STAN LEE, FAR FROM ORDINARY
Stan Lee was the subject of a love fest Tuesday night, as actors, directors, artists and illustrators lauded the Marvel Comics legend for creating a vast universe of fantastic, flawed, righteous and relatable superheroes.
Mark Ruffalo, Aisha Tyler, Lou Ferrigno, RZA and comics creator Todd McFarlane were among the speakers at "Extraordinary: Stan Lee," a tribute hosted by Chris Hardwick.
The two-hour program mixed live appearances with video tributes and animated segments that told the story of Lee's career. The 94-year-old dreamer behind Spider-Man, Iron Man and scores of other superheroes sat center stage at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills as one artist-admirer after another shared how his characters and creative energy inspired them.
''Guardians of the Galaxy" writer-director James Gunn, Ruffalo, Tyler, J.K. Simmons and Kaley Cuoco appeared via video, though Lee confessed after the first clip played: "I can't hear or understand anything on that screen."
Ferrigno took the stage posing like the Hulk as he took the stage.
McFarlane compared Lee to Walt Disney. Hardwick described him as "Hugh Hefner for nerds."
Animated clips told of Lee's early days as an assistant at Timely Comics, which eventually became Marvel.
RZA, a filmmaker and cofounder of Wu-Tang Clan, recalled buying comic books as a kid and being inspired by characters like Silver Surfer, Luke Cage, SpiderMan and Storm.
"Those characters inspired me and took me to a place where there was a world, a Marvel universe, where there wasn't no bigotry; where there was heroes that looked like me, and where I could think that justice and fun would prevail over all," RZA said.