Stan lee family

American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer (–)

This article is about the comics creator. For other people with the same name, see Stan Lee (disambiguation).

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber^[1]; December 28, – November 12, ) was an American comic bookwriter, editor, publisher and producer.

He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later became Marvel Comics. He was Marvel's primary creative leader for two decades, expanding it from a small publishing house division to a multimedia corporation that dominated the comics and film industries.

In collaboration with others at Marvel&#;&#; particularly co-writers and artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko&#;&#; he co-created iconic characters, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, the Scarlet Witch, and Black Widow.

These and other characters' introductions in the s pioneered a more naturalistic approach in superhero comics. In the s, Lee challenged the restrictions of the Comics Code Authority, indirectly leading to changes in its policies. In the s, he pursued the development of Marvel properties in other media, with mixed results.

Following his retirement from Marvel in the s, Lee remained a public figurehead for the company.

He frequently made cameo appearances in films and television shows based on Marvel properties, on which he received an executive producer credit, which allowed him to become the person with the highest-grossing film total ever.^[2] He continued independent creative ventures until his death, aged 95, in Lee was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in He received the NEA's National Medal of Arts in

Biography

Early life

Stanley Martin Lieber was born on December 28, , in Manhattan, New York City,^[3] in the apartment of his Romanian-born Jewish immigrant parents, Celia (née Solomon) and Jack Lieber, at the corner of West 98th Street and West End Avenue.^[4][5] Lee was raised in a Jewish household.

In a interview, he stated when asked if he believed in God, "Well, let me put it this way [Pauses.] No, I'm not going to try to be clever. I really don't know. I just don't know."^[6] On another interview from , when asked about his Romanian origins and his relationship with the country, he said that he had never visited it and that he did not know Romanian because his parents never taught it to him.^[7]

Lee's father, trained as a dress cutter, worked only sporadically after the Great Depression.^[4] The family moved further uptown to Fort Washington Avenue,^[8] in Washington Heights, Manhattan.

Lee had one younger brother named Larry Lieber.^[9] He said in that as a child he was influenced by books and movies, particularly those with Errol Flynn playing heroic roles.^[10] Reading The Scarlet Pimpernel, he called the title character "the first superhero I had read about, the first character who could be called a superhero."^[11] By the time Lee was in his teens, the family was living in an apartment at University Avenue in The Bronx.

Lee described it as "a third-floor apartment facing out back". Lee and his brother shared the bedroom, while their parents slept on a foldout couch.^[9]

Lee attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx.^[12] In his youth, Lee enjoyed writing, and entertained dreams of writing the "Great American Novel" one day.^[13] He said that in his youth he worked such part-time jobs as writing obituaries for a news service and press releases for the National Tuberculosis Center;^[14] delivering sandwiches for the Jack May pharmacy to offices in Rockefeller Center; working as an office boy for a trouser manufacturer; ushering at the Rivoli Theater on Broadway;^[15] and selling subscriptions to the New York Herald Tribune newspaper.^[16] At fifteen, Lee entered a high school essay competition sponsored by the New York Herald Tribune, called "The Biggest News of the Week Contest." Lee claimed to have won the prize for three straight weeks, goading the newspaper to write him and ask him to let someone else win.

The paper suggested he look into writing professionally, which Lee claimed "probably changed my life." However, Lee's story is apocryphal, and so is his story of a life-changing plea from the editor, because the likelier story is that Lee won a seventh-place prize of $ and two honorable mention awards.^[17] He graduated from high school early, aged sixteen and a half,^[why?][how?] in and joined the WPAFederal Theatre Project.^[18]

Marriage and residences

From to , Lee lived in the rented top floor of a brownstone in the East 90s in Manhattan.^[19] He married Joan Clayton Boocock, originally from Newcastle, England,^[20] on December 5, ,^[21] and in , the couple bought a house in Woodmere, New York, on Long Island, living there through ^[22] Their daughter Joan Celia "J.

Stan lee net worth

Stan lee age

Stan lee age at death

Stan lee death

C." Lee was born in Another daughter, Jan Lee, died a few days after her birth in ^[23]

The Lees resided in the Long Island community of Hewlett Harbor, New York, from to ^[24] They also owned a condominium on East 63rd Street in Manhattan from to ,^[25] and during the s they owned a vacation home in Remsenburg, New York.^[26] For their move to the West Coast in , they bought a home in West Hollywood, California, previously owned by comedian Jack Benny's radio announcer Don Wilson.^[27]

Philanthropy

The Stan Lee Foundation was founded in to focus on literacy, education, and the arts.

Its stated goals include supporting programs and ideas that improve access to literacy resources, as well as promoting diversity, national literacy, culture and the arts.^[28]

Lee regularly donated papers, photographs, recordings and personal effects to the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming between and They cover the period from to ^[29]

Legal concerns

Intellectual property

In , POW!

was acquired by Camsing International, a Chinese company, during the period Lee was caring for his terminally ill wife and dealing with his own failing eyesight. Lee filed a US$1 billion lawsuit against POW! in May , asserting that POW! had not disclosed the terms of its acquisition by Camsing to him. Lee stated that POW! CEO Shane Duffy and co-founder Gill Champion had presented him with what they said was a non-exclusive license for POW!

for him to sign, under Camsing, to use his likeness and other intellectual property. This contract turned out to be an exclusive license, which Lee claimed he would never have entered.^[30]

Lee's lawsuit contended that POW! took over his social media accounts and was impersonating him inappropriately.

POW! considered these complaints without merit and claimed that both Lee and his daughter J.C. were aware of the terms.^[30] The lawsuit was dropped in July , with Lee issuing the statement: "The whole thing has been confusing to everyone, including myself and the fans, but I am now happy to be surrounded by those who want the best for me" and saying that he was happy to be working with POW!

again.^[31]

Following Lee's death, his daughter J.C. gathered a legal team to review the legal situation relating to Lee's intellectual property from his later years. In September , J.C. filed a new lawsuit against POW! in the United States District Court for the Central District of California not only related to recent events but also to regain the intellectual property rights that Lee had set up when founding Stan Lee Entertainment in The complaint identified a period between and during which Lee's partners Gill Champion and Arthur Lieberman were said to have misled Lee about various intellectual property rights deals.^[32]

In June , Judge Otis D.

Wright II dismissed J.C. Lee's lawsuit against POW! Entertainment, declaring it "frivolous" and "improper", sanctioning J.C. Lee for $1,,, and sanctioning her lawyers for $, individually and severally. The court also gave POW! Entertainment the right to make a motion to recover legal fees. "We feel vindicated by the Court's decision today," said POW!

in a statement. "Stan purposefully created POW! eighteen years ago with me as a place to safeguard his life's work.

Stan lee biography images Legendary Marvel Comics writer, editor and publisher Stan Lee died Nov. 12, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 95 years old. Lee was the figurehead at Marvel and had.

Before he passed, Stan was adamant that POW! continue to protect his creations and his identity after he was gone, because he trusted that we would safeguard his legacy for generations to come."^[33]

Sexual harassment allegations

On January 10, , the Mail Online alleged that Lee was accused by a small number of nurses of sexually harassing them at his home in early Lee denied the allegations and claimed that the nurses were attempting to extort him.^[34]

Victim of elder abuse

In April , The Hollywood Reporter published a report that claimed Lee was a victim of elder abuse; the report asserted that, among others, Keya Morgan, Lee's business manager and a memorabilia collector, had been isolating Lee from his trusted friends and associates following his wife's death in order to obtain access to Lee's wealth, estimated to amount to US$50 million.^[35][36] In August , a restraining order was issued against Morgan to stay away from Lee, his daughter, and his associates for three years.^[37] The Los Angeles Superior Court confirmed that Morgan was charged in May with five counts of abuse for events that had occurred in mid^[38] The charges were false imprisonment, grand theft of an elder or dependent adult, fraud, forgery, and elder abuse.^[39]

Another figure in the alleged abuse was Lee's former business manager Jerardo Olivarez, who was introduced to Lee by J.C.

after his wife's death. Lee filed suit against Olivarez in April , calling him one of several "unscrupulous businessmen, sycophants and opportunists" that approached him during this period. According to Lee's complaint, after gaining Lee's power of attorney, Olivarez fired Lee's personal banker, changed Lee's will, convinced him to allow transfers of millions of dollars from his accounts and used some of the funds to purchase a condominium.^[40]

Later life and death

In September , Lee underwent an operation to insert a pacemaker, which required cancelling planned appearances at conventions.^[41][42] Lee eventually retired from convention appearances by

On July 6, , Joan Boocock, his wife of 69 years, died of complications from a stroke.

She was 95 years old.^[44]

Lee died on November 12, , at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, after being rushed there for a medical emergency earlier in the day.^[45][46][47] Lee had previously been hospitalized for pneumonia in February of that year.^[48] The immediate cause of death listed on his death certificate was cardiac arrest with respiratory failure and congestive heart failure as underlying causes.

It also indicated that he suffered from aspiration pneumonia. His body was cremated and his ashes were given to his daughter.^[49]

Roy Thomas, who succeeded Lee as editor-in-chief at Marvel, had visited Lee two days prior to his death to discuss the upcoming book The Stan Lee Story and stated "I think he was ready to go.

But he was still talking about doing more cameos. As long as he had the energy for it and didn't have to travel, Stan was always up to do some more cameos. He got a kick out of those more than anything else."^[50] Lee's last words to Thomas was “God bless. Take care of my boy, Roy,” leading fans to speculate that he was referring to Spider-Man.^[51]

Publishing career

Early career

With the help of his uncle Robbie Solomon,^[52] Lee became an assistant in at the new Timely Comics division belonging to pulp magazine and comic-book publisher Martin Goodman.

Timely, by the s, would evolve into Marvel Comics. Lee, whose cousin Jean^[53] was Goodman's wife, was formally hired by Timely editor Joe Simon.^{[n 1]}

His duties were prosaic at first. "In those days [the artists] dipped the pen in ink, [so] I had to make sure the inkwells were filled", Lee recalled in "I went down and got them their lunch, I did proofreading, I erased the pencils from the finished pages for them".^[55] Marshaling his childhood ambition to be a writer, young Stanley Lieber made his comic-book debut with the text filler "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in Captain America Comics #3 (cover-dated May ), using the pseudonym Stan Lee (a play on his first name, "Stanley"),^[56] which years later he would adopt as his legal name.^[57] Lee later explained in his autobiography and numerous other sources that because of the low social status of comic books, he was so embarrassed that he used a pen name so nobody would associate his real name with comics when he wrote the Great American Novel one day.^[58] This initial story also introduced Captain America's trademark ricocheting shield-toss.^{[59]:&#;11&#;} It would be adapted into a sequential art story in by Lee and Bruce Timm in Marvel's 75th Anniversary Celebration.^[60]

Lee graduated from writing filler to actual comics with a backup feature, "'Headline' Hunter, Foreign Correspondent", two issues later, using the pseudonym "Reel Nats".^[61] His first superhero co-creation was the Destroyer, in Mystic Comics #6 (August ).

Other characters he co-created during this period, called the Golden Age of Comic Books, include Jack Frost, debuting in U.S.A. Comics #1 (August ), and Father Time, debuting in Captain America Comics #6 (August ).^{[59]:&#;12–13&#;}

When Simon and his creative partner Jack Kirby left in late following a dispute with Goodman, the year-old publisher installed Lee, just under 19 years old, as interim editor.^{[59]:&#;14&#;[62]} The youngster showed a knack for the business that led him to remain as the comic-book division's editor-in-chief, as well as art director for much of that time, until , when he would succeed Goodman as publisher.^[63][64]

Lee entered the U.S.

Army in early and served within the U.S. as a member of the Signal Corps, repairing telegraph poles and other communications equipment.^[65] He was later transferred to the Training Film Division, where he worked writing manuals, training films, slogans, and occasionally cartooning.^[66] His military classification, he said, was "playwright"; he added that only nine men in the U.S.

Army were given that title.^[67] In the Army, Lee's division included many famous or soon-to-be famous people, including three-time Academy Award-winning director Frank Capra, New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams, and children's book writer and illustrator Theodor Geisel, later known to the world as "Dr. Seuss."^[68]

Vincent Fago, editor of Timely's "animation comics" section, which put out humor and talking animal comics, filled in until Lee returned from his World War II military service in Lee was inducted into the Signal Corps Regimental Association and was given honorary membership of the 2nd Battalion of 3rd U.S.

Infantry Regiment out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord at the Emerald City Comic Con for his prior service.^[69]

While in the Army, Lee received letters every week on Friday from the editors at Timely, detailing what they needed written and by when. Lee would write stories, then send them back on Monday.

One week, the mail clerk overlooked his letter, explaining that nothing was in Lee's mailbox. The next day, Lee went by the closed mailroom and saw an envelope with the return address of Timely Comics in his mailbox. Not willing to miss a deadline, Lee asked the officer in charge to open the mailroom, but the latter refused.

So Lee took a screwdriver and unscrewed the mailbox hinges, retrieving the envelope containing his assignment. The mailroom officer saw what he did and turned him into the base captain, who did not like Lee. He faced tampering charges and could have been sent to Leavenworth Prison. The colonel in charge of the Finance Department intervened and saved Lee from disciplinary action.^[70]

In the mids, by which time the company was now generally known as Atlas Comics, Lee wrote stories in a variety of genres including romance, Westerns, humor, science fiction, medieval adventure, horror and suspense.

In the s, Lee teamed up with his comic book colleague Dan DeCarlo to produce the syndicated newspaper strip My Friend Irma, based on the radio comedy starring Marie Wilson.^[71] By the end of the decade, Lee had become dissatisfied with his career and considered quitting the field.^[72][73]

Marvel Comics

Marvel revolution

In , DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz revived the superhero archetype and experienced significant success with an updated version of the Flash, and later in with the Justice League of America super-team.

In response, publisher Martin Goodman assigned Lee to come up with a new superhero team. Lee's wife suggested that he experiment with stories he preferred, since he was planning on changing careers and had nothing to lose.^[45]

Lee acted on the advice, giving his superheroes a flawed humanity, a change from the ideal archetypes typically written for preteens.

Before this, most superheroes had been idealistically perfect people with no serious, lasting problems.^[74] Lee introduced complex, naturalistic characters^[75] who could have bad tempers, fits of melancholy, and vanity; they bickered amongst themselves, worried about paying their bills and impressing girlfriends, got bored or sometimes even physically ill.

The first superheroes Lee and artist Jack Kirby created together were the Fantastic Four in The team's immediate popularity^[76] led Lee and Marvel's illustrators to produce a cavalcade of new titles. Again working with Kirby, Lee co-created the Hulk,^[77]Thor,^[78]Iron Man,^[79] and the X-Men;^[80] with Bill Everett, Daredevil;^[81] and with Steve Ditko, Doctor Strange^[82] and Marvel's most successful character, Spider-Man,^[83] all of whom lived in a thoroughly shared universe.^[84] Lee and Kirby gathered several of their newly created characters together into the team title The Avengers^[85] and would revive characters from the s such as the Sub-Mariner^[86] and Captain America.^[87] Years later, Kirby and Lee would contest who deserved credit for creating The Fantastic Four.^[88]

Comics historian Peter Sanderson wrote that in the s:

DC was the equivalent of the big Hollywood studios: After the brilliance of DC's reinvention of the superhero in the late s and early s, it had run into a creative drought by the decade's end.

There was a new audience for comics now, and it wasn't just the little kids that traditionally had read the books. The Marvel of the s was in its own way the counterpart of the French New Wave Marvel was pioneering new methods of comics storytelling and characterization, addressing more serious themes, and in the process keeping and attracting readers in their teens and beyond.

Moreover, among this new generation of readers were people who wanted to write or draw comics themselves, within the new style that Marvel had pioneered, and push the creative envelope still further.^[89]

Lee's revolution extended beyond the characters and storylines to the way in which comic books engaged the readership and built a sense of community between fans and creators.^[90] He introduced the practice of regularly including a credit panel on the splash page of each story, naming not just the writer and penciller but also the inker and letterer.

Regular news about Marvel staff members and upcoming storylines was presented on the Bullpen Bulletins page, which (like the letter columns that appeared in each title) was written in a friendly, chatty style. Lee remarked that his goal was for fans to think of the comics creators as friends, and considered it a mark of his success on this front that, at a time when letters to other comics publishers were typically addressed "Dear Editor", letters to Marvel addressed the creators by first name (e.g., "Dear Stan and Jack").

Lee recorded messages to the newly formed Merry Marvel Marching Society fan club in ^[91] By , the brand was well-enough ensconced in popular culture that a March 3 WBAI radio program with Lee and Kirby as guests was titled "Will Success Spoil Spiderman [sic]".^[92]

Throughout the s, Lee scripted, art-directed and edited most of Marvel's series, moderated the letters pages, wrote a monthly column called "Stan's Soapbox", and wrote endless promotional copy, often signing off with his trademark motto, "Excelsior!" (which is also the New York state motto).

To maintain his workload and meet deadlines, he used a system that was used previously by various comic-book studios, but due to Lee's success with it, became known as the "Marvel Method". Typically, Lee would brainstorm a story with the artist and then prepare a brief synopsis rather than a full script. Based on the synopsis, the artist would fill the allotted number of pages by determining and drawing the panel-to-panel storytelling.

After the artist turned in penciled pages, Lee would write the word balloons and captions, and then oversee the lettering and coloring. In effect, the artists were co-plotters, whose collaborative first drafts Lee built upon.^[93] For his part, Lee endeavored to use a sophisticated vocabulary in his dialogue and captions to encourage his young readers to learn new words, often playfully noting “If a kid has to go to a dictionary, that’s not the worst thing that could happen.”^[94]

Following Ditko's departure from Marvel in , John Romita Sr.

became Lee's collaborator on The Amazing Spider-Man. Within a year, it overtook Fantastic Four to become the company's top seller.^[95] Lee and Romita's stories focused as much on the social and college lives of the characters as they did on Spider-Man's adventures.^[96] The stories became more topical, addressing issues such as the Vietnam War,^[97] political elections,^[98] and student activism.^[99]Robbie Robertson, introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #51 (August ) was one of the first African-American characters in comics to play a serious supporting role.^[] In the Fantastic Four series, the lengthy run by Lee and Kirby produced many acclaimed storylines as well as characters that have become central to Marvel, including the Inhumans^[][] and the Black Panther,^[] an African king who would be mainstream comics' first black superhero.^[]

The story frequently cited as Lee and Kirby's finest achievement^[][] is the three-part "Galactus Trilogy" that began in Fantastic Four #48 (March ), chronicling the arrival of Galactus, a cosmic giant who wanted to devour the planet, and his herald, the Silver Surfer.^[][]Fantastic Four #48 was chosen as #24 in the Greatest Marvels of All Time poll of Marvel's readers in Editor Robert Greenberger wrote in his introduction to the story that "As the fourth year of the Fantastic Four came to a close, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby seemed to be only warming up.

In retrospect, it was perhaps the most fertile period of any monthly title during the Marvel Age."^[] Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "[t]he mystical and metaphysical elements that took over the saga were perfectly suited to the tastes of young readers in the s", and Lee soon discovered that the story was a favorite on college campuses.^[] Lee and artist John Buscema launched The Silver Surfer series in August ^[][]

The following year, Lee and Gene Colan created the Falcon, comics' first African-American superhero, in Captain America # (September ).^[] In , Lee indirectly helped reform the Comics Code.^[] The U.

S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare had asked Lee to write a comic-book story about the dangers of drugs and Lee conceived a three-issue subplot in The Amazing Spider-Man #96–98 (cover-dated May–July ), in which Peter Parker's best friend becomes addicted to prescription drugs. The Comics Code Authority refused to grant its seal because the stories depicted drug use; the anti-drug context was considered irrelevant.

With Goodman's cooperation and confident that the original government request would give him credibility, Lee had the story published without the seal.

Complete biography of stan lee: Stan Lee, who ushered in a comicbook renaissance by co-creating the iconic superheroes Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men — characters who made the leap to film with.

The comics sold well and Marvel won praise for its socially conscious efforts.^[] The CCA subsequently loosened the Code to permit negative depictions of drugs, among other new freedoms.^[][]

Lee also supported using comic books to provide some measure of social commentary about the real world, often dealing with racism and bigotry.^[] "Stan's Soapbox", besides promoting an upcoming comic book project, also addressed issues of discrimination, intolerance, or prejudice.^[][]

In , Lee stopped writing monthly comic books to assume the role of publisher.

His final issue of The Amazing Spider-Man was # (July )^[] and his last Fantastic Four was # (August ).^[]

Later Marvel years

Lee became a figurehead and public face for Marvel Comics. He made appearances at comic book conventions around America, lecturing at colleges and participating in panel discussions.

Lee and John Romita Sr. launched the Spider-Man newspaper comic strip on January 3, ^[] Lee's final collaboration with Jack Kirby, The Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience, was published in as part of the Marvel Fireside Books series and is considered to be Marvel's first graphic novel.^[] Lee and John Buscema produced the first issue of The Savage She-Hulk (February ), which introduced the female cousin of the Hulk,^[] and crafted a Silver Surfer story for Epic Illustrated #1 (Spring ).^[]

He moved to California in to develop Marvel's TV and movie properties.

He was an executive producer for, and made cameo appearances in, Marvel film adaptations and other movies.

Stan lee pictures

The man behind Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and X-Men, Stan Lee, died at 95 years old on Nov. 12, See his life in photos.

He occasionally returned to comic book writing with various Silver Surfer projects including a one-shot drawn by John Byrne,^[] the Judgment Day graphic novel illustrated by John Buscema,^[] the Parable limited series drawn by French artist Mœbius,^[] and The Enslavers graphic novel with Keith Pollard.^[] Lee was briefly president of the entire company, but soon stepped down to become publisher instead, finding that being president was too much about numbers and finance and not enough about the creative process he enjoyed.^[]

Beyond Marvel

In , Stan Lee was one of the cartoonists who illustrated the Costello's wall.^[][] He drawn Spider-Man.^[]

Lee stepped away from regular duties at Marvel in the s, though he continued to receive an annual salary of $1&#;million as chairman emeritus.^[] In he and Peter Paul began a new Internet-based superhero creation, production, and marketing studio, Stan Lee Media.^[] It grew to people and went public through a reverse merger structured by investment banker Stan Medley in , but, near the end of , investigators discovered illegal stock manipulation by Paul and corporate officer Stephan Gordon.^[] Stan Lee Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February ^[] Paul was extradited to the U.S.

from Brazil and pleaded guilty to violating SEC Rule 10b-5 in connection with trading his stock in Stan Lee Media.^[][] Lee was never implicated in the scheme.^[]

Following the success of Fox's X-Men film and Sony's then-current Spider-Man film, Lee sued Marvel in , claiming that the company was failing to pay his share of the profits from movies featuring the characters he had co-created.

Because he had done so as an employee, Lee did not own them, but in the s, after decades of making little money licensing them for television and film, Marvel had promised him 10% of any future profits.^[] Lee and the company settled in for an undisclosed seven-figure amount.^[][]

In , Lee, Gill Champion, and Arthur Lieberman formed POW!

(Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment to develop film, television, and video game properties. Lee created the risqué animated superhero series Stripperella for Spike TV. That same year, DC Comics released its first work written by Lee, the Just Imagine series, in which Lee reimagined the DC superheroes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash.^[]

In , POW!

Entertainment went public through a reverse merger again structured by investment banker Stan Medley. Also that year, Lee announced a superhero program that would feature former Beatle Ringo Starr as the lead character.^[][] Additionally, in August of that year, Lee announced the launch of Stan Lee's Sunday Comics,^[] a short-lived subscription service hosted by From July until September Lee hosted, co-created, executive-produced, and judged the reality television game show competition Who Wants to Be a Superhero? on the Sci-Fi Channel.^[]

In March , after Stan Lee Media had been purchased by Jim Nesfield, the company filed a lawsuit against Marvel Entertainment for $5&#;billion, claiming Lee had given his rights to several Marvel characters to Stan Lee Media in exchange for stock and a salary.^[] In June , Stan Lee Media sued Lee; his newer company, POW!

Entertainment; and POW! subsidiary QED Entertainment.^[][]

In , Lee wrote humorous captions for the political fumetti book Stan Lee Presents Election Daze: What Are They Really Saying?^[] In April of that year, Brighton Partners and Rainmaker Animation announced a partnership with POW!

to produce a CGI film series, Legion of 5.^[] Other projects by Lee announced in the late s included a line of superhero comics for Virgin Comics,^[] a TV adaptation of the novel Hero,^[] a foreword to Skyscraperman by skyscraper fire-safety advocate and Spider-Man fan Dan Goodwin,^[] a partnership with Guardian Media Entertainment and The Guardian Project to create NHL superhero mascots,^[] and work with the Eagle Initiative program to find new talent in the comic book field.^[]

In October , Lee announced he would partner with Comics on a multimedia imprint for children, Stan Lee's Kids Universe, a move he said addressed the lack of comic books targeted for that demographic; and that he was collaborating with the company on its futuristic graphic novel Romeo & Juliet: The War, by writer Max Work and artist Skan Srisuwan.^[][] At the San Diego Comic-Con, Lee announced his YouTube channel, Stan Lee's World of Heroes, which airs programs created by Lee, Mark Hamill, Peter David, Adrianne Curry and Bonnie Burton, among others.^[][][][] Lee wrote the book Zodiac, released in January , with Stuart Moore.^[] The film Stan Lee's Annihilator, based on a Chinese prisoner-turned-superhero named Ming and in production since , was released in ^[][][]

In , POW!

Entertainment debuted the manga series Karakuri Dôji Ultimo, a collaboration between Lee and Hiroyuki Takei, Viz Media and Shueisha,^[] The following year POW! released Heroman, which was written by Lee, and serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan with the Japanese company Bones.^[][] In , Lee started writing a live-action musical, The Yin and Yang Battle of Tao,^[] and created the limited series Blood Red Dragon, a collaboration with Todd McFarlane and Japanese rock star Yoshiki.^[][]

The s saw Lee's public persona penetrate the public consciousness through merchandising, branding, and appearances in Marvel books as a character in the Marvel Universe.

In , Marvel commemorated Lee's 65 years with the company by publishing a series of one-shot comics starring Lee himself meeting and interacting with many of his co-creations, including Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, the Thing, Silver Surfer, and Doctor Doom. These comics also featured short pieces by such comics creators as Joss Whedon and Fred Hembeck, as well as reprints of classic Lee-written adventures.^[] At the Comic-Con International, Marvel Legends introduced a Stan Lee action figure.

The body beneath the figure's removable cloth wardrobe is a reused mold of a previously released Spider-Man action figure, with minor changes.^[]Comikaze Expo, Los Angeles' largest comic book convention, was rebranded as Stan Lee's Comikaze Presented by POW! Entertainment in ^[]

At the Comic-Con International, Lee introduced his digital graphic novel Stan Lee's God Woke,^[][] with text originally written as a poem he presented at Carnegie Hall in ^[] The print-book version won the Independent Publisher Book Awards' Outstanding Books of the Year Independent Voice Award.^[]

On July 6, , Genius Brands (now Kartoon Studios) acquired exclusive worldwide rights to use Lee's name, physical likeness, and signature as well as licensing rights to his name and original IPs from POW!

Entertainment. The assets will be placed under a new joint-venture with POW!, called Stan Lee Universe.^[] In , Marvel signed a licensing deal with Stan Lee Universe to use Lee's name and likeness in film and television projects, as well as attractions and merchandising.^[] In April , Kartoon studios, in collaboration with Channel Frederator Network, rebranded their live-action channel as Stan Lee Presents under the management of Ethan Schulteis.

Steve ditko biography Quick Wiki. Full Name Stanley Martin Lieber ; Nickname Stan Lee ; Birth Date December 28, ; Death Date ; Age At Death 95 ; Place Of Death Los Angeles, California.

The channel now focuses on Stan Lee's legacy, featuring content from his personal archives, digital comic books, interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and previews of upcoming projects.^[]

Bibliography

Books

Comics bibliography

Lee's comics work includes:^[]

DC Comics

Marvel Comics

Simon and Schuster

• The Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience, pages, September , ISBN&#;

Other

Accolades

• The County of Los Angeles and the City of Long Beach declared October 2, , "Stan Lee Day".
• Boston's Mayor Marty Walsh named August 2, , as "Stan Lee Day" for the city during the annual Boston Comic-Con event.^[]
• The office of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that October 7, , was "Stan Lee Day" for the city during the New York Comic Con event.
• At the onset of the Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles City Council announced that October 28, , was "Stan Lee Day".^[]
• On July 14, , Lee and Jack Kirby were named Disney Legends for their creation of numerous characters that later comprised Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe.^[]
• On July 18, , as part of D23 Disney Legends event, a ceremony was held at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard where Stan Lee imprinted his hands, feet, and signature in cement.^[]
• The New York City Council voted on July 23, , to name a section of University Avenue in the Bronx, between Brandt Place and West th Street, as "Stan Lee Way".^[]

Fictional portrayals

Further information: List of comics creators appearing in comics §&#;Stan Lee

Marvel Comics

Stan Lee appears in one panel as "third assistant office boy" in Terry-Toons #12 (September ).

Stan Lee is featured prominently as a story character in Margie #36 (June ).

He later appears in a mask on the cover of Black Rider #8 (March ), albeit as a character model, not as Stan Lee.

Lee and Jack Kirby appear as themselves in The Fantastic Four #10 (January ), the first of several appearances within the fictional Marvel Universe.^[] The two are depicted as similar to their real-world counterparts, creating comic books based on the "real" adventures of the Fantastic Four.

Kirby later portrayed himself, Lee, production executive Sol Brodsky, and Lee's secretary Flo Steinberg as superheroes in What If #11 (October ), "What If the Marvel Bullpen Had Become the Fantastic Four?", in which Lee played the role of Mister Fantastic.

Lee was shown in numerous cameo appearances in many Marvel titles, appearing in audiences and crowds at many characters' ceremonies and parties.

For example, he is seen hosting an old-soldiers reunion in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos # (July ), in The Amazing Spider-Man # (June ), as a bar patron in Marvels #3 (),^[] at Karen Page's funeral in Daredevil vol. 2, #8 (June ), and as the priest officiating at Luke Cage and Jessica Jones' wedding in New Avengers Annual #1 (June ).

Lee and Kirby appear as professors in Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #19 ().

He appears in Generation X #17 (July ) as a circus ringmaster narrating (in lines written by Lee) a story set in an abandoned circus. This characterization was revived in Marvel's "Flashback" series of titles cover-dated July , numbered "-1", introducing stories about Marvel characters before they became superheroes.

In Stan Lee Meets Superheroes (), written by Lee, he comes into contact with some of his favorite creations.^[]

DC Comics

In the first series of Angel and the Ape, (–), Lee was parodied as Stan Bragg, editor of Brain-Pix Comics.

Official stan lee biography Stan Lee, who ushered in a comicbook renaissance by co-creating the iconic superheroes Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men — characters who made the leap to film with.

Lee was parodied by Kirby in Mister Miracle in the early s, as Funky Flashman.^[]

A humorously illustrated Lee briefly appears in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. The character is depicted in a cameo, before being informed by another character that is a DC film. Despite DC Comics being a competitor, Lee himself actually provides the voice for the character.

Other publishers

Lee and other comics creators are mentioned in Michael Chabon's novel set in the early comics industry The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.^[]

Under the name Stanley Lieber, he appears briefly in Paul Malmont's novel The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril.^[]

In Lavie Tidhar's The Violent Century, Lee appears – as Stanley Martin Lieber – as a historian of superhumans.^[]

Film and television appearances

Further information: List of cameo appearances by Stan Lee

Lee had cameo appearances in many Marvel film and television projects, including those within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.^[] A few of these appearances are self-aware and sometimes reference Lee's involvement in the creation of certain characters.^[] He additionally voiced a cameo appearance as himself in the DC Comics movie Teen Titans Go!

To the Movies.^[] Out of respect for Lee, Marvel Studios enacted a new policy following his death that forbids cameos by Lee in new films by using archive footage of him,^[] with Avengers: Endgame () marking his final appearance; the film was released several months after his death.

Lee was featured with his colleagues and family in the documentary With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story, which explored his life, career, and creations.^[] A special titled Stan Lee, chronicling the life and legacy of Lee, was released on June 16, , on Disney+. It was directed by David Gelb and first premiered at the Tribeca Festival.^[][]

See also

Explanatory notes

References