Stan Lee, the man behind iconic comic book characters Black Panther, Spider-Man, X-Men, The Mighty Thor, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, Ant-Man and others passed away Monday. He was 95 years old.
Lee, who began in the business in 1939 and created or co-created Black Panther, Spider-Man, X-Men, The Mighty Thor, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, Ant-Man and other characters, died early Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, a source told The Hollywood Reporter.
Lee’s final few years were tumultuous. After Joan, his wife of 69 years, died in July 2017, he sued executives at POW! Entertainment — a company he founded in 2001 to develop film, TV and video game properties — for $1 billion for fraud, then abruptly dropped the suit weeks later.
He also sued his ex-business manager and filed for a restraining order against a man who had been handling his affairs. (Lee’s estate was estimated to be worth as much as $70 million.) And in June 2018, it was revealed that the Los Angeles Police Department had been investigating reports of elder abuse against him.
Aside from his contributions to the comic universe, Lee will most be remembered for turning Marvel into your regular run of the mill comic book company to a giant in the industry that would eventually be bought out by Disney and pushed into an entirely new realm of entertainment.
However despite his success within Marvel, he also had his problems with he company he helped build, l notably with their turn to the mainstream. Back in 2002, Lee sued Marvel for royalties he said he was owed for “Spider-Man”. Eventually the two sides settled and Lee received $10 million dollars which quite frankly seems like chump change all things considered.
After his wife’s death in 2017, Lee is survived by his daughter J.C. who said “My father loved all of his fans. He was the greatest, most decent man.”
