Stan Lee 1922-2018

Stan Lee; comic-book writer and cultural icon, has passed away at 95. 

As the founder of Marvel, Lee was already a legend in the superhero world when he began to make his mark in cinema with his now famous cameos, and was listed as an executive producer for Marvel films, beginning with the 1990 direct-to-video CAPTAIN AMERICA. His short on-screen appearances, which were often comedic and self-aware as they referenced his involvement with the characters creation, were always looked forward to and became large enough that they became a talking-point of nearly every Marvel film. 

Born Stanley Martin Lieber in New York City in 1922, Lee, along with artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, co-created fictional superheroes that would become permanent pillars in our culture; Spider-Man, the Hulk, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Black Panther, and the X-Men. With co-writer Larry Lieber, he had a hand in creating Ant-Man, Iron Man, Thor, and the Avengers. He led the expansion of Marvel comics into a new age; making the leap from dusty shelves to packed movie theatres, TV screens, and video games. 

He was induced into the comic book industry’s Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995. He received a National Medal of Arts in 2008. 

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In the past decade, it is without question that Marvel Studios has dominated cinema; at the box office, with critics, and with fans. There have been many debates as to why they have had such unprecedented success, and the answer lies in Lee’s characters, which were built from the classic archetypes that the best stories have featured over thousands of years. His characters were mighty, yet human…and Lee found ways to make even the greatest heroes have the qualities that us mortals could connect to. Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor were legends in the comic book pages, and they were built well enough that they translated perfectly to the big screen; so perfectly that they now have a second life in our culture. Stan Lee was the man who made heroes real for us, and that is a legacy that can never be matched.