Few faces in the wide world of Marvel Entertainment are as iconic as Stan Lee. Throughout his storied career, Lee co-created legendary characters like Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and Black Widow. When the Marvel Cinematic Universe captured the attention of millions, Lee’s cameos became the ultimate Easter egg of any cinematic franchise. There’s no end to his influence throughout the comic book community. However, in the trailer for a new documentary Stan Lee: The Final Chapter, Lee’s assistant, Jon Bolerjack, says Lee’s final years were challenging in ways fans cannot fathom.
In Stan Lee: The Final Chapter, Bolerjack takes audiences behind the scenes for an in-depth look at how close-knit colleagues exploited Lee and how business partners seemingly squeezed his celebrity for all its worth. Jon Bolerjack worked alongside Lee as his assistant for the last four years of his life. During that time, Bolerjack filmed Lee’s interactions with staff, chronicling the gross mistreatment of a legend.
Bolerjack’s Stan Lee: The Final Chapter trailer follows Lee to conventions, where associates appear to reduce him to a money-printing puppet with exhaustive fan meet-and-greets, autograph opportunities, and photo ops that cost an arm and a leg to attend. The documentary includes interviews with comic legends like Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld, former Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas, and others who worked alongside and traveled with Lee from one event to the next.
In the promo, Bolerjack asks fans for help finishing the film. He’s launched a Kickstarter campaign to secure the money to finish and share the documentary with the world. If he succeeds, Bolerjack expects the film to be released before the end of the year.
“It was an absolute dream come true for me to get to intimately know, befriend and travel the world with one of my life’s icons, Stan Lee,” Bolerjack shared in a statement. “He entrusted me to capture the final years of his life on video and encouraged me to share this footage with the world after he was gone. And after witnessing how a handful of people who surrounded him continually betrayed him in his weakened condition, I felt it was left to me to tell this shockingly and truly heartbreaking story of his last days.”
If you’d like to learn more about Stan Lee: The Final Chapter and help Bolerjack complete the film, you can visit the project’s Kickstarter page to pledge your contribution. There are 30 days left in the campaign, so be sure to act fast.
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