Terribly sad news this morning as The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Stan Lee, the legendary writer, editor, and publisher of Marvel Comics, has passed away. He was 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, Ant-Man, Doctor Doom, Elektro, and Man-Thing, among countless other characters, died early Monday morning in Los Angeles, a source told THR.
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 featured Marvel characters.
"His stories taught me that even superheroes like Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk have ego deficiencies and girl problems and do not live in their macho fantasies 24 hours a day," Kiss' Gene Simmons said in a 1979 interview. "Through the honesty of guys like Spider-Man, I learned about the shades of gray in human nature."
Even if you're not a fan of Marvel, Stan Lee has most certainly had an impact on us all, in one way or another, through entertainment. Lee will forever be remembered as the face of Marvel Comics and geek fandom. This writer will remember him for his roles in iconic Troma films. We send our deepest condolences to his friends and family. This is such a huge loss.