Stan Lee's Mighty 7 (SLAM 7) is a media franchise of a fictional superhero team originally published as a Stan Lee Comics line comic book title.

History

''Stan Lee's Secret Super Six'' property of Stan Lee's

POW! Entertainment POW! Entertainment Inc. is an American media production company formed in 2001 by Gill Champion, Arthur Lieberman and former Marvel Comics editor and publisher Stan Lee. POW! is made up of two companies: POW! Entertainment, Inc. (POW! Inc.), a ...

was signed with

Andy Heyward Andrew B. Heyward (born February 19, 1949) is the former Chairman and CEO of DIC Entertainment, an animation production company. He is currently CEO of Genius Brands International. Early life Heyward was born in New York City, New York, the ...

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production com ...

on a TV series production deal in July 2003. The property is about alien super powered teens taught by Lee about humanity. In February 2010, POW! partnered with Andy Heyward's A Squared Entertainment (now a part of Genius Brands International) and Archie Comics to create the Stan Lee Comics print and digital line starting with the retitled ''Stan Lee's Super Seven''. In August, Super7, a toy manufacturer, sued POW! and partners over Stan Lee Comics' ''Super Seven''. In March 2012, the first issue of the renamed "Stan Lee's Mighty 7" six issue miniseries was published. Also in 2012, A² took over Archies' ownership stake in Stan Lee Comics. In March 2013,

Hub Network Discovery Family is an American cable television channel co-owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Hasbro Entertainment. The channel was originally launched by Discovery Communications on October 7, 1996 as Discovery Kids, a spin-off of Discove ...

picked up its first work from POW, "Stan Lee's Mighty 7", animated pilot movie to be aired in early 2014. By January 2014, Stan Lee Comics had the second film in production for a late 2014 release while an animated TV series was in development and expected to premier in 2015 along with the final film early that year. The first batch of licensing deals were made in February 2014 by Genius Brands on Stan Lee Comics behalf. Black Lantern agreed to develop a video game. While Factory Entertainment has the worldwide toy license and Zak Designs has the mealtime & on-the-go products for Canada and the US. Clothing licensees included Fame Jeans, Greensource, Adtn International, and JCorp with a targeted spring product launches. Two more films and a TV series were planned to air on Hub Network, but due to the channel being replaced by Discovery Family; none of these productions aired. Also that month, A² merged with Genius Brands with the Heywards of A2 taking over management of the post-merger Genius Brands.

Comic book

Publication history

In February 2010, the Stan Lee Comics print and digital comic book line was announced with the first title "Stan Lee's Super Seven" plan to be launched in July.

Tom DeFalco Tom DeFalco (born June 26, 1950) is an American comic book writer and editor well known for his association with Marvel Comics, with long runs on ''Amazing Spider-Man'', ''Thor'', and ''Fantastic Four''. Career While in college, DeFalco "wrote fo ...

was initially chosen as the main author. In the fall, animated webisodes were expected to start up. In August, Super7, a toy manufacturer, sued over Stan Lee's ''Super Seven'' for trademark infringement. In March 2012, the first issue of renamed "Stan Lee's Mighty 7" six issue miniseries was published. The first two issues sold out. Only three issues were printed because of interest in using the concept for a possible animated series or movie trilogy. Digital issues were supposed to resume in 2014, but as of 2015 it hasn't happened.

Plot

The concept is that Stan Lee is a character in the story, as himself, who runs into two groups of aliens that he mentors to be a superhero team while he uses them to write comic books. The aliens consist of two marshals transporting five criminals that crash land on Earth. Besides Lee, a covert government agency is aware that they land with a leader of a military unit becoming an antagonist of the team.

Animated film

Film history

In April 2012, ''Stan Lee's Mighty 7'' was slated to be developed into media formats via A Squared Elxsi Entertainment LLC (A2E2). A²E2 is a joint-venture between A Squared Entertainment (A²) and

Tata Elxsi The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continents ...

formed in January 2011 which Elxsi ends in October 2012. In September 2012, A² signed a foreign distribution agreement with

PGS Entertainment PGS Entertainment is a French-Swiss privately owned investment family group dedicated to the financing and brand management of independent producers' children's television programming. PGS' broadcast and media partners include Nickelodeon, Disney ...

for its programming library, including the Mighty 7 pilot animated movie with a possible 26 episode pickup. Also,

Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment (formerly known as Vivendi Entertainment, Vivendi Visual Entertainment and Visual Entertainment) is an independent film, television, DVD and digital distribution company operating in the United States and Canada. It is ...

was signed on as home video distributor and

as its world television premiere channel. PGS Entertainment was shopping Mighty 7 as a trilogy of animated movies at MIP-TV in April 2013. On March 16, 2013, Hub Network announced its pick up of "Stan Lee's Mighty 7" animated pilot movie. Two more films and a TV series were planned to air on Hub Network, but due to the channel being replaced by Discovery Family; none of these productions have aired as of August 21, 2015 and it is unknown if they were ever completed due to Stan Lee's death in November 2018. Also that month, A² merged with Genius Brands with the Heywards of A2 taking over management of the post-merger Genius Brands. Genius Brands International in March 2015 placed the movie's rights with: * TF1 for pan-European, French-speaking VOD, SVOD and EST rights, *

Teletoon Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and "cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts an ...

for Canada broadcasting rights *Sony's

Pop Channel Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

for UK broadcasting rights *The Movie Partnership for market representation of all UK digital rights *Telepictures Promoter for Middle East and North Africa Arabic-speaking countries broadcast TV rights. ''Beginnings'' premiered on February 1, 2014. On April 15, "Stan Lee's Mighty 7: Beginnings" was released on DVD and Blu-ray via Cinedigm at Walmart and Sam's Club for an initial exclusive window. The DVD had a number of Stan Lee featuring material.

Cast and characters

* Stan Lee as himself *

Armie Hammer Armand Douglas Hammer (born August 28, 1986) is an American actor. Hammer began his acting career with guest appearances in several television series. His first leading role was as Billy Graham in the 2008 film '' Billy: The Early Years'', and ...

as Strong Arm, the superhero with super strength. *

Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut with a leading role in ''The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakthrough role as Jason "J.D." D ...

as Lazer Lord, the superhero who hurls balls of laser energy. *

Mayim Bialik Mayim Chaya Bialik ( ; born December 12, 1975) is an American actress, game show host, and author. From 1991 to 1995, she played the title character of the NBC sitcom ''Blossom''. From 2010 to 2019, she played neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler on ...

as Lady Lightning, who possesses super speed. *

Teri Hatcher Teri Lynn Hatcher (born December 8, 1964) is an American actress best known for her portrayals of Lois Lane on the television series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' (1993–1997); Paris Carver in the ''James Bond'' film '' Tom ...

as Silver Skylark, the superhero who flies. *

Flea Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, a ...

as Roller Man, who rolls into a big ball and launches at high speed. *

Darren Criss Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He rose to fame starring on the television series '' Glee'' (2010–2015) and received Emmy and Golden Globe acting awards for his leading role as spree ...

as Micro, who shrinks in size. *

Sean Astin Sean Patrick Astin (né Duke; February 25, 1971) is an American actor. His acting roles include Samwise Gamgee in ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003), Mikey Walsh in ''The Goonies'' (1985), Daniel Ruettiger in '' Rudy'' (1993), Dou ...

as Kid Kinergy, whose superpower is telekinesis. *

Jim Belushi James Adam Belushi (; born June 15, 1954) is an American actor. He is best known for the role of Jim on the sitcom ''According to Jim'' (2001–2009). His other television roles include ''Saturday Night Live'' (1983–1985), '' Total Security'' ...

as Mr. Cross, the leader of a covert operations military division assigned to investigate UFO sightings. *

Michael Ironside Frederick Reginald Ironside (born February 12, 1950), known as Michael Ironside, is a Canadian actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He is known for playing villains and "tough guy" heroes, and has also portrayed sympathetic characters. E ...

as Xanar, the leader of the warring aliens from the planet Taegon who enslave other planets and raid their natural resources."

Stan Lee Comics

Stan Lee Comics, LLC is a comic book and licensing joint venture of

and

Genius Brands Genius Brands International (GBI) is an entertainment company headed by Andy Heyward. The company was formed from the merger of Genius Brands International and A Squared Entertainment. History 2014–2015 Genius Brands International (GBI) was f ...

. In February 2010, POW! partnered with

's A Squared Entertainment (now a part of Genius Brands International) and Archie Comics to create the Stan Lee Comics joint venture. The second title announced for the imprint was ''The Governator'' on March 30, 2011 with the comic book title coming out first in 2012 as part of larger set of releases. The title was soon place on hold with the rest of the franchise in May 2011.

References

External links

* * {{Stan Lee 2010s animated superhero films American children's animated science fiction films American children's animated superhero films Film superheroes Works by Stan Lee American flash animated films 2010s American animated films