Comics legend Stan Lee would have turned 100 Wednesday

Comics fans both famous and not are tipping their hats to Stan Lee, who would have turned 100 years old Wednesday. 

The man who created, or co-created, enduring characters including Spider-Man, Black Panther, Iron Man, The X-Men and Doctor Strange died at 95 in 2018. 

And while the last of Lee’s beloved Marvel movie cameos was in the 2019 blockbuster Avengers: Endgame, his legacy lives on: Marvel Studios is gearing up to finally launch into the Marvel Cinematic Universe one of Lee’s most famous super-teams, The Fantastic Four, which he created with fellow comics visionary Jack Kirby back in 1961. 

In 2012, Lee told ABC Audio that his “crowning moment” was creating Spider-Man. Having awkward teen Peter Parker become a superhero — and not relegated to a sidekick — was groundbreaking. He explained why: “Because, my publisher … when I told him the idea, he hated it. Hated it. So we had a book we were going to kill. And when you’re gonna kill a book, nobody cares what you put in the last issue … So I put Spider-Man in it and put him on the cover. And the book sold like crazy!”  

Among those hailing Lee online Wednesday with #StanLee100 were Guardians of the Galaxy franchise writer-director James Gunn. The filmmaker turned guardian of Warner Bros. DC Comics characters posted several pictures of himself with Lee, saying, “You are missed, my friend.” 

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