Stan Lee has passed away at the age of 95, he died at at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California after suffering a “medical emergency” earlier this morning.
The name of this comic legend is nearly synonymous with the Marvel franchise, where he served as writer, editor, and publisher for more than half his life.
Over nearly 80 years, Lee created or co-created countless characters including Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Daredevil, Black Panther, and more.
Stan Lee was one of the fathers of the Golden Age of comics in the late 1930s and early 1940s. At just 19-years-old, Lee had become the interim editor at Timely Comics where he created the Destroyer, Jack Frost, and Father Time.
He didn’t enjoy the position for long, however, and joined the US Army in 1942 just a few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Lee served with the Signal Corps repairing communications equipment before being transferred to the Training Film Division. There his comics expertise was put to good use writing training manuals, films, slogans, and even a few cartoons until his service ended in 1945.
After the war was over, Lee quickly rose to become an pop culture icon. Over the next half-century and beyond Lee would continue to influence the creative world across nearly every form of media.
He continued to work on projects and appear regularly on film and television until his death. Like Alfred Hitchcock, Lee became known for his playful cameos in more than 20 movies inspired by his comic books.
Lee is survived by his daughter J.C. and son Larry Lieber.
His daughter Jan died in infancy. Lee lost his wife of 69 years, Joan, in 2017 after she suffered a stroke. Joan was 95-years-old.