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Stan Lee professes no deep and analytical insight into the human soul. “I’m not a psychiatrist,” he begs off. “All I know is, the good superhero movie has got action, suspense, colorful characters, new angles — that’s what people like.”

The rangy 88-year-old — sitting poised against the leopard-print pillows on the couch in his POW! Entertainment office, several days before the premiere of “Thor” — is a natural at delivering the dramatic angle. Asked to strike a towering pose, he springs to his feet and in a blink is balancing with feline ease atop a chair.

Seventy years to the month after the nom-de-toon “Stan Lee” first appeared in a comic book, “Thor” is similarly perched atop the box office.

In one sense, the original story of Stanley Martin Lieber resembles that of the Norse superhero he co-created, only told backward.

Thor is to the godhead born until, because of his impudence, he’s sentenced to a mortal existence.

Lee was a mere Manhattan comics-industry mortal for decades until, because of diligence and vision, he was elevated to Marvel Comics demigod, creating — alongside fellow legends Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko — the likes of Spider-Man and Iron Man, the Hulk, X-Men and the Fantastic Four.

All those characters have already appeared in feature films, and the latest wave of Hollywood superheroes is gathering force.

Last week’s US opening of “Thor” will soon be followed by “X-Men: First Class,” DC’s “Green Lantern” and Marvel’s “Captain America: The First Avenger.”

Casting decisions for the next Superman and Batman films, as well as the Spider-Man reboot and the cinematic assembling of the Avengers, have sparked feverish online speculation.

The superhero film remains as unstoppable and globally enduring as, well, Stan Lee himself.

“My theory about why people like superheroes is that when we were kids, we all loved to read fairy tales,” says Lee, beaming behind his trademark tinted glasses.

“Fairy tales are all about things bigger than life: giants, witches, trolls, dinosaurs and dragons and all sorts of imaginative things. Then you get a little bit older and you stop reading fairy tales, but you don’t ever outgrow your love of them.”

“Superhero movies are like fairy tales for older people,” continues Lee, whose voice envelops the listener with a raspy, lilting warmth. “All those things you imagined — if only I could fly or be the strongest — are about wish-fulfillment. And because of that, I don’t think they’ll ever go out of vogue.”

Lee still creates superheroes ceaselessly. “The first Chinese superhero,” he promises, teasing his upcoming lineup. “And the first musical comic book.” He recently announced that he’s teaming up with Arnold Schwarzenegger to create an animated TV character, “the Governator.”

Lee’s literary approach and desire to depict his heroes’ private lives profoundly altered comics. Spider-Man suffers a teen’s social travails. Iron Man battles his demon addiction. Lee asked himself: “What did they do when they weren’t fighting supervillains? Where did they live? What were their hopes, dreams, aspirations and frustrations?”

He believes that many people like their superheroes to have depth and vulnerability — to be vexed beneath the spandex.

“For a long time, there was no personal involvement with some of the superheroes,” Lee says.

“Dickens always had interesting characters. Mark Twain had interesting characters — so did Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Arthur Conan Doyle, who created the greatest fictional character of all in Sherlock Holmes.

“I wanted to write the kind of dialogue that would give the character personality.”

When superhero films combine that depth of character with wish-fulfillment, Lee says, they’re already winners. “You’ve got power and abilities you don’t see all the time. Plus, great stars, great directors.”

“Thor” was directed by Kenneth Branagh and its cast includes Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman.

Lee leans back. More than three decades after he moved to Hollywood, the very thought of such superheroic movie magic makes him smile.

“I dreamed up Thor years ago because I wanted to create the biggest, most powerful superhero of all and I figured who can be bigger than a god?” Lee says of his idea for his God of Thunder, which was first scripted by Stan’s younger brother, Larry Lieber — the Brothers Lieber still produce the syndicated “Spider-Man” comic strip.

As for the character ideas behind X-Men, Hollywood’s next Marvel release, Lee says: “ I wanted to do a strip that would point out the injustice and wrongheadedness of bigotry. … As for their powers, I took the easy way out; instead of dreaming up some complicated explanation for each, I simply wrote, ‘They were born that way. They were mutants,’ and that was that.”

The ever-adapting Lee says he is working on such projects as a comic rock opera and new lines of books.

“To have an idea is the easiest thing in the world,” Lee says. “Everybody has ideas. But you have to take that idea and make it into something people will respond to. That’s hard.”

The Washington Post