Marvel took to social media yesterday to share a tribute to the late Stan Lee, who would have turned 101 years old. The longtime writer and editor, born on December 28, 1922, has been the face of Marvel since the 1960s, and is credited with co-creating dozens of characters and teams which form the backbone of the publishing and cinematic empire. The most celebrated figure in American comics, began his comics career in the 1940s and is widely credited with revolutionizing superhero storytelling by co-creating (largely with the late Jack Kirby) the Marvel Comics Universe in the 1960s.
Lee had a hand in the creation of Spider-Man, The Avengers, The X-Men and hundreds of other characters for Marvel and other publishers during the course of his career. As the face of the publisher for decades, Lee cultivated an image as the godfather of comics, and became the ambassador between comics and the outside world. At a time when most critics did not take the art form seriously, Lee was one of the first comics creators to speak at colleges.
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As a result of his Marvel pedigree, Lee is also one of the highest-grossing film producers of all time, having been kept on as an executive producer for Marvel Studios films as well as those from Fox and Sony which feature characters from Marvel. There is a certain symmetry to that, since in the early days it was Lee who most aggressively pursued TV and movie deals for Marvel. Over decades of such productions, Lee has also become the king of the cameo, appearing in dozens of Marvel-related film and TV projects, culminating with the mega-blockbuster Avengers: Endgame, which was released after Lee’s death.
Long after he essentially left the industry, Lee continued to be the public face of comics, developing TV, film and comics projects around the world that often carry his name above the title. In the 2000s, both DC Comics and Marvel did tributes to Lee; he wrote Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating the DC Universe, reinventing DC heroes in a number of one-shot stories with various artists; and in 2006, Marvel celebrated Lee’s 65 years with the company by publishing a series of one-shots starring Lee himself meeting and interacting with Marvel characters.
