Stan Lee, Marvel Comics Publisher Behind Spider-Man, X-Men, Dead At 95
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Stan Lee, the creator of iconic Marvel characters such as Spider-Man, X-Men, and Fantastic Four, has died. He was 95.
The Marvel legend, who was recently at the center of a legal battle over alleged financial and physical elder abuse, died Monday after being rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from his Hollywood Hills home.
Paramedics were sent to the 9100 block of West Oriole Way in Hollywood Hills on a medical emergency call for a 95-year-old man, Los Angeles Fire dispatcher Margaret Stewart said. The nature of the emergency was not disclosed, and Lee's cause of death is not yet known.
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Born Stanley Martin Lieber on Dec. 28, 1922, in New York City, Lee began his career in 1939 as an assistant at Timely Comics with such duties as getting lunch, filling inkwells and proofreading.
His first published work was as a text filler for Captain America No. 3, published in 1941. He wrote under the name Stan Lee, which would later become his legal name, writing in his autobiography that he intended to save his given name for more literary work.
Lee was named interim editor of Timely Comics in 1941, and later became the editor-in-chief for what would evolve into Marvel Comics in 1961 until 1972 when he became publisher.
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More than 2 million of Lee's comic books have been published in 75 nations and in 25 languages. His characters have been featured in 24 animated television series and several live-action blockbuster films.
Lee's wife of nearly 70 years, Joan, died in July 2017 at age 93.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
