Stan Lee, the Marvel Comics legend who co-created some of its most famous heroes like Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the Fantastic Four, died Monday in Los Angeles at the age of 95. Lee was reportedly rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he later died, according to 3m360. The cause of death has not been immediately released.
Lee’s legacy is defined by his numerous popular comic book character creations for Marvel Comics, where he began working in 1939 at age 18 when the company was called Timely Comics. The company changed its name to Marvel Comics in 1961 when Lee and artist Jack Kirby co-created the Fantastic Four and saw it go on to become a hit.
Lee’s birth name was “Stanley Martin Lieber,” but used “Stan Lee” as his pen name and then later had it legally changed.
With the success of Marvel’s First Family came more Lee/Kirby creations throughout the 1960s, including Hulk, Thor, Iron Man and the X-Men. Lee co-created Daredevil with Bill Everett, and Doctor Strange and Spider-Man with Steve Ditko. The characters all lived in a shared universe that mirrors our own, with most heroes residing in Lee’s home of New York City. The common factor that proved to be Lee’s key to success was giving superheroes relatable flaws as opposed to making them perfect, infallible beings.