Stan Lee, the legendary writer, editor and publisher of Marvel Comics whose creations made him a real-life superhero to comic book lovers everywhere, has died at the age of 95.
Lee, who began 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 and Ant-Man, among countless other characters.
He died early on Monday morning Nov. 12th at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
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 alleging 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.
And in June 2018, it was revealed that the Los Angeles Police Department had been investigating reports of elder abuse against him.
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. Stan was worth $70million at the time of his death.