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A petition campaign to feature Stockton — the birthplace of the “Fantastic Four” Marvel comic book characters — in an upcoming film has received more than 3,000 signatures, organizers said.
Visit Stockton, a nonprofit organization that promotes and markets the city of Stockton as a meetings, events and travel location, started the petition a month ago to ask Marvel Studios to add the city as part of the movie as a homage to Marvel founder Stan Lee and the comics.
“This great city has gone by different names and titles over its 174 years, but did you know that one of those titles is ‘Birthplace of the Fantastic Four?’” said Mayor Kevin Lincoln in a video.
Lincoln said a 1986 petition led by Al Greco, the owner of Al’s Comic Shop, and Joe Field resulted in Lee and Marvel Comics naming Stockton as the birthplace of the Fantastic Four.
In February 1986, Lee came to the city to make it official in front of City Hall and spent the day signing autographs and meeting fans at Al’s Comics.
According to Visit Stockton, a few months after Lee’s visit, the Fantastic Four Vol. 1 Issue 296 was released and had Stockton as the home in the storyline.
There have been prior film adaptations of the Fantastic Four comics, most recently in 2015 starring Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan.
The goal of the petition is to reach 5,000 signatures. It can be signed on the Change.org website.
Victoria Franco is a reporter based in Stockton covering San Joaquin County for Bay City News Foundation and its nonprofit news site Local News Matters. She is a Report for America corps member.
