Stan Lee, the man whose name was synonymous with Marvel Comics and co-created some of its most famous superheroes, has died at age 95. Though no official cause of death has been announced, Variety has confirmed with a family attorney that Lee was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center by an ambulance early Monday morning.
Lee joined Marvel Comics in 1939 and, along with collaborator Jack Kirby, helped revolutionize the company’s storytelling. Beginning with Fantastic Four in 1961, Lee and Kirby depicted superheroes as flawed and human rather than idealized, ushering in Marvel’s Silver Age. Lee co-created many of Marvel Comics’ other now-classic characters, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, Daredevil, and the Avengers, and served as Marvel’s editor-in-chief, publisher, and chairman at various points in his long career at the company. Lee remained the face of the company for decades to come, making winky cameos in many of Marvel’s live-action movies, including the most recent, Venom.
Earlier this year, Lee canceled multiple appearances due to a bout of pneumonia. “I miss your enthusiasm, I miss all the notes, and the photos and emails I used to get, and I still get a lot of them, and I want you to know that I still love you all,” Lee said in a recorded video for fans. “I think that Marvel and Spidey and I had the best group of fans that any group in the world ever had, and I sure appreciate it … Maybe I’ll have some of this pneumonia knocked down, and we can have some real fun over the internet. Until then, excelsior.”
