What makes a superhero? | Stan Lee | TEDxGateway

Stan Lee is known to millions as the man whose Super Heroes propelled Marvel to its preeminent position in the comic book industry. His co-creations include some of the most well-known and beloved superheroes of all time including, Spider-Man™, The Avengers ™, X-Men™, Iron Man™, The Incredible Hulk™, The Fantastic Four™, as well as hundreds of others.

He was inducted into the comic book industry's The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995. And now Stan is all set to launch his first original superhero for India, 'Chakra The Invincible,' on Cartoon Network.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

First of all, I really want to thank you

for letting me speak to TEDxGateway
in India about superheroes.

I wish I could be there in person,
but this is the next best thing.

I would really love to share

some of the things
I've learned over the years

and share them with any artists
and writers in India

who might be wanting
to create new superheroes

and new superhero adventures.

India has been on my mind a lot lately
because I've been working

with my good friend Sharad Devarajan
and with Graphic India

to create a new Indian superhero
named Chakra The Invincible,

who lives in Mumbai.

My goal with Chakra was really simple.

I wanted to bring an Eastern
concept, like the chakras,

to the Western world of superheroes.

And for me, superheroes
will always spark the imagination

of people around the world
regardless of their background,

because I think that people
are always looking for something

that represents the ideal person
or the ideal situation.

Almost all of us have loved fairy tales
when we were young.

Just remember stories
of giants and witches

and wizards and monsters

and things that were so colorful
and bigger than life.

But then, you get a little older
and you're too old to read fairy tales.

But you never outgrow
your love of that type of story.

And if you think about it,

superheroes stories today are really
like fairy tales for grown-ups.

The characters are bigger than life,
just like in fairy tales.

They have the same type of superpowers:

some can fly, some are extra-strong,
some can be invisible.

It gives the viewer and the reader

a chance to relive the excitement
he or she had when they were young.

They're really reading
fairy tales for grown-ups

when they read or when they see
superhero stories today,

and that's why I love them so.

To me, the human aspect of superheroes

has always been, perhaps,
the most important part.

By that, I mean: OK, we assume
your superhero might be extra-strong,

or might be able to fly
or run as fast as a comet,

but unless you care
about the superhero's personal life,

you're just reading a shallow story.

Just because a person has a superpower

doesn't mean he might not
have the same personal problems

that you or I might have.

Maybe he doesn't have enough money,

maybe he has a family problem,

maybe the girl he loves doesn't love him.

Or maybe the girl he loves doesn't want
to be involved with a superhero.

There are so many things you can think of

that round out the character
and the personality,

so the superhero isn't just
one or two dimensional.

You want a three-dimensional superhero

who lives and breathes and worries

and experiences things
just the way you and I do

except for the fact
that she or he has a superpower.

One thing I might mention, most writers -

and I think it's an unfortunate thing -

they try to write something

that they think a certain
audience might enjoy.

I've never been able to do that

because I can't put myself
in the mind of other people.

I only know what I enjoy,

so every time I've written a story,

I've always tried to write
the sort of story

that I, myself would enjoy reading,

a story that would interest me
while I'm writing it

as I'm waiting to find out
what happens next.

And I can't know what other people think,

but I can know what I think,

and I feel I'm not that unusual

if there's a type of story I like.

There must be lots of people
who like the same type of stories.

Therefore, I have always
written to please myself,

not to please a certain type of audience,

because you can't know the audience
as well as you know yourself.

And if I write a story
that I'm enjoying while I'm writing it

and I can't wait to see what happens next,

then I'm hoping that a large
proportion of the public

will feel the same way,
and they'll enjoy it too.

So to sum it up,

I have always tried to please
myself, not other people.

And somehow, it seems to have worked

because I guess I'm not
that different than other people.

So, to wrap it up.

What I suggest is, use your imagination,

don't be afraid to come up
with the wildest thought in the world

if what you create is truly
different and colorful,

and if it's written well,
people will enjoy it.

Now when I say "written well,"

what I mean is you might have
the most fantastic notion in the world,

suddenly you have a man who
can fly faster than the speed of light.

That could be interesting,

but you have to make him believable,

you have to give
the reader or the audience

some reason to think
he really has the ability to do that.

How did he get that power?

Origins of superpowers
are always very interesting.

If you get the right origin,

like, for example, Spiderman
being bitten by a radioactive spider,

at least, then the viewer
has something to hold on to

and to say, "Well, it might have
happened, now I'll enjoy it."

So even though you're writing

what amounts to
a fairy tale for grown-ups,

try to keep enough facts

and try to give enough detail
that the reader or the audience will say,

"Well, it could have happened,"

and then your public
goes along with the fun.

But if you make it too wild,

and you don't give any reason
why it is as wild as it is,

then sometimes it can be overkill.

So what I'm trying to say is,
let your imagination flow freely,

but always base what happens
on some sort of provable fact

so that the reader or the viewer
will go along with it

and enjoy it as much
as you enjoy writing it.

So good luck to you!

Thanks for listening
and I really enjoyed talking to you.

Excelsior!