Best Marvel Debate: Stan Lee’s Strong Opinions About Chris Claremont’s X-Men

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In 1963, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby launched a new wave of Marvel Comics with the creation of the X-Men, a team of superheroes who also happen to be mutants battling against discrimination. The X-Men have become incredibly popular and have been written by many different authors over the years. However, one writer in particular clashed with Lee’s vision and didn’t deliver what fans were hoping for.

The team has been incredibly popular in both movies and comic books for many years, achieving massive financial success. Numerous talented writers and artists – including Grant Morrison, John Byrne, Len Wein, and Chris Claremont – have contributed to its long and impressive history. Interestingly, despite its popularity, Stan Lee wasn’t a fan of what many consider the team’s most famous storyline, as it didn’t align with his own creative ideas.

How Christ Claremont Changed The X-Men Forever

Chris Claremont became the main writer for the X-Men in 1975, a role he held for an impressive sixteen years until 1991. While Lee and Kirby established the foundation of the X-Men’s characters and world, Claremont truly shaped their emotional core. Previous writing had felt outdated, but Claremont’s approach connected with a new generation of readers in the 1970s and 80s.

Chris Claremont’s work on X-Men – from introducing characters like Jubilee and Gambit to crafting stories like “The Dark Phoenix Saga” – has had a lasting impact, and most modern interpretations of the team are still heavily influenced by his vision. Working with artists such as Marc Silvestri, Dave Cockrum, and John Byrne, he shaped the X-Men for an entire generation of readers. The series truly hit its stride during this period, thanks to redesigned characters that highlighted the mutants’ status as outsiders and increasingly compelling storylines. While Jack Kirby’s art was excellent, the later artists simply aligned better with Claremont’s creative direction.

It’s surprising, but Stan Lee actually wasn’t a huge admirer of Chris Claremont’s work on the X-Men. He later told Eric Lewald, the showrunner of X-Men: The Animated Series, about his reservations.

Stan Lee Rejected the Later Vision For His Team

Stan Lee’s impact on comics is complex. He undeniably shaped comics’ place in popular culture and was a remarkably creative character developer. However, he often readily shared credit for ideas that weren’t solely his, and some argue his writing wasn’t as strong as the work of those who later wrote his most famous series. So, it’s understandable that he disagreed with some of the new directions taken with his beloved X-Men.

In an interview with Geeks.com, he explained that the core issue stemmed from a difference in vision. Stan Lee’s original X-Men concept, created with Jack Kirby in 1963, focused on ‘remarkable young people.’ But the current creators were aiming for a grittier, more modern feel—something like rock music compared to what he described as ‘easy listening.’ He said Lee disliked the direction the comics had taken since 1975, and because the creators preferred those newer stories, they clashed with him over the show’s style and overall approach. Essentially, it was a generational conflict, as the world and tastes had evolved since the original X-Men were conceived.

The original version of the team focused on younger audiences and a simpler worldview. Though later writers, including Lee, touched on social issues, the stories from the Claremont era handled these topics with more nuance and successfully blended them with entertainment. The more recent interpretations of the characters have also been more developed and willing to explore mature and darker themes than the earlier work by Lee and Kirby.

The X-Men Were At Their Best Under Chris Claremont

I’ve been a huge X-Men fan since I was a kid, and it’s amazing to think about all the different writers and artists who’ve worked on the series since 1963. But honestly, Chris Claremont’s run just feels untouchable. He wrote the X-Men for sixteen years, and created so many iconic stories – things like “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” “Days of Future Past,” and really fleshed out characters like Wolverine. It’s not surprising that almost every X-Men movie draws heavily from his work – it’s just the best stuff, and his impact on the team is something we’ll never forget.

It’s often the case that a character’s creator and its fans have different ideas about what constitutes the character’s best stories, and this situation is no exception. While X-Men and Marvel fans are deeply grateful to Stan Lee for his groundbreaking work, his long-standing disagreement with Chris Claremont’s creative choices remains puzzling even today.

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2026-01-20 17:37