Paying tribute to the legacy of the “godfather of comics” and the chief architect of the Marvel Universe, Kartoon Studios, the controlling partner of Stan Lee Universe, LLC, announced today the launch of the Stan Lee Presents channel on YouTube, with over 300,000 subscribers. The newly branded channel, formerly Cinematica, will be managed by Kartoon Studios’ subsidiary Frederator Networks, one of the largest animation networks on YouTube, with millions of subscribers and billions of views annually.
Stan Lee Presents focuses on all things Stan Lee, including content from his personal archives, digital comic books, interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, rarely seen historical materials and sneak peaks of upcoming Stan Lee Universe projects, clips, trailers, interviews and more, available exclusively on the channel. In addition, the channel will include programming curated from a broader cultural footprint of the world and fan base of Stan Lee.
Frederator Networks plans to launch two new videos and select shorts each week with schedules expanding throughout 2024.
Stan Lee Presents will be curated by longtime Stan Lee collaborator, Originator & Executive Producer of the Batman movie franchise and comic-book historian Michael Uslan, and former POW! Entertainment editorial chief Kim Luperi, both of whom worked closely with Lee through his most recent years. The channel will also liaise with studios to review the latest movies and series as well as cover relevant pop culture trends on the channel.
“Stan Lee’s immense creativity, his relatable characters, and his groundbreaking storytelling style had a significant global influence on the world of entertainment and pop culture, from Star Wars to The Simpsons. To honor his incredible legacy, we are launching Stan Lee Presents to continue to share his vision of storytelling to his millions of fans around the world,” commented Andy Heyward, Chairman & CEO of Kartoon Studios. “Stan Lee Presents will also become a powerful revenue driver for the Company from the awareness and promotion of the various Stan Lee/Stan Lee Universe consumer products coming to the marketplace this year through our newly launched dedicated Stan Lee storefront on Amazon and other retail platforms.”
Todd Steinman, President of Toon Media Networks, which includes Frederator Networks, added, “We believe the next wave of great Stan Lee content will build upon the success Stan enjoyed with the characters he created, and we are thrilled to launch a channel to showcase content directly to Stan’s broad fanbase, including his 27+ million passionate followers across social media. We will leverage Stan Lee’s significant social media footprint and market across channels, expanding our audience while driving the fanbase to the new Stan Lee Presents YouTube Channel.”
Known by his signature phrase, “Excelsior!”, Stan Lee is one of the most prolific and legendary creators of all time. As Marvel’s editor-in-chief, Stan “The Man” Lee helped build a universe of interlocking continuity, one where fans felt as if they could turn a street corner and run into a superhero from Spider-Man to the Fantastic Four, Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, the X-Men and more. Stan went on to become Marvel’s editorial director and publisher in 1972 and was eventually named chairman emeritus. He was the co-creator of characters appearing in four of the top 10 box office movies of all time, which featured Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther and the Avengers, accounting for billions of dollars of revenue for Marvel and the Walt Disney Company.
Building upon Kartoon Studios’ deal with Marvel, announced in 2022, to license the non-exclusive likeness of Stan to appear in Marvel films, and the separate license to the Walt Disney Company for the non-exclusive license of Stan Lee’s likeness to be used in the Walt Disney theme parks, the Stan Lee brand business is rapidly expanding across multiple divisions of the company.
In addition to Stan Lee Presents channel on YouTube and the new digital storefront on Amazon, Legible Comics will publish a new series of graphic novels this year with all the characters of Stan Lee Universe, anticipated to debut at San Diego Comic-Con this summer.
