USA TODAY International Edition
Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee dies at 95
Stan Lee, the cultural icon responsible for many of Marvel’s most popular superheroes in comic books and movies, died at the age of 95.
Lee died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to Kirk Schenck, an attorney for Lee’s daughter, J.C. Lee. Lee’s POW! Entertainment company confirmed the news to USA TODAY.
“His passing today marks a devastating and painful moment in time, but the legacy of Stan Lee, through his creative genius and his universes of characters, will continue to reach the world of true believers for generations to come,” POW! CEO Shane Duffy said in a statement. He called Lee “the father of pop culture.”
Born Stanley Martin Lieber, the New York City native co-created Spider-Man, Hulk, the Avengers, the XMen, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Daredevil, Doctor Strange and a host more heroes while working as a writer and then editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics in the 1960s.
From the 1970s until the ’90s, Lee was the face of Marvel and a frequent staple at comic and pop culture conventions, entertaining fans and “true believers” with his stories and signature catchphrase, “Excelsior!” He created his own POW! Entertainment in 2001 to develop film, TV and comic properties but always stayed connected to his original superhero roots.
Though Lee’s infectious enthusiasm for his heroes – and his devotees – lasted late into a legendary life, recent years were marked by ill health and legal wrangling involving those closest to him. After the death of his wife of 69 years, Joan, in 2017, Lee was hospitalized in February 2018 for an irregular heartbeat and shortness of breath, and he struggled with pneumonia. In March, Lee reported $1.4 million stolen from his bank account. In April, he sued former business manager Jerardo Olivarez for alleged fraud and elder abuse, then a month later filed a $1 billion fraud suit against POW!.
Lee was a progressive force in his chosen medium.
“I always felt at Marvel, we had to do things different. The reader had to be surprised and had to be meeting characters the likes of which he or she hadn’t met before.”