He spent years beside Stan Lee. His footage became the documentary nobody wanted you to see.

"How overmuch money did I make?"

It's a mobility that Jon Bolerjack ne'er thought he'd perceive the man sitting adjacent to him ask. Comics fable Stan Lee's ideas and hustle birthed an empire. So really could he not cognize astir each the money he'd conscionable made doing a signing astatine a comic-book convention?

That was the infinitesimal Bolerjack says he knew thing atrocious was happening to the man down immoderate of Marvel Comics' astir beloved characters.

It was 2015, and Bolerjack, a long-haired, tattooed comic-book fanatic, had been chronicling Lee's each move arsenic his individual videographer. He would enactment successful the legend's soul circle until Lee's decease successful November 2018 astatine property 95.

Lee was astatine the tallness of his fame successful the past decade of his life, acknowledgment to the smashing occurrence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe astatine the container office. It made him a marquee sanction connected the normal circuit, demanding apical dollar to beryllium successful a chair and motion immoderate was put successful beforehand of him. After his appearances, his squad would count the piles upon piles of cash he made.

Bolerjack's 108-minute documentary, "Stan Lee: The Final Chapter," disposable now connected Video connected Demand, chronicles the acheronian broadside of Lee's last 4 years. The doc depicts an exhausted and seemingly unaware Lee connected a nonstop normal schedule, dozing disconnected betwixt autograph signings and asking his bodyguard-turned-manager, Max Anderson, if he's made capable money to retire.

The documentary's travel to the surface would beryllium a agelong one: Anderson sued Bolerjack successful 2019 for breach of contract, alleging that Bolerjack had surgery an "oral agreement" betwixt them that he would springiness Anderson each his footage of Lee.

"My lawyer thought it would return six months… it ended up taking six years," Bolerjack told Business Insider. The lawsuit was dismissed successful June 2025 erstwhile Anderson did not study for the assemblage trial. That aforesaid month, Anderson was sentenced to a twelvemonth and 1 time successful prison aft pleading blameworthy to taxation fraud, aft allegedly failing to study $1.2 cardinal successful proceeds to the IRS.

A period earlier, Lee's daughter, JC, settled a suit she brought against Anderson, alleging he stole complete $21 million from her father; the position were not disclosed.

Anderson denies ever taking money from Lee. He told Business Insider he had a different statement pinch the icon: He would person Lee motion things.

"I sewage a mostly of my money connected signatures," Anderson told Business Insider. "I would waste that to the dealers. So my autographs, a signed comic book of Spider-Man #1, I'm getting $1,500 to $2,000."

As for the documentary footage implying Lee's normal schedule was excessively grueling for a man of his age, Anderson said that Lee preferred to enactment busy, peculiarly aft the decease of his wife, Joan, successful 2017.

"He didn't want to beryllium location anymore because there's nary logic to beryllium home," Anderson said.

Though respective stories astir Lee allegedly being taken advantage of were written before his death, Bolerjack, whom Lee nicknamed "Hairspray" and made his individual adjunct successful the last months of his life, said fewer realized the grade of what was going on. Or possibly they didn't want to know.

"My clip pinch Stan taught maine that Stan was astir useful arsenic a caricature," Bolerjack said. "He conscionable smiles, says 'Excelsior,' signs your comic — they don't want immoderate depth. They conscionable want Stan's look connected a lunchbox and don't want to woody pinch the different stuff. So my communicative makes that a small much muddy, showing Stan arsenic a living, breathing person."

Searching for a True Believer

Bolerjack took Lee's decease hard. For months, he mourned the nonaccomplishment of his friend; he said it ate distant astatine him that nary 1 knew the grade of the maltreatment Lee allegedly went done astatine the extremity of his life.

Bolerjack said he tried to alert the property while Lee was alive, offering a thumb thrust containing his footage to respective news outlets, but ne'er heard backmost from immoderate of them.

By 2019, Bolerjack had decided to make a documentary.

"I thought it was important to his bequest that it beryllium arsenic honorable arsenic possible, and I didn't want to concede that control," Bolerjack said.

But he needed help. With a inheritance successful post-production and movie marketing, Bolerjack knew immoderate group successful the business. It led him to link pinch Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Robert Kenner (2008's "Food, Inc.").

The 2 agreed to co-direct a documentary connected Lee's last years, pinch the footage Bolerjack changeable being the main focus. But the bites they sewage connected the task mislaid momentum erstwhile the pandemic deed successful 2020; Kenner yet walked away.

Bolerjack rebounded post-pandemic erstwhile he connected pinch the accumulation institution Edgeline Films (2016's "Weiner," and the Showtime bid "Couples Therapy"); they agreed successful 2021 for Bolerjack to co-direct a docuseries pinch longtime editor/director Kim Roberts, according to emails viewed by Business Insider. They began to return meetings, but Bolerjack said immoderate executives minimized the value of the taxable matter.

"They would show america comic book fans don't watch documentaries — location was this overseas pushback," Bolerjack said. "We would show them, a cardinal group saw 'The Avengers' movies. We had to explicate to them what Comic Con was and really hundreds of thousands of group show up. They conscionable didn't get it."

Eventually, Roberts near the project.

Going it alone

By 2023, Bolerjack was backmost wherever he started: He had the footage of Lee's last years, but obscurity to show it. He decided it was clip to make the movie himself.

With chap comic fans Alex Barajas and George Chan connected committee arsenic his producers, the trio scrounged together $80,000 and started mounting up interviews pinch group successful Lee's soul circle, arsenic good arsenic different comic greats for illustration Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld and Stan Lee's first successor arsenic Marvel Comics' editor successful chief, Roy Thomas.

"I called each my camera friends and asked if they were free for a day, and hoped they wouldn't rake maine complete the coals connected the time rate," said Bolerjack of hiring friends to thief sprout interviews. "By this point, Stan had been gone 5 aliases six years. The group I needed to talk to, that consciousness of camaraderie fades complete time, truthful location was a consciousness of urgency."

By March 2025, the squad had a trailer but needed a small much money for post-production. So they decided to launch the trailer pinch a Kickstarter campaign to raise much funds.

News of the task was written up by celebrated comic sites and awesome publications for illustration USA Today and IndieWire. They didn't deed their $300,000 goal, but the attraction legitimized the task and helped unafraid capable backing from caller investors to decorativeness the movie. Bolerjack said the documentary's last fund was $500,000.

Bolerjack yet showed the movie to an assemblage successful June 2026 astatine Dances With Films, an independent movie show successful Los Angeles, wherever it won the Industry Choice Award prize.

"When Stan died, the time he died successful the hospital, I cried. I wept for 40 minutes," Bolerjack said. "It was the astir I ever cried. Stan is the first personification I knew who has died. I had ne'er knowledgeable that before. In the theatre was the first clip I cried since then. To get the support of strangers, and past we won a prize — it was really rewarding."

Finally being capable to show Lee's communicative and person it retired successful the world has brought Bolerjack peace.

"It was roadblock aft roadblock," he said. "But I had to decorativeness what I started."