December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018
Stan Lee (born Stanley Lieber) has sadly passed away today at the age of 95. Best known for co-creating some of the biggest characters in all of media, few have ever been on the same plane as Stan “The Man” Lee.
If you’re on this blog, you likely need no explanation of who the big brain at the House of Ideas was. He gave birth to the Amazing Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Invincible Iron Man. With the launch of Fantastic Four #1 and the debut of Marvel’s first family, Stan Lee created a dynasty. There is nothing more important to me than the Uncanny X-Men. And Stan The Man was one of the guys that started it all.
This is all to say nothing of his villains, for a good hero is nothing without their adversaries. Magneto. Doctor Doom. Galactus. The greatest supervillains of them all and oh so many more were the brain children of the Marvel maestro.
Stan Lee’s big idea was simple: What if superheroes were like us? If they had our problems, our relationships, if they could swing right by our window. That’s what makes these superheroes so important to so many people. We keep coming back to them because we feel for them, we like them. They have a spirit that inspires us. He taught us that because we are different, that’s what makes us special.
Lee was as famous and beloved as any of the characters he created. You could look forward to his cameo when any of his properties made its way to the big screen. Everyone has a favorite. Mine has to be the lost astronaut from Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. Whatever they were, they always got a round of applause from the audience as loud as any big hero moment.
There never has been, nor likely ever will be, a man so massive in the world of comics as Stan Lee. Rest in Peace. And Excelsior.
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