Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee is dead at 95


Stan Lee, creator of some of the most enduring characters and stories from Marvel Comics, has died at the age of 95.

The news is confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, following up on earlier confirmation, via Lee's daughter, from TMZ. The earlier report indicated that an ambulance was dispatched to his home in California's Hollywood Hills on Monday morning. Lee later died at the nearby Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.


Lee got started in comics in 1939, when he joined Timely Comics as an office assistant. The publisher, founded by Lee's cousin-in-law Martin Goodman, would eventually transform into Marvel Comics in 1961. 

Lee recognized that his heroes were still human, 
capable of all the same flaws and fears as anyone else.

Lee's work as an editor started 20 years earlier, when he stepped in as Timely's interim editor in 1941. But the work he's best known for happened in the '60s, when he came up with early Marvel Comics heroes like the Fantastic Four. Comics had traditionally been meant for a younger audience, but Lee saw potential in telling stories for an older crowd.

It was during this period that Lee started his work with Jack Kirby, who had co-created Captain America two decades earlier. Then a freelance artist, Kirby worked with Lee to create what would become some of Marvel's most enduring characters: Fantastic Four, yes, but also the Hulk, the X-Men, and — especially — Spider-Man.

It wasn't just that Lee created these characters; his work also upended expectations within the comic book industry. Lee, and through him Marvel, recognized that superheroes were still fundamentally human, capable of all the same flaws and fears as anyone else. It's a mindset that led to more human stories, but also one that unavoidably flirted with the political climate as well.

As many have come to recognize in a post-Civil Rights world, the X-Men were an allegory for the racial tensions and widespread discrimination at the time. Lee's mutants were a minority group, subjected to the same prejudices that were dominating headlines as real-life racist ideologies were being singled out and shut down.


Kirby eventually left Marvel for DC Comics, but Lee worked with a number of other collaborators  over the years (notably, Steve Ditko and Larry Lieber), leading to the creation of a lengthy list of key Marvel superheroes: Doctor Strange, Thor, Daredevil, Black Panther, Iron Man, Thor, and Ant-Man (to name a few).


Although Lee eventually left Marvel behind to pursue other creative interests, he never fully severed his contact with the multimedia empire he'd helped build or the community that gathered around it. Lee has memorably turned in a brief and entertaining cameo appearance in just about every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. He also never stopped engaging with fans, whether it was through videos recorded for the internet or convention appearances.

Lee's also presumably not quite finished with his Marvel work. While nothing's been confirmed, his cameo track record so far suggests we'll be seeing Lee again in some or all of Marvel's 2019 movies slate: Captain Marvel, the Avengers: Infinity War sequel, and Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Marvel actors, writers, and fans flooded social media with well wishes and fond remembrances shortly after Lee's death was confirmed.












Rest In Peace, Stan Lee!

Comments

  1. I hope Big Bang Theory does something to honour this man in an upcoming episode. RIP.

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  2. A crazy thought: Imagine if all his heroes appear at the funeral. What honor it would be for Stan Lee!
    ❤️

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  3. We all just had a bit part in the movie of his life...and we understand that with great power comes great responsibility... RIP Stan Lee our superhero��

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  4. Big Bang Theory lost another...

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  5. 95? He had a good life. He has left a legacy that will live on and on.

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  6. no more cameox stanlee was the watcher in marvel he never made it

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  7. I love Stan Lee. He created so many great characters.

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  8. Stan the man you will be missed very much my friend but your work will live on.

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  9. Whats the matter with you kids you never seen a space ship before?

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  10. Marvelous! He really was the original Super.

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  11. You will be missed and thank you for the introducing us to your world

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  12. Rest in Peace. Your legacy will forever live in in our hearts!!! You will be missed very much.

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  13. R.I.P. Mr. Lee ��
    Thank you for a fantastic childhood
    and great movies with all the Superheros!
    You are the SUPERHERO✝️

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  14. RIP, Stan and thanks for stories that fed my childhood. Excelsior!

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  15. This year has been the worst smh

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  16. Thanks for memories Stan... pure imagination.

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  17. Very sad to lose his talent

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  18. not in our hearts. Thank you very much for sharing your talents and yur values. EXCELSIOR

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  19. The creator of modern mythology, the world is a darker place for sure.

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  20. It has come the foretold time when cameos will now be digitally generated only, sad.

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  21. Legend only starts to cover it.

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  22. A real Superhero who left a Marvelous Legacy...

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  23. I hope he was able to get his cameo in infinity war 2. Great way to finish his career.

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  24. �� Chris Evans leaving Captain America killed him.

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  25. A great man he is,given a lot to us he has...

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  26. Super stan...ur legacy forever shall be adorned..

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  27. So sad,a brilliant man , was my hero as a little boy!

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  28. Sheldon must be crushed :(

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  29. R. I. P. Stan Lee. You're a Legend

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  30. His last cameo ❤️

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  31. NO!!! Loss of a legend and icon. A great loss.

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  32. Sad news but what a legacy!

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  33. rip heart broken about this news

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  34. RIP Stan. One of the best x

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  35. R. I. P ����

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  36. Rest In Peace, Mr. Lee!

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