Stan Lee, the man behind Marvel creations is famous for his storylines. He might be best known for animating his superhuman characters with humanity, something that had never quite been done. Lee started developing his best-known characters. His superheroes, the ones we know the best today, were not beyond human but possessed the same characteristics we readers struggle with – grief, pride, depression, innocence, boredom, illness, anger and mortality. These are the versions of the superheroes we avidly watch with every new Marvel movie; they are not apart from us, but like us, all the more alive for their flaws.
Like Mary Shelley, Lee’s creations will live on beyond their creator, but that’s not where the connections end. It’s no surprise that the green Hulk, born of an experiment gone wrong. He was imagined as a combination of Shelley’s Frankenstein and Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. The Hulk is a misunderstood monster, remembering the vestiges of his humanity while trying to gain control of both his limbs and his emotions.
Victor Frankenstein and Bruce Banner both are scientists. They are pushing the boundaries of their respective fields. While Victor is reanimating the dead, Bruce studies gamma radiation. Victor is on a questionable pursuit and unpredictable pursuit. The results would have been different for Victor; he would have been seen as a visionary. His creation turns out to be an abomination, he is thrust into the mad scientist category. Bruce, on the other hand, is seen either testing bombs or attempting to use gamma radiation in the medical field. His attempts would be viewed as noble and the goals of his pursuits are evident. We know Victor creates a monster and Bruce becomes the Hulk. These two scientists with different pursuits and intentions are suddenly both cast into the mad scientist realm. I find it interesting that if things would have gone differently for either they could have changed the world in a positive way and had many different futures. Instead, we remember them for their failures, not their ambition.
In 1969, Frankenstein’s monster first became a character in Marvel Comics, though he made an earlier appearance in Atlas Comics. The early appearances of the monster featured a retelling of Shelley’s classic, ending with the monster frozen in ice. The monster would come in and out of this frozen state to team up with such characters as Spiderman, Iron Man and Howard the Duck. In later iterations, the monster would be cloned to become a member of different teams, such as the intelligent clone named Frank that joined Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos. Put to more nefarious uses, clones of the monster were made by Nazi supporters in the 1970’s Marvel stories set during World War II.
Frankenstein, it’s that Shelley’s idea of the creature is one of the most adaptable myths in literature. Novelists, screenwriters, and poets have all taken inspiration from Frankenstein. It’s no surprise that comics would find the creature to be a highly versatile character with extra-human strength alongside the attributes Lee inscribed in all his superheroes. The creature is often misunderstood, seeks revenge, but can be motivated to do good. Just as Shelley’s creation has lived 200 years beyond its creator, there’s no doubt that Stan Lee has left a similar legacy of characters that will speak to the generations of comic fans to come.
