How the Avengers’ Creator Ended Up Hating Stan Lee Over Credit
A long-running partnership
Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s working relationship began at Timely Comics in 1940, when Kirby and Joe Simon were already an established creative team. Kirby found Lee annoying, according to the account, and later suspected Lee had told publisher Martin Goodman that Simon and Kirby planned to leave.
Kirby and Simon had created Captain America, a major success for Timely. After Goodman dismissed them following Captain America Comics #10, Kirby later returned to freelance for the company, which became Marvel in 1961.
The Marvel Method takes shape
In 1961, Lee and Kirby co-created The Fantastic Four. Its first issue was a hit and helped usher in what the account describes as the Marvel Age of comics.
Their work used the Marvel Method: Lee supplied a general story idea, while the artist handled much of the plotting and Lee added dialogue. With this approach, Lee and Kirby co-created characters and series including Thor, the Hulk, the X-Men, Black Panther and Silver Surfer.
Credit became a source of conflict
The account says the dispute was not about the Marvel Method itself, which Kirby had used before working with Lee. Instead, it centered on how Lee and Marvel understood authorship and credit: Lee believed the person writing dialogue should be named the sole writer, while Kirby was generally credited as an artist.
Lee’s public profile brought him much of the attention, leaving Kirby in the background. But interview excerpts collected by the Jack Kirby Museum complicate that account: Kirby said he wrote dialogue in the margins of his drawings and provided extensive story details.
Key points
- Jack Kirby co-created The Avengers with Stan Lee.
- Lee and Kirby also co-created The Fantastic Four and several other major Marvel properties.
- The dispute centered on authorship and credit, not the Marvel Method itself.
- Kirby said he contributed dialogue and detailed story information.