Stan Lee Says Doctor Strange and Black Panther Movies are in Development, But Can We Trust Him?

I would never presume to impugn the honor of the Generalissimo himself, but to be fair, the guy has a pretty well documented, and lauded, in fact, talent for bombast. And that’s part of the reason why we love him. I guess what I’m saying is: hey, I’d really like to believe that Marvel is prioritizing a movie with a person of color in the lead role, but I’d also like to not be disappointed.

It was just a few weeks ago that Disney announced the release dates for two as-yet-unannounced movies that will be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2016 and 2017, and naturally, there’s a lot of speculation out there as to who those movies will focus on. Rumors about Doctor Strange’s entrance into the MCU have swirled for years, and while fan pressure to give one of Marvel’s prominent superheroes of African descent their own movie has also focused on street hero Luke Cage, the Black Panther remains the oldest black superhero at either Marvel or DC, predating the Falcon (who’ll be appearing in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as well as DC’s Black Lightning and Green Lantern John Stewart.

It’s in that environment that MTV Geek asked Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee whether he ever expected to see the Silver Surfer get a starring film role. Lee’s answer was unusually expansive:

Well, let me put it to you this way: Back at Marvel, they are frantically looking for what is the next one they’re going to do. There is no way they won’t eventually do a Silver Surfer movie. It may not be for a few years because they’re thinking and working on Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy. Everything we have. And the fans seem to want all of them. But they’ll get around to a Silver Surfer feature because he’s a wonderful character.

Reports of Marvel having a script production machine that’s hard at work on various concepts to present to executives have never been confirmed to my satisfaction. However, when is is brought up, Doctor Strange and Black Panther are usually among the names of concepts that await greenlighting. A recent report added Blade, Ms. Marvel, Iron Fist, and the Runaways to that list. On the other hand, I can’t help but wonder about the extent of the access Lee’s has to information about the inner workings of Marvel Entertainment. He is, after all, a retired comics professional, and is no longer in charge of Marvel Comics properties. Surely they can’t be contacting him about his cameos this early?

(via MTV Geek.)