Legendary comic writer, editor and publisher of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee, has died. Lee was responsible for the creation of the Marvel Comics’ iconic characters such as Spider-Man, the X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Black Panther and the Fantastic Four, which made him a real-life superhero to comic book lovers everywhere. He was 95.
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Born in 1922, the famed writer reportedly died on Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, an incident confirmed by Kirk Schenck, an attorney for Lee’s daughter, J.C. Lee
In his lifetime, the writer through his work with frequent artist-writer collaborators Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others, took Marvel from a tiny venture to become the world’s No. 1 publisher of comic books and, later, a multimedia conglomerate.
“I used to think what I did was not very important,” Lee told the Chicago Tribune in April 2014. “People are building bridges and engaging in medical research, and here I was doing stories about fictional people who do extraordinary, crazy things and wear costumes. But I suppose I have come to realize that entertainment is not easily dismissed.”
In 2009, The Walt Disney Co. bought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, and most of the top-grossing superhero films of all time, led by Avengers: Infinity War’s $2.05 billion worldwide gross earnings have featured Marvel characters.
Lee’s estate is estimated to be worth as much as $70 million at the time of his death.