first superheroes they could relate to since they faced real-world problems, like
bickering with family and dealing with breakups. Stan now felt more confident about writing comics. He and Jack then came up with an idea for
another comic book: the Incredible Hulk. Inspired by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein, the Hulk featured
a soft-spoken scientist named Dr. Bruce Banner who turned into an
uncontrollable green monster whenever he felt panicked or lost his temper. The Hulk used his superpowers like unlimited
strength to protect people from villains. However, he was often misunderstood by the public
and persecuted by authorities – leading to being alienated by the very society he fought for. When the first Hulk comic book was released,
it was an instant hit and marked as the few darker, conflicted, and more “human” comic books. Many fans could relate to Dr. Banner’s frustrations over having to suppress
his rage, while others welcomed the comic becoming an anti-establishment trend. As comics changed to be more reflective in
many ways, Stan felt that Atlas should as well and convinced Martin to change the name to
Marvel — one of the company’s early comic titles. By then, Stan had worked his way up from
assistant to writer to editor-in-chief. He could ask the artists to work on anything
he needed but still sometimes struggled to get Martin to understand his ideas. However, he remained persistent in trying,
even when Martin told him his new idea was the worst he ever heard of: a teenager
who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and develops spider-like superpowers. “What’s the matter with you?” Martin balked. “Teenagers can only be sidekicks
and people hate spiders.” Stan tried to convince Martin
otherwise but it was no use. Martin strictly ordered him to not pursue his idea. Stan reluctantly agreed — and
then thought of a plan B. After Martin rejected Stan’s idea, Stan
couldn’t help but think about it even more. Normally, he would have let it
go, but this time, he couldn’t. Eager to at least try to put his idea out,
Stan secretly asked artist, Steve Ditko, to create his new superhero, and then
slipped the story into a comic book that was being discontinued: Amazing Fantasy. “We were set to do one last issue and nobody
cared what you put inside a book that was about to be killed," Stan later revealed. The story, named Spider-Man, featured a geeky
teenager named Peter Parker who was unsure of himself and got bullied by a football star. After being bitten by a radioactive spider,
Peter develops spider-like superpowers and uses them to fight crime across New
York — taking on the name Spider-Man. A few months later, Marvel unexpectedly hit a
huge milestone: having a best seller in a decade. Every copy of Amazing Fantasy was sold
— thanks to Stan and Steve’s Spider-Man. Many fans saw a bit of themselves in Peter,
relating to his everyday struggles like being awkward and unpopular, not being liked by
many girls, and having trouble paying rent. When Martin discovered the news about
Amazing Fantasy’s sales figures, he hurriedly ran over to Stan. “Remember that idea we liked about Spider-Man? Let’s make a series!” he insisted. Stan didn’t hesitate to take him up on his
offer, and together with Steve, created a series for Marvel's new official superhero. From then on, Stan came up with ideas
for more unlikely superheroes with help from other Marvel writers and artists. Over the next few years, the group managed to
introduce several new superheroes, most notably Thor, Ant-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, Doctor Strange,
Daredevil, Black Widow, and Black Panther. Like the Fantastic Four, Hulk and Spider-Man,
each one had unique powers and abilities but problems and weaknesses like everyday people. What made them even more special was that they
were metaphors for the civil rights movement — driving home messages of tolerance and acceptance
while rejecting demonization and bullying. With Marvel having changed the comic industry
while making more money than ever, Martin decided it was now time to retire and sell the company. When word got out, a businessman named
Martin Ackerman approached him with a generous offer: $15 million in cash. Martin Goodman agreed to accept his offer under
one condition: Stan had to remain in charge. Martin Ackerman obliged and
Stan was promoted to publisher. As Marvel’s new publisher, Stan began
to think of fresh ideas for the company beyond new, unlikely superheroes. He wanted to bring Marvel’s characters to
life in ways that had never been done before: getting them featured on TV and in movies. Fortunately, it wasn’t long until his
ambitious plans would come to fruition. Marvel soon negotiated a deal that involved
licensing their characters with the largest and most profitable studio in Hollywood: Universal. Not long after, Universal decided to
create a TV series featuring the Hulk. Meanwhile, Stan continued on his
pursuit of making his mark in Hollywood. He hoped to find producers who could
turn Marvel’s comic series into movies. But to his surprise, each one that
he approached turned him down. At the time, producers believed it
would be too difficult to show drawn comic actions using real actors. Yet, somehow, DC still managed to beat Marvel in
getting to the silver screen — and made a fortune. Their movie Superman brought in $300
million worldwide and became the sixth highest-grossing film ever. Rather than be disappointed, Stan was thrilled. Producers were now convinced
that superhero movies could work. Stan didn’t wait around for producers to call. Instead, he quickly set up meetings and
even moved his family to Los Angeles. Marvel’s new owner, New World, doubted that Stan
could pull it off but Stan proved them wrong. He managed to convince producers to create movies
for the Fantastic Four, Spiderman, and the Punisher. However, over the coming years, Stan
realized that would be the easy part. The producers often argued and sometimes
sued each other, and the writers were ordered to rewrite scripts countless times. In the end, no one was satisfied
and the movies were never released. Stan was taken aback by the struggles in Hollywood. He would soon discover that was
the least of Marvel’s worries. After Marvel’s new owner, Ron Perelman,
took the company public, it began to acquire several businesses to diversify the
company — all of which cost $700 million. Ron had hoped to make up for the losses by raising
the prices on comics but his plans backfired. Many then found comics too expensive
and stopped buying them at all. In fact, sales dropped by 70% and shares
worth $35.75 dropped to a staggering $2.38. Marvel, once a consistently profitable company,
was then forced to file for bankruptcy. Carrying Marvel’s legacy was now
beyond Stan and even Ron’s control. For nearly two years, Marvel’s banks,
bondholders, subsidiaries, and other parties all fought for control over the business
with different reorganization plans. Creditors voted to accept a plan by Marvel
subsidiary, Toy Biz, despite offering less in cash when compared to Ron since
they had the best strategy and vision. Afterward, Toy Biz co-founder,
Avi Arad, became Marvel’s CEO. However, after one year, Avi stepped down
to allow Peter Cuneo, a businessman known for resurging companies, to take over. Meanwhile, Avi became Marvel’s chief
creative officer and set out to revive the company’s film division: Marvel Studios. At the time, Marvel Studios had
yet to make their own films. Instead, it licensed characters but only managed
to bring in a small percentage of profits due to bad deals made by previous management. For example, when New Line Cinema
finally released Blade and grossed $131 million, Marvel only received $250,000. Two years later, Fox released
X-Men and grossed $296 million. Marvel only received $26 million. One year later, Sony released Spider-Man
and made $821 million — marking the highest-grossing superhero film at the time. Marvel only received $10 million and
5% of the gross box office revenue. After decades, Hollywood had finally recognized
the true value of Marvel’s characters. However, it came at the cost of devaluing its
ets and heading towards more financial struggles. It was difficult for Marvel to watch the very
people who doubted them cash in on their most valuable assets while they struggled to make
payroll — even for outsiders like David Maisel. David was a talent agent who previously worked
for the CAA and Disney and recognized that Marvel had untapped potential, so much that he
pitched Avi an idea to help improve the company’s returns: turn Marvel Studios into a real film
studio to fund and produce its own films. David also suggested mixing characters
in films, so that each one could become a lead-in to the next — similar to Star Wars. Avi was intrigued. He had thought about the same idea during
Marvel’s bankruptcy but hadn’t figured out the financing as David did: using Marvel’s
characters as collateral in exchange for a loan. Confident David’s ideas could work, Avi introduced
David to Marvel’s CEO, Isaac Perlmutter. Isaac and Marvel’s board members told David
to give his ideas a shot as their new COO — as long as they didn’t have to put up a dime. Two years later, Marvel succeeded in getting
a nonrecourse loan from Merrill Lynch. Under the terms, Marvel would receive $525
million to make 10 films featuring various Marvel characters, including Ant-Man, the Avengers,
Black Panther, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Power Pack, and Shang-Chi. If the first four films failed, Merrill
Lynch would receive the film rights for the six characters but would have to pay
a 5% fee for each film they produced. “Even if the plan failed entirely,
we were no worse off than our current situation,” David later revealed. By the time the deal was announced, Stan had retired
from Marvel but continued to act as the company’s brand ambassador and offer the company advice. Three years later, Marvel finally released
its first in-house film: Iron Man. The film was so successful that it led to
Marvel being acquired by Disney, and two Iron Man sequels over the next few years. The third Iron Man brought in $1.2
billion worldwide and became the second highest-grossing film the year it was released. Five years later, Marvel released Black
Panther and broke several box office records. The film brought in $1.3 billion worldwide and
became the 10th highest-grossing film in history. Later that same year, Marvel also released
Avengers: Infinity War, which became the first superhero movie to earn $2 billion worldwide. And more recently, Marvel released Shang-Chi. The film brought in $400 million
worldwide and became the highest-grossing movie amid the COVID pandemic. Then, after just a few months, Spider-Man:
No Way Home was released and grossed $1.7 billion worldwide — earning more than Black
Widow, Shang-Chi, and Eternals combined. To date, Marvel is listed as the most
successful film franchise in history and has grossed $22 billion worldwide. Competing franchises have yet to even come
close to beating that number, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, and James Bond. As for Stan, he’s now widely known as
one of the most influential writers and publishers in the comic industry — along
with being named the father of superheroes. He continued to act as Marvel’s brand
ambassador and serve as executive producer for many films, up until his passing at age 95. At a keynote event, Stan shared what
mentality laid the foundation for his and Marvel’s eventual success. “If you have an idea that
you genuinely think is good. Don't let some idiot talk you out of it. Now that doesn't mean that every wild notion
you come up with is going to be genius. But if there’s something that you feel is
good, something you want to do, something that means something to you, try to do it. Because I think you can only do your best
work if you're doing what you want to do. And if you're doing it the way
you think it should be done.” This is the story of how an
assistant-turned-writer-and-publisher changed the world of comics, and laid the foundation
of building a multi-billion-dollar empire. For more inspiring stories and advice
from today’s most successful leaders, don’t forget to subscribe to our channel!
