PLUME: What is your official status with Marvel right now?

LEE: I’m the Chairman Emeritus, and according to my contract with them now - which is, again, a lifetime contract - I am supposed to devote 10% of my time to working for Marvel… and the rest of my time, I can do anything that I wish. Even if it means competing with Marvel, which I have no desire to do.

PLUME: There was a rumor going around a short time ago suggesting that you might be interested in buying Marvel… Is this true or false?

LEE: I couldn’t afford it. Right now, I hope I have enough money for dinner tonight! Seriously, what happened was that I was being interviewed with my partner, Peter Paul - our company’s stock was higher then than it is now and our market cap was higher than Marvel’s at the time - and some reporter said, “Gee, you could buy Marvel, if you wanted to. Are you interested? Would you want to?” So my partner answered for me, and he said something like, “Boy, that would be great.” It was just a casual insert, and all of a sudden the rumors started spreading that we’re going to buy Marvel. We have enough to do just trying to make our company what we want it to be. As far as whether I would like to own Marvel, sure, I’d like to own Marvel. I’d like to own Intel… I’d like to own Microsoft… I’d love to have Warner Bros in my hip pocket.

PLUME: Well, the day is still young…

LEE: Yeah, that’s right!

LEE: Oh, they probably weren’t happy about it. I couldn’t say no when I received that offer… How can any writer say no to the opportunity of redoing every one of DC’s top superheroes?

PLUME: Has that been the joy of doing it - the opportunity to work on those characters and put your spin on them?

LEE: I think it’s just the challenge. It’s not that all my life I’ve wanted to do those characters, because I never particularly thought about it, but the challenge of saying, “How could they be done differently that may be more absorbing or more effective?”

PLUME: What has been the most challenging one to work on?

LEE: Oh, every one… They’re tough as hell.

PLUME: What makes them tough?

LEE: Well, I’m trying to forget what they really are… In other words, the way I’m doing it is I’m trying to think to myself, “Okay, I have the name Superman, and he’s going to be a guy that deserves the name ‘Superman.’ Now, if that was my original idea -I’m trying to forget about Krypton, about The Daily Planet - what would I do if I was thinking it up?” I can do it any way at all… I can make him an Eskimo midget who’s toothless and blind… I can do anything. It’s difficult - because I’ve got the world to choose from - but now I’ve got to do something that, hopefully, won’t anger the fans of Superman too much - and yet I don’t want to make it look like I’m going to do it the way it has been done. The purpose of this is not show that I can do it better, because I think Superman is perfect. The original creation of Superman - nobody could have done that better -and I think Batman is pretty much a perfect character… The same with all of them. I’m just going to try to find a way to say, “If that wasn’t the original idea, what would be another way to do it that would be more in my style?”

PLUME: Which characters are you doing?

LEE: All of them! I think I’ve got 12… Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, Plastic-Man, Green Lantern, Sandman, The Justice League, The Atom, Legion of Superheroes, and Teen Titans…. Just about all of their top titles.

PLUME: Tell me this, as we’re wrapping things up… Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

LEE: Very, very tired. Remember I told you that I don’t even know what I’m going to have for dinner tonight? I don’t know where the hell I’ll be in 5 years. Maybe I’ll be producing movies - maybe I’ll be on a corner selling apples. I don’t know, but I’m having a hell of a lot of fun. The main thing I want to do, right now, is to make our website the most entertaining website there is on the internet. I want it to be the premiere site for entertainment, for communication, and for fun. I want to get that same feeling that everybody logging on to our website is sharing a little bit of an inside joke, and the rest of the world is oblivious to it - although I want to have most of the world.

PLUME: You’re certainly on track, and with the 7th Portal film announcement…

LEE: I think that’s a good start.

PLUME: You’re going to be involved pretty heavily with the production on that, right?

LEE: Sure. I’ll be co-producer with Mark Canton.

PLUME: That should be a pleasant change for you…

LEE: Yeah… It won’t be an honorary title - it’ll be a factual title.

PLUME: How soon do you hope to see it in theaters?

LEE: I have no idea. I guess that’s up to Mark. I’ve never produced a movie before. It could go fast - or not. Usually, the biggest hang-up is the script. You could have a script done in six months that you love, or it could be like The Fantastic Four - it’s been almost 10 years. Once you get the script, you then hope you can get the director that you want. Then you hope he can get the cast he wants. Again, you can go quickly or there can be a million stumbling blocks. There’s just no way to know. The good thing is that we’re starting on it immediately. I’m meeting with Mark next week to discuss who we should get to write this thing.

PLUME: Well, it’s an amazing development for Stan Lee Media and yourself…

LEE: Yeah, it really is…

PLUME: And it looks like you’ll be continuing to learn new things…

LEE: Well, that’s the fun of life, isn’t it? Learning new things and doing new things. I’ve always been lucky, because I’ve always worked with the most talented people imaginable. When you work with people whom you respect and whom you like and you admire because they’re so good at what they do, it doesn’t feel like work… It’s like you’re playing. You’re with a bunch of friends. Some people go out on a golf course and they’re trying to shoot the best game of golf they can with their friends - I’m trying to do the best types of entertainment I can with my friends. It’s the same thing.

PLUME: If you were to sum up the life and career of Stan Lee in one sentence or phrase, what would it be?

LEE: Geez, I have no idea… I’ve never thought about it. I’d have to say it’s been a lot of fun. People say to me all the time, “Why don’t you take a vacation?” or “Why don’t you retire?” I keep telling them, “Why would I want to retire?” If I were retired, I’d think, “Well, what am I going to do now? What will I do for fun?” I’m not interested in golf. I like to do things, and here, I’m doing all the things that I enjoy.

PLUME: The irony would be that, if you were retired and had to find a hobby, it probably be what your job already is…

LEE: Right. The hobby would be that I try to start a company like this! And I’d hope somebody would let me write some stuff for them…

Continued below…