For fans of Marvel Comics and their film counterparts, “Marvel’s Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N.” at Discovery Times Square is a must-see exhibit that recruits you into S.H.I.E.L.D. and lets you see screen-used props and costumes, as well as use interactive exhibits that show you the science behind your favorite heroes.
At the space, you’ll see numerous displays such as one that explains to you what the neurological effects are when Bruce Banner transforms into The Hulk, another that lets you use a simulation of Iron Man’s heads-up display to fly around and lots more.
So many of the Marvel Comics characters you see in the movies and at this exhibit were co-created by the legendary Stan Lee.
amNewYork spoke with the 91-year-old former editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, who was in New York this weekend for the opening of “Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N.”
How does it feel to see your vision on display here?
It’s wonderful, it’s hard to believe they made an exhibit like this based on stuff I wrote yearsago.
Do you have a favorite part of this exhibit?
Oh, everything: the Captain America part, the Hulk part. I can’t wait to see the Iron Man part and all the others. What they’ve done is taken these little cartoon characters and they’ve built them up to the point where there’s a scientific explanation behind everything they’re able to do and I think it will be so fascinating to young people. I think it’s going to make people want to be scientists.
Did you think about the science when you were writing these characters?
I hate to disappoint you, but I’m the least scientific guy you’ll find. With Spider-Man, the only science was, I had to figure out how a guy would get the powers of a spider, so I said, “What the hell? I’ll have him bitten by a radioactive spider.” That was the science. With Thor, I wanted him to fly, so he had a thong attached to his hammer, so he swung the hammer like a propeller, he let it go, the hammer went flying off, he was attached to it, he flew. That was the extent of my science. I’m learning a lot at the exhibit.
What is your new book, “Zodiac,” about?
It’s a book that Disney is publishing. It has to do with the Chinese signs of the zodiac and a boy who gets involved in it. You might call him a super hero, but he isn’t really a superhero. The signs of the zodiac give him a power different than any of the superheroes I’ve done. It’s a different type of book — it’s a real novel, not a graphic novel — with a lot of illustrations. It’s a different take on a superhero type legend.
You’re famous for your cameo in Marvel movies. Will we see you in August’s “Guardians of the Galaxy?”
Yes. I can’t tell you what it is, but you’ll get a kick out of it!
What other Marvel movies do you want to happen?
I want to see Dr. Strange, I want to see Black Panther, I want to see Ant- Man. I want to seeevery one of them. We had some called The Inhumans — I’d like to see them on the screen.
If you go:
“Marvel’s Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N.” is at Discovery Times Square through Jan. 5. For ticket and schedule information, go to discoverytsx.com
