Tha Father of Marvel, Stan Lee, Dies at 95

Stan Lee, the beloved chief writer and editor of Marvel Comics, who was integral in the break-out success of the comic book industry, has passed away at the age of 95. An attorney for Stan Lee’s daughter, J.C., confirmed the icon’s death at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Stan Lee was a central player in the creation of Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor and the many other superheroes who are the embodiment of pop culture for numerous fans. Under Stan Lee’s guidance, Marvel to made the characters feel human with insecurities, personalities, and flaws. Just as with his heroes and villains, Stan Lee presented himself as approachable with his gregarious, optimistic and alternately grandiose demeanor.

He was born Stanley Martin Lieber on December 28, 1922, in Manhattan to two Romanian immigrants and the family moved to the Bronx. Stan Lee wished to be a serious literature writer but was hired as an office gofer by a company writing pulp comics in 1940. He was paid $8 a week, but eventually was writing and editing stories for the business. 

After using several pseudonyms to give the impression that Marvel had a large stable of writers, he changed his name in the 1970s, essentially his first name split into the two syllables. Stan Lee wrote training manuals stateside in the Army Signal Corps while moonlighting as a comics writer during World War II, and he married his wife Joan in 1947, remaining married until her death last year. His daughter Joan Celia (J.C.) was born in 1950, and his daughter Jan was born in 1953 but sadly died three days after her birth.

Mr. Lee’s unwavering energy suggested that he possessed superpowers himself, minus the cape. I want to do more of everything I’m doing,” he said in With Great Power …: The Stan Lee Story, a 2010 television documentary. “The only problem is time. I just wish there were more time.”

See Jonathan Kandell & Andy Webster, Stan Lee, Superhero of Marvel, Dies at 95, New York Times, November 12, 2018; see also Alexander F. Remington, Stan Lee, Creator of Superheroes, Dies at 95, Washington Post, November 12, 2018.

Special thanks to Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.