George R.R. Martin was not fond of the toxic fanbase of his work, Game of Thrones, which became a TV sensation. Martin revealed that they would send all kinds of threatening messages, especially after the poor reception of the eighth season. It made Martin remember the good old days when he was a superfan of Marvel. He revealed that he didn’t resort to hatemail when he didn’t like The Incredible Hulk show that ran on TV or the Captain America home movies.
Martin further shared that he was a big fan of Stan Lee who revolutionized the comic book industry. It was the comic book stalwart who prompted Martin to write stories that introduced grey characters and unexpectedly killed them off.
George R.R. Martin Did Not Like Incredible Hulk Or Captain America On TV
George R.R. Martin hated it when fans turned into the biggest haters of their own show and did everything in their capacity to degrade it. He shared with The Independent that it has come to a point where it was hardcore Game of Thrones fans who hated the epic fantasy series, Star Wars fans who hated the sequel trilogy, and Tolkien fans who hated Rings of Power. The advent of social media made these fan groups a lot more toxic, according to Martin.
Martin revealed that he was once a superfan of Marvel Comics. He used to write fan letters to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby about their work. The author revealed one personal case study of how fandoms have changed over the years. Being a die-hard Marvel fan, Martin saw some of the screen adaptations of his favorite comics.
Martin did not like what he saw in the TV projects of the seventies, especially Bill Bixby’s The Incredible Hulk and the Captain America TV movies. He never went back to them again, but Martin shared that he was not angry enough to start writing hate mail to Stan Lee or Jack Kirby. Martin shared with The Independent:
“I was a big Marvel fan, and I tried some of those Marvel shows that were on in the Seventies, The [Incredible] Hulk with Bill Bixby and [TV movies about] Captain America. I tried them once and I didn’t watch them again because I didn’t like them very much, but I didn’t go crazy and start writing hate mail.”
There was a time when Martin started losing interest in the superhero genre in comics. However, it was Stan Lee who brought Martin back into the world of superheroes, marking some major changes in the genre.
Stan Lee’s Comics Influenced George R.R. Martin’s Writing
George R.R. Martin revealed that the superhero stories quickly started to wear off since they went nowhere. At the end of every superhero story, things go back to exactly how it was at the beginning of the story. He shared with The Independent:
“The stories never went anywhere. At the end of the story, everything would be exactly the way it was at the beginning of the story, for issue after issue, year after year.”
Martin remembered reading Stan Lee’s Avengers #9 issue which changed his perspective on the genre as well as writing itself. In the issue, Lee introduced a new Avenger named Wonder Man, who had a grey shade in the storyline. He was later unexpectedly killed off in the issue. It was Martin’s first exposure to such a character and arc. He shared:
“That’s all Stan Lee, and you can see it all over my work! Unexpectedly killing characters, characters who are not what they seem, characters who are partly good and partly bad. Grey characters. You don’t know which way they’re going to jump when the moment of crisis comes. Stan Lee’s fingerprints are all over that.”
It appears that George R.R. Martin emulated his icon when it came to his epic TV show. Just like how Stan Lee broke all rules with his Marvel Comics, Martin broke all the conventional laws to create a peak television experience with Game of Thrones.
Game of Thrones is now available for streaming on Max.
