"Sir, something big is happening at our company!" Stan Lee, who was reading comics at home, received a message from a former employee.
This former employee was, of course, from Marvel.
Don't misunderstand, this employee didn't leave Marvel; Stan Lee himself had left Marvel in '99 and started his own media and comic company, which unfortunately went bankrupt in 2001.
In any case, the man known as the father of Marvel had, in name at least, completely severed all ties with Marvel. Throughout his life until his death, Stan Lee never returned to Marvel, although he was invited to cameo in every Marvel movie.
However, Stan Lee's affection for Marvel was something he couldn't let go of. Therefore, any stir at Marvel would be immediately reported to him by his remaining contacts within the company.
This time, Stan Lee's contact reported astonishing news: Marvel had been acquired again, for 100 million US dollars.
This news itself wasn't particularly earth-shattering, as Marvel had been acquired countless times before, so it didn't elicit much of a reaction from Stan Lee.
But the next piece of news made Stan Lee's heart flutter. According to the employee, Marvel's original film division had been spun off to form a separate company called Marvel Studios.
Simultaneously, Marvel was selecting a superhero to produce a brand-new, Marvel-owned superhero movie. Clearly, the new owner intended to strengthen and expand Marvel's film endeavors.
This wasn't all. According to leaks from several executives, the new owner was building a vast Marvel Cinematic Universe. The currently planned superhero movie was just the first installment, with 40 Marvel-produced films set to be released over the next 20 years. This was undoubtedly an unprecedentedly ambitious undertaking.
The emergence of this news truly stirred Stan Lee's emotions, as the concept of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was originally proposed by Stan Lee.
At that time, the company was in dire straits and desperately needed a way to turn things around. Thus, Stan Lee put forward the idea of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, hoping to save Marvel's comics through movies.
However, this idea was immediately rejected upon its conception. It required a massive amount of capital, and Marvel no longer had the funds to produce films. All they could do was sell the rights to individual superheroes to film companies for them to produce movies.
Stan Lee thought it was acceptable at the time, as these superhero movies would at least boost sales of Marvel comics. But in reality, the performance of these superhero films became increasingly bizarre, eventually turning the superhero genre into a box office poison.
Marvel's extensive selling of superhero rights for film production not only failed to improve Marvel's comic sales but also caused the value of superheroes themselves to plummet.
Can you believe that a superhero like Spider-Man was sold to Sony for a mere 1.2 million dollars back then? Captain America was sold for only 900,000 dollars.
The only one with a slightly higher price was the Fantastic Four, which was sold as a package for just over 2 million dollars. These were all of Marvel's top-tier heroes. The remaining superheroes, such as Hawkeye, Iron Man, Black Widow, and Thor, who would later become part of the Avengers and be hugely popular, were sold for less than 500,000 dollars each, with most buyers showing little interest.
This left the person who had spent a fortune acquiring Marvel all those years ago extremely frustrated. He had bought Marvel with the intention of profiting from the sale of superhero rights, but in the end, he didn't earn much, and then lost it all due to a financial shift.
In essence, the history of the past decade had proven one thing: the era of superhero movies was over, and there was no value in making them.
Then, Stan Lee received this news, which made him exceptionally excited. He had left Marvel because he saw no hope there, and now, that hope seemed to have returned.
After a long period of hesitation at home, Stan Lee proactively contacted Ike Perlmutter, hoping to speak with Marvel's new owner. He had many ideas and opinions about the Marvel Cinematic Universe and was willing to share them with the new owner for free.
He didn't seek any compensation, only wishing for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to develop in the right direction.
Ike Perlmutter soon sent a reply, stating that the new owner was willing to meet with Stan Lee at Marvel's company headquarters. Thus, for the first time in two years, Stan Lee arrived at the entrance of Marvel's headquarters.
To Stan Lee's immense excitement, when he appeared at the entrance, almost all of Marvel's editors had gathered there. As Stan Lee stepped out of the car, all the editors erupted in cheers and applause. Countless people tried to embrace the father of Marvel, creating an incredibly warm scene that was truly moving.
"I never imagined that even after being gone for two years, Stan Lee would still have such immense influence in the company. An influence that I probably won't achieve in my lifetime!"
In fact, on the second floor of the office building, Ike Perlmutter and Huang He were observing the welcome ceremony from a special vantage point. It wasn't grand, but it was extremely solemn.
This ceremony seemed to proclaim to Marvel, "Your emperor has returned."
"Yes, after all, he's the one who created countless superheroes. He deserves such treatment!" Huang He said indifferently, without any discernible emotion in his tone.
"Actually, Stan Lee's proactive offer to come suggests he's contemplating returning to the company. Moreover, his own company has already folded. I believe if we extend an invitation, he'd be very happy to return and resume his roles as Editor-in-Chief and CEO!" Ike Perlmutter said, looking at Huang He with narrowed eyes. "Huang, should we invite him back?"
"That's a decision for you to make, not me!" Huang He smiled faintly. "According to our agreement, the comic business of Marvel is your responsibility. I have no involvement. Mr. Isaac, if you wish to invite Stan Lee back to help you continue managing Marvel, I have no objections!"
"Heh heh!" Ike Perlmutter let out a dry chuckle. A significant part of why Stan Lee left Marvel back then was due to Ike Perlmutter's covert machinations. How could he possibly let Stan Lee return?
In Ike Perlmutter's view, Stan Lee was a competent Editor-in-Chief, but his ability to manage the entire Marvel company was far from sufficient.
The evidence was that during his years as Marvel's CEO, Marvel had nearly gone bankrupt. After Ike Perlmutter took over Marvel's management again, although the company was still struggling financially, it at least managed to tread water on the edge of the abyss, rather than falling into it completely.
Whether for himself or for Marvel, Ike Perlmutter couldn't let Stan Lee return.
"However, I believe Stan Lee's primary reason for returning this time is your Marvel Cinematic Universe plan. So, I doubt he'll be interested in managing Marvel's comic business; rather, he'll want to help you manage the Marvel Cinematic Universe."
"This man is the world's foremost authority on the Marvel universe. With him helping you refine the various settings of the Marvel universe, I believe there won't be any mistakes!" Ike Perlmutter said with a smile.
"If that's the case, then he absolutely cannot join the Marvel Cinematic Universe!" Huang He said with a smile.
"Why?" Ike Perlmutter asked curiously. Although he strongly disliked Stan Lee interfering with the company's management, if Stan Lee were solely responsible for constructing the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ike Perlmutter felt it would be a quite good and sensible choice, and it would also win the cheers of a loyal fanbase, which was quite advantageous.
"Stan Lee's Marvel Cinematic Universe is the Marvel universe before the 90s. This universe no longer keeps pace with the times or the preferences of young people!" Huang He stated calmly.
"I believe the original Marvel universe was inherently a failed one. It was too chaotic, with countless so-called parallel universes, leading to an excessive amount of various established settings. There were more than a dozen versions of Captain America alone. If the Marvel universe were crammed into the cinematic universe wholesale, I think the result wouldn't be success, but rather a big explosion!"
"The Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn't need an old relic who's an expert on ancient lore. It needs someone who understands the preferences of all young people and the essence of the Marvel universe, and then merges the two to re-launch a cinematic universe with entirely different settings," Huang He said.
"If that's the case, I fear some loyal fans might be angered!" Ike Perlmutter expressed some concern.
"If these so-called loyal fans were truly loyal, Marvel wouldn't have ended up in its current state," Huang He said with a slight smile. "Actually, Marvel's biggest mistake was overvaluing those so-called loyal fans."
"Especially those who are pathologically obsessed fans, who nitpick every single detail. Any change in a setting will provoke their anger. They'll rage and curse us online. But when we ask them to actually contribute some box office revenue at the cinema, they won't go. Instead, they'll say, 'The movie you made isn't the movie in my mind, it's garbage. Why should I contribute to your box office in the cinema?'"
"Therefore, it's better to purge such fans entirely. We should use the cinematic universe to attract new-generation young people who don't understand Marvel at all, but only know names like Captain America and Iron Man. It's better to let the Marvel Cinematic Universe help them understand a new Marvel from scratch!" Huang He said.
"Huang, if those fans heard what you just said, they'd come to the company entrance to protest."
"I'm only telling you this in confidence. If anyone comes to protest, it means you've violated our confidentiality agreement, and I can fire you."
"Oh, I promise, no third person will ever know what you've said today." Ike Perlmutter shrugged his shoulders. "Huang, have you decided which superhero to feature in the first movie?"
"It's already decided!" Huang He nodded. "What do you think of Iron Man?"