WWDC2016 Session 108

Transcript

[ Music ]
[ Applause ]
>> Hello true believers!
So, let me know, do we have
any Marvel fans in the house?
[ Cheering ]
Alright! Good to hear!
So, you know the phrase,
with great power comes
great responsibility.
Right? So, you've heard that
from Spider-Man stories,
whether that's comic books
or TV shows or films,
but really the phrase connects
to all these characters up here.
Our heroes and our villains,
see the only difference
between our heroes and our
villains is how they decide
to respond, the choices they
make once they realize they
to respond, the choices they
make once they realize they
have power.
So, that's the phrase;
with great power comes
great responsibility.
And I learned that
phrase early on.
See, like the characters
I had moments in my life
that made me make decisions.
I was lucky, when I was very
young, when I was like four
or five, my mom let
me watch reruns
of the 1960s Spider-Man
cartoon that was kind of made
up with panels from
the comic book.
And something about Spider-Man
just grabbed my attention.
I don't know if it was
those bright primary colors;
the red and the blue.
Perhaps it was his
big white eyes.
Maybe it was because
he was young and funny.
I don't know, but something
about Spider-Man
really grabbed me
like no other character
had before.
In fact, I was into him so much
I remember two years later,
it was the book fair for my
second grade class at school,
it was the book fair for my
second grade class at school,
and I walked in and there
against the back wall
I saw Spider-Man.
Not actually Spider-Man,
it was a small reprint,
a paperback sized reprint
of his comic books;
Amazing Spider-Man
seven through 13.
I never forget, and I walked up
and I grabbed it,
and I bought it.
And I read that book over
and over and over again.
And it opened my eyes
to a whole new world.
It introduced me to
the Marvel Universe,
and from that moment
on I was hooked.
That was my thing, comic books.
And I was one of those crazy
kids who never stopped.
I read them through grade
school, through high school,
and even through college.
And I had a pretty good
collection until the summer
between my freshman and
sophomore year at college.
It was -- I remember
it was one evening
and I saw some weird
lights out the window.
This was an apartment I was
living in with my mother,
This was an apartment I was
living in with my mother,
my parents had divorced
when I was in high school.
So, I saw these weird lights.
I go outside and I see
that the apartment building
that we live in is on fire.
And the flames were
starting over on one side
and our apartment
unit was down here.
And as the flames started going
across the building I
was running in and out
of the apartment
building grabbing things
that I thought we
couldn't replace.
So, these were years before we
had such things as an iPhone,
I know horrible, so our
pictures were physical,
they were in photo albums.
So, I was running in
and out of the building,
our apartment building,
grabbing photo albums,
I was grabbing some
pieces of furniture,
pictures off the wall,
whatever I could grab
that I thought had
sentimental value.
And then I remember
the lights went
out in the building,
no more electricity.
And I knew I had one
more chance to go in.
So, I run in, I can't see
really, I'm feeling my way
So, I run in, I can't see
really, I'm feeling my way
through the apartment, down
the hallway, into my bedroom,
I open my closet door
to get one more thing
from the apartment,
a box of comic books.
Now you might think
that's kind of crazy.
Why would someone run
into a building that's
on fire to get comic books?
Well, I mean at that moment
it kind of crystalized
in my mind how much the comics
and these characters
meant to me.
So, I mentioned my parents
had a divorce, and if anyone
who has been through a divorce,
or experienced it as a child,
you know how unsettling it is,
and it sort of rolls this
grenade into your life.
But during that, during
our moving around,
whatever was happening in
my life, and even the fire,
I had really good friends,
friends that helped me
through these events in my life.
And luckily those friends helped
guide me eventually to work
And luckily those friends helped
guide me eventually to work
for Marvel, the company I dreamt
of working for ever since I was
that little kid watching
the cartoon.
And when I got to Marvel, that's
when the real learning began,
and that's when that mantra,
with great power comes great
responsibility, really sunk in.
See not only does it
apply to our characters,
and the decisions they must
make with their abilities,
it also applies to us,
the employees at Marvel.
So, we say to ourselves,
what is our power.
Well, our power is
we're able to work
with these amazing
characters, only we can.
Our other power is our
storytelling skills.
We think we're pretty good at
telling stories, whether it's
in film, or in print,
or through video games.
That's where I work now,
as the Creative Director
for the Marvel Games Division.
So, if that is our power, the
characters and the stories
So, if that is our power, the
characters and the stories
that we tell with them,
what is our responsibility?
Well, our responsibilities
are to create stories
that in some way help people.
That connect to them,
that speak to them,
and hopefully give them
inspiration in a way
that they can then
apply it to their lives.
Now, I mentioned I had
some friends, some friends
that helped me through my
life and led me to Marvel,
and to embrace power
and responsibility.
And even though we grew
up at different times,
probably in different
locations around America,
and if not around the world,
I think you know my friends.
I think you do.
Let's see, there's six of them
I want to talk about today.
My first friend, he was a skinny
kid, he grew up in Queens,
and he really wanted to
give back to his country.
He wanted to serve the country,
and he thought the best way
He wanted to serve the country,
and he thought the best way
that he could do that would
be joining the military.
And so he would go -- he
went to a recruitment office
and they turned him away.
They said he was too skinny.
He had flat feet.
They didn't want him.
But that did not
deter my friend.
He kept going to different
recruitment offices.
And there was a soldier
who was going on a mission,
and he went from one
recruitment office
to another collecting some
papers, and he saw my friend.
And he said, didn't I -- I just
saw that kid at the other place.
And he said, to his
fellow soldiers,
that's the guy we want.
And the other one said, him?
The skinny one?
And he said, yeah.
See, it's not about
this muscle right here,
it's about this muscle.
I can see this kid has heart.
He's not giving up.
That's the kind of person
we want in our army.
So, my friend was lucky.
He succeeded.
He got in.
He became a soldier.
He not only became a soldier,
some called him a super soldier.
In fact some call him a
living legend of World War II.
In fact some call him a
living legend of World War II.
So, I guess you can guess
my first friend, right?
[ Inaudible Audience Response ]
Captain America!
So, here is the cover
to his first comic.
See the date up there, 1941.
And what's remarkable and
really cool about this cover?
Well, what is he doing on it?
Who's he punching?
Hitler! Because that's
what you would do, right?
If you were in a room with
Hitler and you had the shield
and the powers, you'd sock
him in the jaw [laughter].
Little problem with that.
See, this comic was
published in the summer, 1941.
Months before December,
months before Pearl Harbor,
months before America was
officially entered into the war.
So, when his creators, Jack
Kirby and Joe Simon came
to work they were in trouble.
There were protesters
outside and when they got
There were protesters
outside and when they got
up into the offices
of Timely Comics,
and that's what Marvel was
before they were Marvel,
they were called Timely,
they got up to the offices,
they were yelled at
by the publisher.
He said, Jack and Joe,
what are you doing?
You've published a comic book
with a character named
Captain America, of all things,
and he's wrapped in the
American Flag, and he's punching
in the face the leader
of a country
that we are not at war with.
What the hell are you doing?
Now, it was at that
moment someone came running
in from the sales department;
boss, boss, look at the numbers!
Keep doing it [laughter].
It was an immediate
hit, sold out.
Why? Because it was
wish fulfillment.
Jack and Joe were
using comic books
as their art form
to make a statement.
They were both Jewish.
They had relatives and
friends back in Europe.
They had relatives and
friends back in Europe.
They knew what was going on.
They knew about the ghettos.
They knew about the work camps.
They knew what the
Nazis were doing
and they thought America should
go over there and stop them.
It's also important -- what
did they give Captain America?
What is he holding?
Is it a bazooka?
Is it a machine gun?
No, it's a shield.
Like I said, these
comics are an art form.
They send messages.
So, I think they chose a shield
because what does a shield do?
Well, it defends him.
Look, it's blocking that bullet.
They're saying a message
that Captain America
and America itself should
go over and protect those
that can't protect themselves.
So, it was a big hit.
But like I said, it
was controversial
because some felt we should
still be isolationists.
And why are we -- why is
he punching the leader
of this nation?
But they thought it was more
important to make the statement.
But they thought it was more
important to make the statement.
And that's not the last time
that we've made statements
with Captain America.
So, here we have a cover
to an issue that came
out just a year ago, but you
see that's someone different
in the suit, right?
So, you see above the Captain
America name, Sam Wilson,
The Falcon, who you may
know from the films;
from Captain America
Winter Soldier,
Captain America Civil War.
In the comic books
he was Cap's partner.
In fact there was a time,
for about 50 issues,
where they changed the name
of the comic book and it went
from being Captain America to
Captain America and Falcon.
And I know for me as a young
boy, to see a white man
and a black man, from
different backgrounds as equals,
working together, that
had an effect on me.
So, we recently did a story
where Steve's Super Soldier
Serum was running out,
and he said to Sam, America
still needs a Captain America.
and he said to Sam, America
still needs a Captain America.
Will you take the shield?
Will you take over for me?
And we did -- and he said, yes.
We published this, and of
course we had some reactions.
People were not happy,
and we get it.
People feel -- why
are you messing
around with my character?
You know, you're ruining them.
Why are you changing thing?
And we even get people
saying, you know,
why have you turned
Captain America black?
And we had to say, well we
didn't turn Steve Rogers a
different -- make him
into a different race.
This is actually Sam
Wilson, and he's earned this.
He's stood behind
Captain America,
and with him, for decades.
He deserves his chance
to be Captain America.
Now why did we do this?
Well, we like to try different
things with our characters
and stretch the brand
and push the brand,
but we also like to say things.
So, I'm just thinking
in my mind,
and I don't know exactly what
the creators were saying,
but I think perhaps
they were saying
that it doesn't matter what
the color of your skin is,
that it doesn't matter what
the color of your skin is,
if you have the heart.
If you have the heart you
can be Captain America too.
My next friend, he
was also a skinny kid.
He was from Queens as well.
He was a bit of what
you would call a nerd.
He was picked on by the jocks.
See he was really into
science, my friend.
And he was an orphan
and he was raised
by an older aunt and uncle.
And he really felt the
world was against him.
And one day his uncle said
to him, hey, when you grow
up you're going to have a lot of
power because -- you're smart.
So, when you do grow
up you should use your
powers responsibly.
And my friend kind
of said, whatever.
And when he grew up and he was
a teenager he realized he was
pretty smart and he did
have some amazing abilities,
and one night he was out and
there was a cop, police officer,
and one night he was out and
there was a cop, police officer,
chasing a thief and the
cop was yelling, hey,
hey help me stop this thief.
And my friend said, from now on
I'm looking out for number one,
and he took a step back.
And that thief ran by,
and as fate would have it
two days later that thief ran
into my friend's uncle
and shot him dead.
And my friend said, if only
I'd listened to my uncle,
one of the only nice
men in my life.
If I'd listened to him
he would still be alive
and my aunt wouldn't be
devastated by his loss.
And from that moment forward,
as a dedication to his uncle,
he decided, I will use
my powers responsibly.
So, who am I talking about?
My next friend -- Spider-Man!
So, now it's 1963.
I mention that because all
of our creators were
using our comics to talk
about what's going
on around them.
And this was really the birth
of the Marvel Character.
And what do I mean by that?
Well, Spider-Man looked
a little different
Well, Spider-Man looked
a little different
than heroes that came before.
And once you start reading
his adventures you found
out he was truly different.
And his creators, Stan Lee and
Steve Ditko, they got yelled
at too when they came into work.
So, they came into work and
the publisher, Martin Goodman,
said, what are you doing?
You've published a comic with a
character named after a spider
and he has an insect
on his chest.
Everybody hates bugs.
What are you doing?
And you've covered his face.
He looks like a bank robber.
We can't see his face.
And worst of all,
he's a teenager!
Teenagers should be sidekicks.
Who wants to read
about a teenager?
Well, the new generation did.
So, the greatest generation
is back from World War II.
It's 20 years later.
It's the rise of
the teenage culture.
They have disposable income.
They want to read about
heroes that are different.
They want to read about
heroes that are like them.
They want to read about heroes
that are a little more
relatable, who are not perfect,
that are a little more
relatable, who are not perfect,
they're not square jawed
aliens from another world,
or rich billionaires, they
are skinny Peter Parker
from Queens who gets picked on.
But the publisher
didn't realize this,
didn't know who was
going to read this book.
And so he's yelling
at Stan and Steve,
what the hell are you doing?
As you can guess, at that moment
in comes someone from sales.
Boss, boss, look at
the sales numbers!
Keep doing it!
Another hit.
And you can see what made
him really different.
I mean check out poor Peter
over there in the bow tie,
and the glasses, and the kids
pointing at him, and laughing
at him, and as you can see, via
the art, without reading a word,
you see that he's ostracized.
He feels alone.
He is an underdog.
But look behind him.
Look at the shadow
of the hero within.
And don't we all feel
that way sometimes.
And don't we all feel
that way sometimes.
We feel the world is against us.
We feel the world is judging us,
but we know, we know within us,
if given the opportunity,
lies greatness.
So, as with Captain America,
Spider-Man was a
bit controversial
when he came out,
with some readers.
They didn't get it.
But many more did.
And that wasn't the only
controversial things
that we did with him.
Let's see, in 1970 the president
happened to be Richard Nixon,
believe it or not, went to Stan
Lee, and President Nixon said,
Stan we have this
problem with drugs.
And we're going to lose
a lot of young people.
And President Nixon knew
how popular the comics were,
that Marvel were publishing.
And he said, could
you do a comic book
that would mention
the drug problem?
Stan thought about it and he
said, you know what, I will.
And what was remarkable
is he did it in the pages
And what was remarkable
is he did it in the pages
of Amazing Spider-Man.
Now we had many characters
to choose from.
Stan could have selected one
of our less popular
characters, but he didn't.
He picked Spider-Man.
Now, you'll see there's
something that's not
on this cover.
Now see up there on the top
right of Amazing Fantasy 15.
That's the Comic's
Code Authority Stamp,
was a seal of approval
that basically told parents
that the comic was safe for
younger readers to read,
it didn't have, you
know certain levels
of violence, things like that.
What's not on this cover?
There's no Comic's Code.
See what happened was,
when we were ready
to publish it Stan
gave the comic
to the Comic's Code Authority
to read and to give their stamp
of approval and the Comic's Code
said, you can't publish this.
Stan said, why not?
He said because it
mentions drugs.
Stan said, but it's not
doing it in a positive way.
It's an antidrug story.
And they said, we don't care.
You -- the Comic's Code says
there can be no mention of drugs
in the comic, so you
can't publish this
in the comic, so you
can't publish this
with the Comic's Code
Stamp of Approval.
And Stan said, good, we're
going to publish it anyway;
without the Comic's Code.
First time that happened,
and it was a hit.
People really responded to it.
They responded to, really kind
of a smart, difficult story.
In the story Peter's
roommate, Harry Osborn,
the son of the Green
Goblin, had a pill problem,
and Spider-Man had to council
him and finally get him help.
But they handled it in
a way that the readers
at the time could appreciate.
Stan was really speaking to
the readers in a language
that they wanted to hear.
But, as you can guess, it
was a little controversial,
but sometimes we've
got to take a stand.
Right? We have to use
art to send a message.
But it didn't stop
there, with that issue.
No. We use Spider-Man
from time to time
to speak to other things.
So, in this case it was
2011, and we had a line
of comics called The Ultimate
Line of Marvel Comics.
of comics called The Ultimate
Line of Marvel Comics.
They were set on another
world where we kind
of started -- we started now.
Rather than having our
history starting in the 60s,
we kind of started
this new line,
but wanted to make it different.
We wanted to make it unexpected.
And so actually on that
world that Peter Parker died
in battle protecting Aunt
May from the Green Goblin.
And in that reality there was
a boy named Miles Morales,
who happened to also be
infected by a spider bite.
And when that world's Peter
Parker died Miles decided the
world still needs a Spider-Man.
So, he made his own
costume and he became
that world's Spider-Man.
And, as you can see, looks a
bit different from Peter, right?
He's half African American,
and he's half Puerto Rican.
And I remember the day I came
into work, I was an editor
at the time for Marvel
Publishing.
An editor is sort
of like a producer,
we're selecting the writers
and the artists to work
on the series, and we're working
with them through every step
on the series, and we're working
with them through every step
of the way, deciding
what's printed on the cover
to what's in the word balloons.
We work on everything.
And we also have access
to an email account
called mheros@marvel.com,
and people can write in letters.
Usually they write in and say,
why can't Peter Parker
marry Jane,
be happily married ever after?
Why can't Rogue and
Gambit just be together?
Why are you so cruel to them?
Because drama, that's why.
So, that --
[ Applause ]
So, I remember I came
in and our offices
and that email account
were flooded with letters.
And some of them weren't happy.
One was from a dad, I'll never
forget it, he wrote and he said,
when my kids get home from
school I'm going to take them
to the backyard and
I'm going to stack
up all their Spider-Man comics
and I'm going to burn them.
He said, why did you make -- why
did you turn Spider Man black?
He said, why did you make -- why
did you turn Spider Man black?
Why did you do this?
Why with your East
Coast liberal views?
Why are you ruining our hero?
So, I wrote to him and I
said, Sir, you don't have
to buy a single additional
issue of this series,
but just so you know,
in the regular Marvel Universe
Peter Parker is alive and well.
But we're offering an
alternative with a Spider-Man
that looks a bit different.
So, I said, you don't have
to buy any new issues,
but please don't burn
your kids' comics.
It will not have the effect on
them that you think it will.
It will be far, far worse.
Now he didn't respond.
I don't know if he
burned them or not.
I'd like to hope he didn't.
Who can say?
But I can say, immediately
after reading
that I read a great letter.
A young woman wrote in
and said, thank you.
A young woman wrote in
and said, thank you.
She says, now my little brother
has a Spider-Man that looks just
like him, and he feels great.
He feels he is represented
up here, on this cover.
And that's why we do it.
[ Applause ]
Alright, my next
friend -- let's see.
Oh, he really loved his dad.
His dad led this --
more than a business --
like an empire, you could say.
My friend really -- he
loved him, and he hoped
to one day take over for him.
And as fate would have
it, his dad was killed,
and my friend did have to step
in for him and run the empire.
And he found it was so much more
challenging than he ever knew,
and he realized it was
constantly under attack
by others outside of it.
And he had to find the
courage within himself to step
And he had to find the
courage within himself to step
into the boots of his father,
but to become his own person.
I'm talking about
The Black Panther,
who many of you may
have been introduced
to in the latest Captain
America Civil War movie.
So, Black Panther was
introduced in the pages
of The Fantastic Four, 1966.
And it was remarkable because
it was the first black character
introduced by one of the
major comic book publishers.
And what's also crazy cool is
that he was no one's sidekick.
He was no one's servant.
When the Fantastic Four
answered his invitation to go
to his nation of Wakanda,
this was a country we made
up that was in Africa.
They saw that he was a king,
and he was a king of a nation
that was the world's
most technologically
advanced country.
And so again, I think the
creators, this time Stan Lee
and Jack Kirby, were
making a statement.
and Jack Kirby, were
making a statement.
Were making a statement just in
the choices they were making.
And people loved Black
Panther right away.
And they were very smart in
the stories they told with him,
and I think they told some
very symbolic stories,
like this next cover.
So, here we are in
the 70s, and yeah,
Black Panther is
taking on the Klan.
He's actually ripping himself
off a cross before they set it
on fire.
What an emotional,
powerful, symbolic image.
One of the things I love about
him is that he's outnumbered.
I love that they chose, not
to just have one Klan member
at the bottom, but there's
a whole group of them.
This always -- this again
speaks to the Marvel message
of underdogs feeling
outnumbered,
feeling the world is against
you, but deciding to fight back,
deciding to do the
right thing anyway.
My next friend, she
was an orphan too.
My next friend, she
was an orphan too.
I think I should stop
there and talk about;
what's up with all the orphans?
Well, in any sort of art form
you have to make decisions to --
especially in fiction --
you want to get the audience
on the side of your character,
and if you have limited time,
say a limited page count of a
comic book or a limited time
in a movie or in a video game,
you have to make
choices right away
that helps your audience
connect with your character.
So, that's why you -- it's a
tradition in heroic fiction,
all these orphans; Luke
Skywalker, Harry Potter,
every Disney princess,
poor Bambi.
There goes mama [laughter]
Why do we do this?
Because again, we're
trying to get the audience
on the side of the hero.
And what's the one thing that
everyone can either fear,
or if it's unfortunate enough
to have gone through it,
or if it's unfortunate enough
to have gone through it,
to sympathize with,
losing the parents,
something everyone can fear.
So, it gets your audience
on the side of the hero.
It also literally forces the
character out of the nest.
Our characters must now
stand on their own two feet
and again make their choices
about power and responsibility.
So, that's why you often see
it in super heroes like this.
So, my next friend;
she was an orphan
and she felt like a freak.
She was like this friend,
she was born in Africa,
and she had silver hair.
She was black but she had
silver hair and she felt
like everyone was judging
her and condemning her
and thinking she was some
sort of witch or a monster.
And one day this really nice
teacher came up to her and said,
you're not cursed,
you're blessed.
I want you to come with me
to my school in Westchester
where everyone looks really
cool and we have these cool jets
where everyone looks really
cool and we have these cool jets
to fly around in, and together
we're going to go around
and we're going to show
the world that people
like you are not evil.
That people like you are good.
And we can all work together
to create a better world.
So, can you guess
my next friend?
Storm! Storm, a mutant.
In the Marvel universe we
kind of divide the characters
by how they get their powers.
So, if you get bitten
by a radioactive spider,
or if it's cosmic rays,
or if it's gamma rays,
the creators were really
grappling with the Cold War
at the time, and the
fear of the bomb.
That's why there's all this
radiation in our characters.
But if you're a mutant you
are just born different,
it's in your genes
from the start,
and when you hit puberty, ta da!
You're body starts changing,
and in the case of the mutants,
you grow wings, lasers
shoot out of your eyes.
And isn't that what you felt
like when you were
going through puberty?
I did. And so the
teacher I was talking
about is Professor X, right?
And so he comes up to
the mutants and he says,
And so he comes up to
the mutants and he says,
come with me and we're
going to change the world.
We're going to show the world
that mutants and humans can live
and work together
to change the world.
And it's a great message.
And another message
was sent by this cover.
I've mentioned America a
lot in this discussion.
And super humans are a
uniquely American invention.
We came up with them and I
think we do them really great,
and you could say right now
it's one of our greatest gifts
to the world is the super hero.
We export the super
hero around the world.
But this issue was different.
This issue introduced
international characters.
So, you have Storm
up there flying.
The big metal guy is
Colossus, he is Russian.
And to me, as a kid,
that was huge.
My mom was Ukrainian, and so I
remember growing up in the 80s,
you know anyone from
Eastern European,
and anywhere near Russia was,
you know those were
commies, they're evil.
But in the comics I saw that,
no, Russians can be good.
Colossus is a hero.
It meant a lot to me.
So, also you see Nightcrawler,
with the blue face, he's German.
Wolverine, with the
claws, from Canada.
True story.
International group.
Again, I think they were making
a choice deliberately to say,
again, it doesn't
matter who you are
or where you come from,
we can all be heroes.
We can all be heroes.
And storm was really unique
because she wasn't only
just really powerful,
she can control the weather,
she can make it thunder
and lightning and storm.
Not only that, but she had
real strength of character.
I mean look at this next cover.
That's her rocking
the Grace Jones look,
with the mohawk and the leather.
And she was saying to the
world, hey this is me.
Love me or hate me,
this is who I am.
Now, this issue was significant
because she actually challenged
Cyclops for leadership
of the X-Men, and she did it
at a time when she was zapped
by a gun and she didn't
even have her mutant powers.
But she was very smart
and she was crafty,
and she beat Cyclops.
So, here I am, this white kid.
At the time I was living
down south in Tennessee,
and I read a comic book where a
black woman defeats a white man
for leadership of Marvel's most
popular and powerful super team.
And you know what I said, and
readers around the world said?
We said, alright!
Cool! She's earned it.
So, I think stories like this,
and images like this,
they have an impact.
And Storm isn't the only
powerful female that we have.
We actually have a
tradition of strong women.
In the movies you've seen Black
Widow and Scarlett, which,
we announced we're finally going
to do a female solo
movie, Captain Marvel.
We have a history of
these strong women and we
like to celebrate them.
So, this year we did an
event called Women of Power.
We were going to -- it
was kind of a salute
to International
Women's History Day.
to International
Women's History Day.
And so we said, let's do a
whole month to celebrate.
So, up top you see these images.
We created these covers.
We created 24 different
variant covers that were going
to go on our comic books.
And I knew we were doing
this months in advance.
So, I called up my
friends in publishing,
because at this point I'm now --
was over in California working
for the Marvel Games team
as Creative Director --
and I said, hey, let's team up.
I want to do women of
power in our games.
And they said, well how
are you going to do that?
I said, I'm going to call all
of our different partners,
who create all of our mobile
games, and I'm going to ask them
if they want to participate.
I'm going to say, hey do you
have any female characters
that you were going to
introduce in the games?
Do you want to hold
them until that month?
And everyone whose logo
you see up there said, yes!
And so we did the Women
of Power event in games.
It was covered by
Entertainment Weekly,
and then Forbes picked it up.
And it was a way for
us to make a statement
without even saying anything.
See, at the time,
you know the story
See, at the time,
you know the story
of Gamer Gate was in the news.
And people were asking me, what
do you think of Gamer Gate?
And I said, what do I think?
I -- we love our female readers.
We love our female characters.
We love our -- most of
our staff is female.
We want to invite
everybody to the party.
And that's what the Women
of Power event represented.
And that's what it
said with us having
to make a statement on it.
My last-- Yes!
[ Applause ]
Let's see, my next friend --
I lied a bit, it's
actually a group.
It's a group of friends,
but they're so united
I think of them as one.
These friends, like my
other friends, were orphaned
in some way, and
they felt alone,
and they felt like misfits.
But they ran into each
other and they looked around
and they said, you know what?
You're my kind of misfit.
And they formed a
new family together,
and they were all very
different, but they said,
and they were all very
different, but they said,
you know despite our differences
we can stand together
and we can save,
not only the world,
we can save the entire galaxy.
My next friends, The
Guardians of the Galaxy.
Now this -- Yeah!
Yes, that's a talking
raccoon and a walking tree,
that does deserve applause!
So, this cover that came out in
2008, I was actually the editor
of the series at the time.
I was asked to edit
our Cosmic Books,
and I wanted to do a team book.
I had a book that was a
solo hero called Nova.
And I said, well now I want to
do a team, but I want it to be,
you know the freaks and geeks
of the Marvel Cosmic Heroes.
I want it to be a
true Marvel creation.
And then I got this name,
Guardians of the Galaxy.
There was a team in
the 70s with that name.
And we hadn't used that
name in a long time.
And I'm like, I want to use
-- this name is perfect.
You hear it and you know
instantly what they do;
they guard the galaxy.
So, one night I have
my official handbooks
of the Marvel Universe, they're
these encyclopedias, right?
And they -- with
these bio-entries.
And I have them open, and
I have them putting --
and I'm going through and I'm
finding all these characters
that I remember from
when I was little and --
but we haven't seen
them in a while.
So, I'm putting sticky
notes on all these pages,
and I have them spread
out on the floor.
And my wife comes in and she
says, Billy, what are you doing?
You're making a mess!
I said, honey, I'm building
Marvel's next great team,
and this is going
to be our star.
And I show her a page and
she says, is that a squirrel?
And I said, it's a raccoon!
Back in the 80s there was
a mini-series called Rocket
Raccoon that I thought
was just awesome.
I mean it was a raccoon with
a big gun and a jet pack
and a bad attitude, and
who doesn't love that?
And I thought if we just
give them the right platform,
then the world will love him.
And I just continued
on that role
and I found all these
crazy characters.
Groot, a walking tree and Drax,
this weird, big, muscular,
Groot, a walking tree and Drax,
this weird, big, muscular,
but not too smart assassin, and
Gamora, the most deadliest woman
in the galaxy, and that's
Star-Lord there holding the gun.
And it didn't have a huge
following, but the people
that read the comic
really loved it.
And I remember one
day my phone rings.
Hello. It's a friend over on the
West Coast and he's like, Bill,
the crew here in Marvel Studios,
we really like your
Cosmic Books,
especially Guardians
of the Galaxy.
I'm like, that's cool.
Cool bud, I'm glad you like it.
No, no, we really like it!
So, what does that mean?
Can't tell you, bye.
Click. Well, what do
I see months later?
The movie poster.
And I said, that's
our Guardians!
They made it about our team!
And it was remarked
about the film --
and of course it was great,
the script was fantastic,
and of course it was great,
the script was fantastic,
and the director, James Gunn,
and the cast, just beautiful,
it was awesome and --
but what was unique
about it was the
content was rather new
for a Marvel Studios movie.
Usually we look back, if
you think about Iron Man
and Captain America, we look
back at the original comics back
in the 60s and even
in Cap's case the 40s,
and we base the stories on that.
But they were basing
this content
from just a few years ago.
And it was characters that
no one knew about really.
When you see the
movie you walk in
and assume these are new created
characters, but they're not.
They're decades old.
They're from the 80s and the 70s
and even the 60s
these characters.
And they're crazy.
They're freaky, right?
They're -- it's like
a raccoon and a tree.
And people are like,
is this going to be --
I remember the headlines;
this is going
to be Marvel's first flop!
I said, no it's not!
It's going to be great!
And the reason it was a hit,
even though the characters
were crazy, and it took place
in space, they grounded
it in family.
It was all about family
from the very first scene
It was all about family
from the very first scene
when Peter Quill is
kidnapped from his parents,
all through the movie, when you
meet all the characters they
talk about how they feel
like they're the only one
of their kind, or in Drax
case he lost his family.
They were all alone, but they
looked at each other and said,
we will be each other's
new family.
Groot goes from I am
Groot, to we are Groot.
That was the message.
And I think everyone, in one way
or another, can relate to that.
As we grow up we often
move away from home.
We leave our family.
We go to school.
We get jobs.
What do we do?
We look around.
We find other misfits
like ourselves,
and we form new families.
I think that's what is at
the message of it and it was
in every scene and that's why
it was the hit that it was.
Alright, I have one more
friend to talk about.
And he is not on this cover, but
it all begins with this cover.
Let's see, so there I was,
at work when I was
still on the East Coast.
And it was a February
and it was cold and rainy
and I had walked 20 minutes from
Grand Central and I was soaked.
And my phone's ringing and I
know I have to go to a meeting
in 20 minutes and I
turn on my computer
and I look at my emails.
And there's a wall,
a wall of emails.
And some of them were, like
I mentioned, that email,
mheroes@marvel.com,
letters were coming in.
And some of them were again,
saying how they loved some
issues and hated some issues.
And one subject line
just said, help.
That got my attention
so I opened the email.
And it was not a letter
complaining about Rogue
and Gambit or Peter
Parker and Mary Jane.
No, it was from a
mom named Christina.
She said, I need your help.
Said, my little boy Anthony,
who's four years old,
this morning he did not want
to wear his hearing aid.
We call it blue ear because
it's made of blue plastic.
He said, mama, I'm
not wearing blue ear.
And I said, why not?
And he said, because super
heroes don't wear blue ears.
So, Anthony at that age,
four, knew he was different.
So, Christina tells me
that she says, yes they do.
Super heroes where hearing aids.
And he said, you mean
like Marvel Characters?
And she said, yes of course.
And he said, well
mama, which ones?
She said, I'll tell you when
you get back from school.
She drives Anthony to school.
Runs back.
Help! Oh, what am I
going to tell him?
I don't know if any super
heroes wear hearing aids,
and he can't know
his mom was lying!
But I have faith, I think
there are some, right?
I'm not a liar right?
So, there I am, and the
phone's ringing, like I said.
And I go to the meeting.
And my finger is going to the
delete button, and I stopped
and I said, what
would Peter Parker do?
Catholic guilt!
What would he do?
But that is seriously
something I would ask myself
when I was growing up.
I didn't really want
to be Spider-Man,
I wanted to be Peter Parker.
Because even though he wasn't
perfect, he always tried
to do the right thing.
So, I said, okay, power
and responsibility.
What can I do?
Well, I don't have
a lot of power,
but I have information
on super heroes.
And I have access to images.
I have that.
So, what's my responsibility?
I've got to use that
to help her.
So, instead of deleting the
email I sent it throughout
Marvel Editorial.
I said, what can we do?
Do we -- do you remember any
heroes that have hearing aids?
Or could we even maybe
ask one of our artists
to draw someone with
a hearing aid?
And my good friend Tom
Brevoort, who was my boss,
he reminded me of Hawkeye.
He said, oh, remember Hawkeye?
I said, you're right.
Back in the 80s he was on a
mission where he was trapped
by rubble and he used a sonic
arrow to get out of the rubble
and it burst his
eardrums and he was deaf.
And his good friend Tony
Stark, being the cool inventor
that he is, made
him hearing aids.
And to this day he's
our deaf hero.
And to this day he's
our deaf hero.
And we've done stories
about him either wanting
to wear his hearing aid or not.
We've done whole issues in
sign language to use him,
and to use him as a metaphor,
again to say that everyone can
and should be a hero, no matter
what your challenges may be.
So, I went through
our digital backlog
and I grabbed this
cover, because it was one
of my favorites when
I was growing up.
And I sent it to Christina
and I said, Christina,
I want you to show this
cover to Anthony and tell him
that not only do super heroes
wear hearing aids, but a member
of the world famous
Avengers wears a hearing aid.
And if Anthony wears his
hearing aid we will make him an
honorary Avenger.
And I thought, [applause] -- And
I thought, okay, good deed done
for the day, off
to my meeting I go.
The next Monday I get in my
in-box, this piece of art.
So, my friend Manny
Mederos, he saw my email,
So, my friend Manny
Mederos, he saw my email,
he knew I was sharing
the picture of Hawkeye.
He draws this, on his
own time, for free.
He draws this over the weekend.
He knew I sent the Hawkeye
cover, so he draws Hawkeye.
And then he invents Blue Ear
because that's what they
called the hearing aid.
And I send that to Christina.
And we -- I said, hey
man, that was awesome.
And we said, yeah, okay, cool.
Good deed done for the day.
We're done right?
No. Next day I get
this piece of art
by Nelson Ribeiro,
Adult Blue Ear!
With his mighty hearing
aid he's hearing trouble
and he will go help!
I send this to Christina and
we think, okay, we did it!
It's awesome!
Three weeks later she
writes me back and she says,
Bill you don't know
what an impact this had
on Anthony's life.
I've had to print out these
images multiple times now
I've had to print out these
images multiple times now
because he keeps
bringing them to school
and gets them all muddy.
And now I had to put
them in plastic sleeves.
And he brings them to school,
and he goes to a school or kids
with hearing challenges, and
his other classmates see them
and get so excited, and
they feel acknowledged
and represented, and they
see themselves up there.
And the teacher saw --
[ Applause ]
The teacher saw how
excited the kids were,
and the teachers
organized Super Hero Week,
where all the kids
could dress up.
And as fate would have it,
Anthony's grandfather
is a State Senator.
Plot twist!
So, one day the Senator is at
work and a reporter comes up
So, one day the Senator is at
work and a reporter comes up
and says, hey, do you
have any good, juicy,
negative political
gossip for us?
And he says, no, I
have a good story.
These people at this company
took time out of their day
to draw these pieces of art
and send it to my grandson.
And it was covered
by the local news.
And it started getting
picked up by more news sites.
And then I have the New York
Daily News on the phone wanting
to ask me about this,
and the New York Post.
And from that day forward
I kept receiving emails
from families saying,
I heard about Blue Ear.
Can you send me the comic book?
And I had to keep saying,
there is no comic book!
There's just these
pieces of art.
But I kept getting these emails.
Kept getting them.
And I bugged the hell
out of my bosses.
And I kept saying, we
need to do a comic.
We got to do a comic.
There's a need for this.
Families need this information.
Kids need to see
themselves like this.
So, I kept bugging them.
I kept bugging them.
And at the time I was working
with a division called Custom
Publishing, where we would work
with clients outside of
Marvel, whether it was Visa
or Cirque du Soleil, or
Harley-Davidson, you name it.
We would create things
like those --
We would create things
like those --
does anyone remember those
old Hostess fruit pie ads
with our characters?
Yeah! That was good stuff!
That's the kind of
stuff we made.
We would make comics
posters, advertisements,
using our characters in an
authentically Marvel way,
to also promote another brand.
So, finally we partnered with
the Children's Hearing Institute
and we made a comic book!
But we decided, hey let's use
Iron Man front and center.
Why? We want to get
everyone's attention.
He's one of our most
famous characters now.
But not only is he
famous, he's a metaphor.
We used him as a metaphor.
We said to the kids, hey, if
you have to wear a hearing aid
like Blue Ear or if you have
to wear a cochlear implant,
that's Saphira on the
other side, in the pink,
because this is in the
tradition of Women of Power,
we wanted to have
a female character
for young women to see.
So, we said, hey, if you
have to wear a hearing aid
or cochlear implant,
you're just like Tony Stark.
He uses his tech to
be the best he can be.
You can use your tech to
be the best you can be.
You can use your tech to
be the best you can be.
And the comic came out, and the
day it came out I got emails
from Italy and Australia
saying, thank you and asking
for copies of the comic book.
And that created
another wave of press.
Yes, it did not stop.
And one day I get a call and
I was asked to go on CNN.
I'm like, alright.
So, I'm in the limo
going into Manhattan.
Mom. Yes Billy?
Mom, in half hour I
want you to turn on CNN.
I'm going to be on.
Billy, what did you do?
No, mom it's good!
It's Blue Ear.
He's going to be on the show.
And actually, Christina and
Anthony are going to be there
and we're going to meet up.
And they're all going
to be able to meet.
And then guess what.
Then we're going into the
Marvel office together.
[ Applause ]
So, there's Nelson, who
created the cover piece.
There's me, grinning
like an idiot.
And there's Anthony,
and you'll notice he's
in the whole Blue Ear costume,
because mom saw how
excited Anthony was.
And he felt like, I'm
going to be Blue Ear.
And so he dresses up like this
and now the town
knows him as Blue Ear.
And guess who was
the Grand Marshall
of his town's Halloween parade
last year; Anthony as Blue Ear.
So, these Marvel characters;
why do we make them?
Power and responsibility.
What can we learn from them?
We have to use our
powers responsibly.
Now, you may be thinking,
Bill I can't climb a wall.
I can't leap through the sky.
I don't have rays
coming out of my eyes.
No, but everyone in this
room is incredibly smart
and incredibly gifted
with the skills you need
to create good things.
We have to use and realize
what our powers are.
We have to use and realize
what our powers are.
We need to use them to create
things, to reach out to people
like Anthony, and kids around
the world of all ages like that.
We must use our creations to
make the world a better place.
Thank you very much.
[ Applause ]