Stan Lee: The Final Chapter Review | A Heartbreaking Look at Stan Lee’s Final Years

If you don’t know the name Stan Lee, then you’ve been living under a rock for years.

Stan Lee is one of the most recognizable names in comic book history. While there are still debates over who created certain Marvel characters, one thing most fans can agree on is that Stan Lee helped make us love comics. Like a carnival barker, he made us excited about the Marvel Universe.

Stan Lee lived an incredible life, but in the years before his death, there were multiple reports of elder abuse involving people who managed his affairs.

Now, Jon Bolerjack, a man who became part of Stan’s inner circle, is shedding light on those final years with his documentary, Stan Lee: The Final Chapter.

Bolerjack documented his interactions with Stan, following him to comic book conventions, movie premieres, and around his Hollywood Hills home, accumulating hundreds of hours of candid footage. He also interviewed several people from Stan’s inner circle, along with comic book creators Roy Thomas and Rob Liefeld.

The majority of the film focuses on Stan’s manager at the time, Max Anderson. The documentary portrays Anderson as taking advantage of Stan, and seeing it unfold on film is heartbreaking. I had heard the stories before, but witnessing the footage firsthand was on an entirely different level.

The documentary accomplished exactly what it set out to do. By the time it was over, I was genuinely angry that anyone could have treated Stan Lee this way. It stirred up a lot of emotions, and that’s exactly what a good documentary should do.

It was especially difficult watching Stan’s decline and seeing how often he didn’t seem to fully understand what was happening around him.

This isn’t just a documentary for comic book fans. It’s a cautionary tale. Elder abuse is real, and it happens every day. It’s simply heartbreaking that it happened to someone like Stan Lee.

Stan Lee: The Final Chapter has been picked up by Osmosis Global and will premiere at San Diego Comic-Con on July 23. It will be available as a digital download on July 28.