Some things you probably didn’t know about the 'father of superheroes'

There has been an outpouring of thanks, remembrances and condolences from celebrities following the death of Marvel legend Stan Lee who was also known as "Excelsior."

Flowers and mementos are pictured on the star of late Marvel Comics co-creator Stan Lee on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, California, US, November 12, 2018.
Reuters

Flowers and mementos are pictured on the star of late Marvel Comics co-creator Stan Lee on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, California, US, November 12, 2018.

Stan Lee, the creative dynamo who revolutionised the comic book and helped make billions for Hollywood by introducing human frailties in Marvel superheroes such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Incredible Hulk, died on Monday. He was 95.

Here are several things you should know about the comic book legend:

*) Born Stanley Martin Lieber on December 28 1922, to Jewish immigrants who migrated to the United States from Romania.

*) Worked freelance in high school writing obituaries in advance for people who were still alive. Yes, that is how an obituary is published within 15 minutes of a celebrity passing away.

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*) Tripped when he was escorting then US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, during his job as a theatre usher.

*) Started working as an errand boy at Timely Comics, aged 17, and began rising through the ranks.

*) Married actress Joan Lee in 1947. She died in 2017. The couple had two children, Joan Celia born in 1950 and Jan Lee who died within three days of her birth in 1953.

*) Served in the US army during World War II, following which he returned to comics, teaming up with illustrator Jack Kirby in the 1960s to invent the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man.

*) Though, not the pioneer of superheroes, he was widely credited with adding a new layer of complexity and humanity to superheroes and co-created a number of fan favourites including the Incredible Hulk, Ironman, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and X-Men. He created the Marvel Universe around this time, where all the heroes existed at the same time and story crossovers were frequent. 

*) Was also known as Excelsior, the same phrase with which he ended his weekly "Stan's Soapbox", which appeared in every Marvel comic book.

*) Formally left Marvel in the 1990s but remained chairman emeritus.

*) After leaving Marvel, he was a wellspring of new projects, running a company called POW! Entertainment.

*) Immortalised on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in December 2012.

*) He sued Disney/Marvel for not fulfilling the terms of his employment and won a one-time settlement of $10 million. He also filed a lawsuit against his former company POW! Entertainment for $1bn (£740m) in damages, claiming the company misled him into signing a document that gave away the rights to his name.

*) Had a cameo in every Marvel Comics Universe movie playing different characters and also made appearances in Marvel TV shows.

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*)  A massage therapist sued him for sexual assault, accusing him of inappropriate touching during two sessions in 2017. Lee denied the allegations.

*) Already shot his short appearance for Avengers 4, but the status of his cameos in Spider-Man Homecoming 2 and Captain Marvel is not known.

*) Thought that President Trump was ok but “needed to tone it down a bit”.

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