The Marvel Universe is filled with amazing, fantastic and incredible characters from all backgrounds and walks of life. Each and every one of them has their own spectacular abilities and stories, but what’s really important is who the person really is when they’re not saving the world.
That’s exactly what the new documentary Marvel’s Behind the Mask – coming to Disney+ – covers. Iconic creators from throughout the history of Marvel Comics talk about what it takes to make a superhero more than just a flashy costume flying around the city and why it’s so important to include all different types of people in these beloved stories.
On the surface, Marvel’s Behind the Mask is more or less another history lesson on the creation and growth of Marvel Comics. However, what comic creators like Joe Quesada, Larry Hama, Nicole J. Georges and many others are really talking about is creating a character with whom the audience can connect. A superhero with no human identity is simply a colorful suit with miraculous powers. Characters like that are fun, but they’re not someone the readers can relate to.
So what you’re really getting from Marvel’s Behind the Mask is a sort of Master Class on how to create interesting characters who can stand the test of time from creators who have done exactly that. Creating these larger-than-life heroes is great, but it’s the person underneath the costume that the audience loves.
We also get to hear some great stories about legendary Marvel creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and how they created this amazing universe. Kirby’s son Neal discusses how his father put himself into his work while we hear a lot from a younger Stan Lee about inclusion and making the Marvel Universe familiar to the world in which we all live.
My biggest question coming into this documentary was whether or not the topic of secret identities would sustain the full hourlong runtime. While it doesn’t devolve into a simple history lesson on Marvel Comics, it does eventually stray from the subject illustrated in the title. Rather than talking about secret identities, the back half of this doc focuses more on the concept of identity and the inclusion of various types.
The result is a beautiful look at the diverse and ever-growing tapestry that is the Marvel Universe. Those same creators are joined by other voices like Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Rabbi Simcha Weinstein and many others to discuss how important it is for prospective readers, or consumers of any media, to see a reflection of themselves in the stories they read.
Marvel’s Behind the Mask looks at a very wide array of characters from Peter Parker and Luke Cage to Carol Danvers and Kamala Khan. So, while it mostly abandons its original topic, it still looks at the idea of an identity and what it means for readers to identify with these characters.
Marvel's Behind the Mask
With all of the Marvel content on Disney+, of course we’re going to be excited for the next episode of WandaVision or to revisit our favorite films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it’s also great to get original content like this. Marvel’s Behind the Mask serves an educational purpose on an important topic while still being very entertaining and offering a lot for comic fans to enjoy. It may not focus entirely on the subject it originally promised, but its secondary focus is certainly one worth talking about.
Marvel’s Behind the Mask will premiere on Disney+ tomorrow, Friday, February 12.