During the world premiere of Suicide Squad, director David Ayer dropped the old F-bomb in reference to his competition over at Marvel. While Ayer has already apologized for it, Stan Lee still has something to say in response. Unfortunately, if you were looking forward to a good old fashioned Marvel vs. DC throw down, you'll be disappointed. What Stan Lee said was thank you.
While the word fuck is one of the most diverse in the English language, Stan Lee apparently wants to focus on the positive side of the word, rather than finding it insulting. It's probably a good philosophy that we could all learn from. You pretty much kill any argument by thanking somebody for swearing at you. So, for whatever it's worth, Stan Lee doesn't seem to hold any hard feelings. Stan apparently feels that David Ayer just wished everybody at Marvel a pleasant sexual experience.
In the end, there's really no reason for Stan Lee to be angry. Stan understands that, while the two may be competitors to some degree, there's plenty of room for both of studios to be successful. Having said that, Stan Lee can get salty with the best of them. This year at San Diego Comic-Con he showed up 30 minutes late to a panel due to a double booking issue, and was more than a little annoyed. While he never dropped any adult language, it was clear that he was frustrated that he had been pulled out of a line giving autographs to attend a panel. Of course, he was perfectly nice to all the fans at the panel and answered all questions with humor and his characteristic charm. We're sure Stan Lee could have gotten into with it David Ayer. The fact that he didn't means he really doesn't take the comment to heart.
The problem started on Monday night, when David Ayer was in attendance at the World Premiere of Suicide Squad in New York City. Apparently, somebody in the audience shouted "Fuck Marvel" and Ayer, who was likely excited for his movie, echoed the line. He took to Twitter later to apologize for the misstep; it's clear that he didn't really mean it.
DC and Marvel have been competitors for decades, and what started on the comic book page has now transitioned to the movie screen. What has been the most interesting is that the modern competition seems to exist more between fans than between the people who actually make a living producing the comics or movies. Fans are the people who get upset when critics give one movie a good review and another movie a poor one; the creators seem to have a mutual respect for each other.
What do you think of Stan's response? Is "Fuck You" actually the nicest thing you could say to somebody?
