Stan Lee, the legendary writer, editor and publisher of the well-known Marvel Comics whose fantastic but flawed creations made him a real-life superhero to comic book lovers everywhere, has passed away at the age of 95.
Lee, who began in the business in 1939 and created or co-created Black Panther, Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Mighty Thor, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil and Ant-Man, among countless other characters, died early Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, a family representative told The Hollywood Reporter.
On his own and through his work with frequent artist-writer collaborators Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others, Lee catapulted Marvel from a tiny venture into the world’s No. 1 publisher of comic books and, later, a multimedia giant.
In 2009, The Walt Disney Co. bought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, and most of the top-grossing superhero films of all time — led by Avengers: Infinity War with $2.05 billion worldwide take earlier this year — have featured Marvel characters.
Lee’s fame and influence as the face and figurehead of Marvel, even in his nonagenarian years, remained considerable.