STEVEN SPIELBERG
Real Name: Steven Allan Spielberg
Identity/Class: Human (real life character)
Occupation: Movie director
Group Membership: None (see comments);
formerly Theta
Chi fraternity, Boy Scouts of America
Affiliations: Brie Daniels, Monstrollo, Tony Stark
Enemies: None
Known Relatives: Arnold (father, deceased),
Leah (mother, deceased), Anne, Sue, Nancy (sisters), Kate Capshaw
(wife), Max, Sawyer (sons), Sascha (Buzzy Lee), Destry (daughters),
Jessica Capshaw (stepdaughter), Theo (adopted son), Mikaela (adopted
daughter), Amy Irving (ex-wife), Shmuel (paternal grandfather,
deceased), Rebecca (paternal grandmother, deceased), Drew Barrymore,
Gwyneth Paltrow (goddaughters)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Los Angeles, California, USA
First Appearance: (mentioned in a Marvel comic) Marvel Two-in-One I#97 (March, 1983)
Powers/Abilities: Steven Spielberg is a highly
skilled movie director, producer and writer, having been involved in
numerous huge blockbuster films.
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 165 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Gray
History:
(real life) - Steven Allan Spielberg was born on December 18, 1946 in
Cincinnati, Ohio to a Jewish parents Arnold and Leah. After being taken
to see the film The Greatest Show on
Earth as a child, Steven was terrified by a train crash in the
movie and years later, while playing with his toy trains, Steven used
an 8mm camera to film a toy train crash staged after the one he'd seen
in The Greatest Show on Earth.
Intrigued by how he could edit the film in different ways to watch the
crash over and over again, Steven became interested in making more
films.
(Amazing Spider-Man II#12/2 (fb) - BTS) - The young Steven Spielberg
began making 8mm movies for his parents.
(real life) - After joining the Boy Scouts of America in 1958, Steven Spielberg won his photography merit badge by filming a nine-minute western movie on 8mm film. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Steven continued to film a variety of movies on 8mm and he went to the local theater nearly every weekend, where he was inspired by numerous films of the day. After taking a tour of Universal Studios and receiving a three-day pass, Spielberg became something of an unofficial apprentice to the studio and his family eventually moved to Saratoga, California , where he attended Saratoga High School. Following his parents' divorce, Spielberg moved to Los Angeles with his father and he eventually attended California State University, Long Beach but dropped out after being offered a seven-year directing contract with Universal Studios to direct television productions for the company. After directing several television productions, Spielberg was offered the chance to direct several television films, soon graduating to major motion pictures, where he became known as a young impresario.
(Symbiote Spider-Man I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Steven
Spielberg made the movie E.T.
(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme I#11 (fb) - BTS) -
Steven Spielberg later worked on the film Poltergeist.
(Marvel Two-in-One I#97 - BTS) - After revenge-hungry movie producer
Ted
Silverberg was blackmailed into turning embarrassing film footage of
the Thing in exchange for not being sued by his movie's backer, Tony
Stark, a dejected Silverberg sat amongst the ruins of the
Holoflex
technology he was using on the film and wondered if Steven
Spielberg
ever had days like that.
(Symbiote Spider-Man I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Rumors swarmed
that Steven Spielberg was a fan of the Yankees baseball team.
(Symbiote Spider-Man I#5 - BTS) - When the illusionist Mysterio was
defeated by Spider-Man and the Black Cat and his rampaging holographic
dinosaur disappeared, a confused bystander at Shea Stadium suggested
the dinosaur was merely a publicity stunt for a new Steven Spielberg
dinosaur movie. Upon hearing
the bystander's comment, another bystander remarked that Steven
Spielberg was a genius while yet another remarked that Spielberg had
not made a good movie since E.T. A
nearby female bystander commented that she had heard rumors that
Spielberg was a Yankees fan, a statement met by a reply of "That
figures." from another fellow New Yorker.
(Beauty & the Beast I#1 - BTS) - As the mutant hero Beast arrived in Hollywood, he passed a movie poster with the tagline "If Adventure had a name, it would be Steven Spielberg" as he stopped to look footprints in the cement outside Grauman's Chinese Theater.
(Beauty & the Beast I#2 - BTS) - While investigating Dazzler at Hugo Longride's Gladiators arena, Beast thought to himself that the Gladiators' space-themed coliseum looked better than any of Steven Spielberg's space-themed sets.
(Web of Spider-Man I#22 (fb) - BTS) - Steven Spielberg was famous for working on The Goonies movie.
(Iron Man I#222 (fb) - BTS) - Spielberg was also known for directing The Color Purple film.
(Avengers I#275 - BTS) - During an attack by Masters
of Evil Absorbing Man and Titania on Newhope Memorial Hospital, the
Wasp and her ally Ant-Man discussed what to do about the villains and
Ant-Man remarked that they had as much chance of stopping the two
musclebound criminals as Spielberg had of winning an Oscar (see comments).
(Web of Spider-Man I#22 - BTS) - As reporter Joy Mercado and photographer Peter Parker drove through Belfast to get photos for one of Mercado's stories, Parker remarked that he always felt a little bad making a living off people's grief, at which point Mercado replied that if Parker wanted sweetness and light, he should go work for Steven Spielberg. When the two were subsequently attacked by IRA terrorists, Parker joked that Mercado should call Spielberg, as he was ready to take that job offer. After the two were ordered out of their car by British soldiers, Parker jokingly asked if Mercado was sure she wouldn't rather be working on The Goonies, Part 2, referencing Spielberg's famed Goonies movie.
(Iron Man I#222 - BTS) - After meeting with party-crashing would-be actress Brie Daniels at a house party, Tony Stark, who found Brie cute, asked if she had seen The Color Purple and when she replied in the affirmative, Stark said he had someone he wanted to introduce her to and he called for Steven Spielberg.
(Iron Man I#225 (fb) - BTS) - Following her introduction to Steven
Spielberg at Stark's party, Brie Daniels was asked to play a part in
Spielberg's newest film, Dark Angel,
which Spielberg touted as a new Platoon
due to its incredibly realistic treatment of terrorists.
(Iron Man I#225 - BTS) - As Tony Stark rode up to attending the
world premiere of Spielberg's Dark
Angel
movie, Brie Daniels informed Stark about the movie and thanked Stark
for being her date, as she would have never gotten a part in the film
if not for Stark introducing her to Steven Spielberg in the first
place.
(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme I#11 - BTS) - During the taping of the first full episode of the television show Hour Thirteen, hosts Dr. Wayne Schuyler and Lucretia returned from a commercial break with Dr. Schuyler's lighthearted comment that "as Steven Spielberg would say, we're baaaack!"
(Iron Man I#260 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Steven Spielberg purchased a home in Los Angeles, California.
(Iron Man I#260 - BTS) - When intense light erupted from the Los Angeles Stark Enterprises plant, a nearby local woman asked her husband Sherman if the light was emanating from the Spielberg house.
(Avengers West Coast I Annual#6/3 - BTS) - The Wasp met with Domani
Pictures movie producer Dino Domani about a screenplay she had written
entitled "The Coming of the Avengers" and Mr. Domani expressed interest
in making the movie, noting that his studio would get Steven Spielberg
or someone like him to direct the film.
(Midnight Sons Unlimited I#3/4 (fb) - BTS) - Steven Spielberg
directed the film Jurassic Park.
(Midnight Sons Unlimited I#3/4 - BTS) - Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park was playing in a local theater in New York City while Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, Victoria Montesi and Jinx were battling Spider-X.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#160/4 - BTS) - After the chronal energy-manipulating Dr. Yesterday resurrected a tyrannosaurus rex, the confident Speedball of the New Warriors asked his teammates what they were so afraid of and he referred to the dinosaur as "some reject from a Spielberg special-effects studio."
(Ultragirl I#1 - BTS) - Following a televised defeat of a robot
Sentinel at the hands of new heroine Ultragirl,
talent agents all across California began discussing putting Ultragirl
under a contract and one of them spoke with her associate Jason,
ordering him to get Steven Spielberg's people on the phone to tell them
they could deliver Ultragirl.
(Amazing Spider-Man II#12/2 - BTS) - While thinking back on the life of Quentin Beck, the former Mysterio, the then-current Mysterio Daniel Berkhart thought about how Beck was pioneering the art of special effects when Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were still making 8mm movies for their parents.
(Captain Marvel IV#22 (fb) - BTS) - Child actor Seth went into talks for work with Steven Spielberg.
(Captain Marvel IV#22 - BTS) - After filming a public service announcement with Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell) and Marlo Chandler-Jones, Seth phoned his agent, Frank, and asked if Spielberg had come back with a counteroffer. Upon hearing the answer, Seth angrily exclaimed that Spielberg's offer was an insult, as he was in his prime years and the time to make money was before he hit puberty.
(Alias I#9 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, a twenty-seven-year-old Iranian man with the last name of Spielberg enrolled in a private high school under the assumed identity that he was Steven Spielberg's fourteen-year-old nephew.
(Alias I#9 - BTS) - While at a coffee shop, private investigator Jessica Jones met Dr. Curtis Moss and the two discussed people who lie about being famous or having famous connections, with Dr. Moss mentioning the Iranian man who claimed to be Steven Spielberg's nephew.
(X-Statix I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Steven Spielberg made arrangements to appear on the Lacuna & the Stars! television show.
(X-Statix I#5 - BTS) - After hearing that X-Statix team leader the Orphan was going to quit the team, Lacuna & the Stars! host Lacuna phoned her employee Frank and told him to cancel the next night's show, arguing that she didn't care how angry Steven Spielberg would get.
(Human Torch II#2 - BTS) - Johnny Storm's assistant Jian Teeta
interrupted a meeting between Johnny and his former classmate Mike Snow
to inform Johnny that Steven Spielberg couldn't wait to meet him.
(Marvel Monsters: Where Monsters Dwell#1/2 - BTS) - After being granted true life and becoming a Hollywood talent agent, the monster Monstrollo phoned Steven Spielberg and proclaimed that he would be perfect to direct The Monstrollo Story. When Monstrollo suggested he could send some of his associates over to convince Spielberg, Spielberg quickly changed his mind and Monstrollo happily said he'll have his thing call Spielberg's thing and the two could do lunch.
Comments: Adapted into Marvel Comics by David
Michelinie, Ron Wilson and Jon D'Agostino.
It's
possible Steven Spielberg is
mentioned topically in other Marvel comics but I wasn't able to find
any other than the ones currently included in this profile. If you know
of another mention or appearance of Steven Spielberg in a Marvel comic,
please let me know and I'll update the profile to include the info!
Some online sources list Steven Spielberg as actually appearing in Iron Man I#225 but I could find no actual appearance by him, only a mention of him directing the Dark Angel movie and having hired Brie Daniels for the movie.
Now I know Ant-Man's comment about Steven Spielberg winning an Oscar in Avengers I#275 is topical considering that, at the time the issue was published (January 1987), Spielberg had yet to win an Oscar despite being nominated five times prior (1. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 2. Raiders of the Lost Ark, 3-4. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial & 5. The Color Purple). Of course, the real Steven Spielberg would go on to win two Oscars in 1994 for Schindler's List (Best Picture & Best Director) and one in 1999 for Saving Private Ryan (Best Director).
It's crazy to me that, given how many references to Steven Spielberg have shown up in Marvel Comics, he has never actually been seen on-panel in a comic story. To help readers who aren't familiar with him, I've included a photo of the real Steven Spielberg, taken from the 81st Annual Golden Globe awards, at right.
The real Steven Spielberg is likely involved in numerous organizations and companies related to the making of movies (Amblin Entertainment comes to mind) but I couldn't really find a definitive list of all of them online and since his Marvel Comics appearances do not mention any group affiliations, I went with "none" for the purposes of this profile with this comment noting the likelihood of him actually being involved with several groups.
Now, of course, I glossed over
MANY points of Steven Spielberg's career but since this is a profile of
the Marvel Comics version of Steven Spielberg, I chose to mention
mostly just the career notes referenced in Marvel Comics. Most of the
information on his family and early life comes from Wikipedia among a
few other websites seen following a Google search. Take from that what
you will but again, I was trying to focus more on his Marvel Comics
appearances with a bit of real life flavor text added in.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Steven Spielberg should be distinguished from:
Appearances:
Marvel
Two-in-One I#97 (March, 1983) - David Michelinie (writer), Ron Wilson
(pencils), Jon D'Agostino (inks), Tom DeFalco (editor)
Beauty & the Beast I#1 (December, 1984) - Ann Nocenti (writer), Don
Perlin (pencils), Kim DeMulder (inks), Michael Higgins (editor)
Beauty & the Beast I#2 (February, 1985) - Ann Nocenti (writer), Don
Perlin (pencils), Kim DeMulder (inks), Michael Higgins (editor)
Avengers I#275 (January, 1987) - Roger Stern (writer), John Buscema
(breakdowns), Tom Palmer (finishes), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Web of Spider-Man I#22 (January, 1987) - Len Kaminski (writer), Marc
Silvestri (pencils), Art Nichols (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Iron Man I#222 (September, 1987) - David Michelinie (plot, script),
Mark D. Bright (breakdowns), Bob Layton (plot, finishes), Mark
Gruenwald (editor)
Iron Man I#225 (December, 1987) - David Michelinie (plot, script), Mark
D. Bright (breakdowns), Bob Layton (plot, finishes), Mark Gruenwald
(editor)
Doctor
Strange: Sorcerer Supreme I#11 (December, 1989) - Roy Thomas, Dann
Thomas (writers), Jackson Guice (art), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Iron Man I#260 (September, 1990) - John Byrne (writer), John Romita,
Jr. (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Avengers West Coast I Annual#6 (1991) - "A Wasp in Hollywood" story -
Roy Thomas (writer), Jeff Moore (pencils), Marc McKenna (inks), Nel
Yomtov (editor)
Midnight Sons Unlimited I#3 (October, 1993) - "Sins of Spider-X,
Chapter 3: Terror in Times Square" story - Mort Todd (writer), Ken
Meyer, Jr. (art), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Marvel Comics Presents I#160 (August, 1994) - "Smells Like Teen Spirit,
Part 2 of 5: Memories Aren't What They Used to Be" story - Fabian
Nicieza (writer), Robert Walker (pencils), Scott Koblish (inks),
Richard Ashford (editor)
Ultragirl I#1 (November, 1996) - Barbara Kesel (writer), Leonard Kirk
(pencils), Bob Almond (inks), Mark Paniccia, Dan Shaheen (editors)
Amazing Spider-Man II#12 (December, 1999) - "Let There Be Light!" story
- Howard Mackie (writer), Sean Phillips (art), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Captain Marvel IV#22 (October, 2001) - Peter David (writer), ChrisCross
(pencils), Anibal Rodriguez (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Alias I#9 (July, 2002) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Michael Gaydos
(art), Stuart Moore (editor)
X-Statix I#5 (January, 2003) - Peter Milligan (writer), Paul Pope
(art), Axel Alonso (editor)
Human Torch II#2 (July, 2003) - Karl Kesel (writer), Skottie Young
(pencils), Joe Seung (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Marvel Monsters: Where Monsters Dwell#1 (December, 2005) - "The Return
of Monstrollo, the Terror of Hollywood" story - Peter David (writer),
Arnold Pander (art), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Symbiote Spider-Man I#5 (October, 2019) - Peter David (writer), Greg
Land (pencils), Jay Leisten (inks), Devin Lewis (editor)
First posted: 10/16/2024
Last updated: 10/16/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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