The Biography of Stan Lee
Comic books and comic book characters became significant presences in global popular culture throughout the twentieth century. Comic books are magazines containing sequences of comic strips (1). A comic strip is a group of cartoons in narrative sequence (2). The comic book medium allows for stories to be told in a combination of picture format and text format, and throughout the first half of the 20th century they became a widely enjoyed form of literature.
During the Golden Age of comics between 1938 and 1956, comic books became a useful format to spread patriotic propaganda (3). The Silver Age of comics spanned the years between 1956 and 1970 (4). During this period, comic books saw a great degree of change and growth. One of the influential writers during the Silver Age of comic books would become a recognizable real-life ambassador for the profession. This writer was Stan Lee.
Stan Lee’s birth name was Stanley Lieber. He was born on December 28, 1922 to parents who were Romanian immigrants (5) (6). He grew up in Manhattan (7). He became fascinated by writing and literature, including Jules Verne (8). Additionally, he enjoyed reading Shakespeare as a child (9). Lee’s early writing experience came from writing obituaries (10). A fortunate break came for Lieber when he was hired at age 17 to join Timely Comics, which would become Marvel (11).
An important point in comic history came with the publication of Action Comics #1, which told the story of Superman for the first time. This comic was published in the June issue of Action Comics (12). Even at this point, Superman remains nearly identical in costume to the way he was dressed initially. His costume features red boots, a blue bodysuit with a golden “S” shape on his chest, and a red cape (13). His physical appearance, including his black hair and strong jaw, is also nearly identical and immediately recognizable from the cover of the first issue of Action Comics #1 (14). Superman was a large cultural success, and he is credited with being the formative figure in the modern superhero genre (15). Batman emerged in 1939 (16). As is true with Superman, Batman’s costuming has hardly changed since he was first introduced in pictorial form (17).
Martin Goodman, the publisher of Timely, was an experienced publisher with a successful record in the industry (18). He observed a productive trend in the superhero genre, and created a company to focus on the production of comic book superheroes (19). Superman had convinced him of the value of heroic characters to the comic book medium, and Goodman quickly moved into position with a new company made to create characters of exactly this variety. This organization was named Timely Comics (20). Its first issue in 1939 was titled Marvel Comics #1 (21).
In 1941, Lieber first signed his then-pen name, “Stan Lee” on Captain America #3 (22). Ironically, his pen name came from the vision that he wanted to reserve his name for more conventional literary work (23). Lieber made Lee his official last name later in his life (24).
In 1942, Stan Lee enlisted in the army, creating promotional material (25). He later rejoined Timely, which had rebranded to Atlas Comics (26). He married his wife, Joan Boocock, in 1947 (27). Their daughter Joan Celia Lee was born in 1950 (28). Another daughter was born in 1953, but lived only three days (29).
The superhero genre, still in its early life, continued to evolve. With its success came controversy. The comic industry’s impact on society did not go unchallenged. Where some saw a new medium for entertainment and fun, others saw a concerning new development which would allow indecent content to prosper. The flash point of this period in comic history arrived in spectacular fashion in 1954.
1954 was the year which saw concerns over the content in comic books take the national stage. Content restrictions were placed on comic books industrywide in response. The inciting incident of this phase was the publication of a book called Seduction of the Innocent in early 1954 (30). Seduction of the Innocent was largely seen as an anti-comic argument (31).
The effect of Seduction of the Innocent on public opinion and the comic industry was immediate. In April and June of 1954, the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency held hearings on the content in comic books (32). What motivations the senators had in bringing this topic for discussion quickly became clear. The discussion was squarely on the anti-comics side. The U.S. Senators appeared to favor new laws governing the comics industry (33).
Bad optics hurt the comic industry during the hearings. A memorable, “gotcha”, moment happened when William Gaines, the leader of EC Comics, was encouraged to make a statement which looked bad when reprinted in the news. Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, who held the hearings, confronted Gaines with a gruesome image from an EC Comics horror story, and Gaines replied that the image was in, “good taste”, for the horror genre (34) (35). The appalling-sounding statement was reproduced widely (36). Gaines’ words had been taken out of context, but this was ignored.
Facing concerns for the life of their industry, the comic book publishers cooperated to supervise and approve content in comic books. This group, the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA), was formed in October 1954 (37). The regulatory group of CMAA, the Comics Code Authority, supervised comic book content (38). An industry stamp, known as the Seal of Approval, was applied to the covers of comic books which had been approved by the Comics Code Authority (39). The stamp was the most-felt consequence of CMAA on the comic book industry. Without stamps, publishers could not sell their books, as business partners refused to sell books without stamps (40). The publication of Seduction of the Innocent, Senator Kefauver’s Senate hearings, and the formation of CMAA all happened in the same year.
William Gaines, who had made the unfortunate comment about horror art being in, “good taste”, had another act remaining. Gaines closed EC Comics and started Mad Magazine, which would not be subject to oversight from CMAA (41). Mad had been a comic book since 1952, but would now be created in magazine format (42). This meant that Mad would not have to be party to CMAA. While comic books would have to comply with the industry oversight of the Comics Code Authority, Mad Magazine would not be party to this arrangement, and could publish material at their own discretion. The antiestablishment sentiment of the magazine showed in its material. Mad Magazine became popular for its defiant and profane humor (43).
The 1960s would be Stan Lee’s decade of great creative strength. Joan convinced Stan to focus less on the commercial aspect of comic production and instead focus on creating stories he really wanted to create (44).
In 1961, Stan Lee and his artistic collaborator Jack Kirby co-created the Fantastic Four (45).
The Fantastic Four were comprised of Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Human Torch, and The Thing (46). The characters were given extraordinary ability after being exposed to radiation during a spaceflight (47). Mister Fantastic, formerly Reed Richards, came to possess elastic properties (48). Invisible Woman, formerly Susan Storm, could become invisible (49). The Human Torch, formerly Johnny Storm, had control over fire (50). The Thing, formerly Ben Richards, turned into a character with colossal strength and an outer covering that resembled stone (51). The Fantastic Four had complicated personalities, as they regularly argued among themselves (52) (53).
Lee later reflected on the humanization of his characters. He wrote, “It’s not that when you’re powerful you have to have vulnerability. It’s that if you’re writing about a character, if he’s a powerful character, unless you give him vulnerability I don’t think he’ll be as interesting to the reader. Achilles, without his heel, you wouldn’t even know his name today” (54). In another reflection on his creations, Lee recalled, “Just because you have superpowers, that doesn’t mean your love life would be perfect. I don’t think superpowers automatically means there won’t be any personality problems, family problems, or even money problems” (55).
One of Stan Lee’s major contributions to the world of popular culture was called Spider-Man. Spider-Man initially emerged in Amazing Fantasy #15 on August 1, 1962 (56). Spider-Man’s costuming remains consistent from the moment of his first appearance to the present day (57). The triangular eye pieces, the red and blue bodysuit design decorated with black spider webs, and the spider emblem in the center of the chest remain costume elements in modern interpretations (58).
Spider-Man’s real name was Peter Parker (59). “I gave Peter Parker as many problems as I could”, Lee recalled (60). “He wasn’t a popular kid” (61). Peter Parker lived with his Aunt May in the Queens borough of New York City (62). He discovered the abilities that would turn him into Spider-Man after being bitten by a radioactive spider (63). Peter Parker was the ultimate product of the Marvel approach of creating characters with extraordinary abilities, human personality traits, and human problems. Although Spider-Man’s supernatural abilities were impressive, his life challenges became a strength for the character. Readers related.
Readers would come to relate to Peter Parker because of the complexity of his personality, and the ironic contrast between Peter Parker’s amazing abilities and the challenges which were presented by his existence in the ordinary world among ordinary people. This was an example of Stan Lee’s philosophy of creating characters which could be believable simply because they had life issues.
Lee wrote the story for The Incredible Hulk in 1962, X-Men and The Avengers in 1963, and Black Panther in 1966 (64) (65) (66), all illustrated by Jack Kirby. Lee and illustrator Steve Ditko co-created Iron Man in 1963 (67). The effect of these new characters on Marvel were shown in the accounting. Marvel’s sales climbed to 32 million units in 1965 from 18.7 million units in 1961 (68). Good storytelling was now big business. The Silver Age of comics, and the course of comic book history in general, was greatly affected by Lee’s, Ditko’s, and Kirby’s creations.
One of Lee’s contributions to the comic book industry was the creation of the, “Marvel Method”, of comic book production (69). The, “Marvel Method”, consisted of Lee brainstorming a story with an artist, giving the artist a synopsis, then writing the dialogue after the artist had drawn the narrative (70). In time, this would prove to be a challenging part of his legacy, as divisions over credit for creating the characters grew between himself and his collaborative partners Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby (71). Ditko left Marvel with bad sentiment in 1966 (72). Kirby left in 1969 (73). Kirby’s estate would unsuccessfully seek to acquire intellectual property ownership of his and Lee’s characters (74). Their differences were resolved in a settlement in 2014, which established shared credit between Lee and Kirby in films (75). The fracture with the artists over superhero creation would become a bad mark on Lee’s reputation.
In a 2000 interview, Lee gave insight into his creative process, and how he came up with the stories which he told to the world. “When I was at Marvel… I tried to write stories that would interest me. I’d say, what would I like to read? Then I’d try to write them clearly enough so that a youngster could enjoy and appreciate and understand the story, and I tried to write them intelligently enough so that an older person would enjoy it too… I don’t think you can do your best work if you’re writing for somebody else, because you never know what that somebody else really thinks or wants. But I know what I like, and I can’t believe I’m so unique. If I could write a story that really pleases me, there must be millions of people who have the same taste I do. So if I like it, there’ll be a lot of other people who like it. And I’ve always used that rule” (76).
In 1971, a breaking point emerged between Marvel and the supervisors at CMAA. The comic book world was now far removed from the comic world of the 1950s, where censorship and industry oversight of comic stories was expected by customers and business partners. Marvel had driven much of the progress in comic books thanks to the success of its portfolio in the 1960s. Thanks to its superheroes, Marvel now had the credibility to challenge CMAA.
In 1971, Marvel published the May issue of The Amazing Spider-Man despite the comic having not been greenlit by CMAA (77). The contentious story was of concern to CMAA because it depicted illicit substances (78), which was considered objectionable content. This was the first event of a CMAA member publisher defying the organization’s greenlight in 16 years (79). Before publishing the book, Marvel had made a request to CMAA to publish an issue relating to substance use (80). The request from Marvel to CMAA was denied, but Marvel’s request prompted CMAA to reassess their standards (81).
CMAA released a reviewed version of their rules on January 28, 1971, which eliminated, “restrictions on sympathetic depictions of criminal behavior, on corruption among public officials as long as it is portrayed as exceptional and the culprit is punished, and on law-enforcement officers dying as a result of criminal activity as long as the guilty are brought to justice” (82). The revised rules also discussed the elimination of the standard that, “all characters be depicted in dress reasonably acceptable to society” (83). CMAA had realized that its rules were behind the times, and a refusal to change could mean that the entire comic book world could be left behind. The times were different now as well; the culture of 1971 was no longer the culture of 1956. Much had changed in the preceding years, and the oversight authorities were facing a situation where it appeared that their supervision was now hindering the business, largely thanks to the massive popularity of the characters in Marvel’s portfolio.
With the request to CMAA having prompted CMAA to change its standards, Marvel and its request for a Spider-Man story had successfully influenced change away from the standards of the 1950s, which had motivated formal opposition to comic books. The publication of the May issue of The Amazing Spider-Man and CMAA changing its content guidelines is evidence that Marvel had enough credibility within the comic book industry to make CMAA change its position.
In the late 1990s, Lee embarked on an Internet business venture which was not successful. The new company was called Stan Lee Entertainment, later Stan Lee Media (84). The new business was to encourage Lee’s fans to view content on the Internet, where he could entertain them with new superhero characters (85). The new company had six story lines and twelve new characters (86). Many of these newly created superheroes derived their powers from the Internet (87), which during the 1990s was a thrilling new invention. Thanks to the company’s public offering, Lee made more money between August 1999 and May 2000 than Marvel had paid him for his writing (88). The company closed in 2000 (89). Amid the company’s business troubles, Lee’s business partner was sentenced to prison time for securities fraud (90). Lee was not charged (91).
Marvel prevailed over the decency authorities at CMAA. In 2001, Marvel withdrew its books from the Comics Code Authority, meaning it would no longer be submitting its books to CMAA for approval (92). In 2011, the final two publishers dropped the stamp from their covers (93). The comic book industry oversight authority was a part of comic history.
Although by the early 2000s Stan Lee’s legacy had primarily been in comic book format, Marvel’s biggest era had not yet arrived. Marvel began work on Iron Man, a film featuring the title character. The film was recorded over 74 days beginning in March 2007 (94). The film starred Robert Downey, Jr. in the leading role (95). The film was a risk at the time of production (96). The film covered a wealthy weapons manufacturer who creates a suit of powered armor, which enables him to become the superhero Iron Man (97).
Iron Man was not Marvel’s first move into theaters. Lee had long had film ambitions for his characters. He had moved to California in 1980 to focus on developing films featuring Marvel characters (98). These ambitions in film had not been successful aside from an Incredible Hulk show between 1978 and 1982 (99).
Spider-Man had become a successful film trilogy, with installments in 2002, 2004, and 2007 (100). These films, starring Tobey McGuire as Peter Parker, earned large box office revenues against their considerable production budgets (101). X-Men had also been made into a movie franchise in the early 2000s as well with films in 2000, 2003, and 2006 (102). These three X-Men movies had each earned at least double their production cost (103).
Aside from the devoted group of fans who were well-versed with the comic book universe, the Iron Man character had far lower recognition than the Spider-Man or X-Men characters. This lower recognition meant that creating a big-budget film on Iron Man posed a considerable risk. At a cost of $140 million (104), Iron Man’s production cost was a large investment in a character who had not been shown in a major studio’s film before. There was a considerable risk that Iron Man would not succeed in the box office and be a huge loss to the studio.
On May 2, 2008, Iron Man was released (105). Its risk was answered by its success. The film earned $585.8 million internationally (106) against its $140 million production budget. Of critical importance to Iron Man’s success was the appeal of the leading performer, Robert Downey, Jr.. “…I think Jon Favreau casting Robert [Downey Jr.] as Tony Stark is one of the most significant and consequential casting decisions in Hollywood history”, said Christopher Nolan, a director (107). “It wound up defining our industry” (108).
Iron Man’s success marked a point in history for Marvel. Its characters entered a new space of influence. While earlier Marvel movies had been successful, including the X-Men, Iron Man was the first step in the cinematic version of the shared universe which Marvel had pioneered in comic form decades earlier. Lee had effectively combined comic worlds into a shared universe, with a shared setting and multiple character stories each progressing in coordination with each other (109).
Disney bought Marvel in 2009 (110), an investment which proved to be a wealthy one. As of May 2024, Avengers: Endgame, The Avengers, and Avengers: Infinity War take up 2nd, 6th, and 10th on the list of top-grossing films of all time (111). Other high rankers in the top-grossing films of all time include Spider-Man: No Way Home, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Black Panther, which occupy the 7th, 15th, and 19th positions on the list (112). Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Far from Home, and Captain Marvel occupy the 25th, 28th, 31st, and 32nd places on the list (113). These films were produced after Disney’s acquisition of Marvel (114). These ten films earned between $2.8 and $1.1 billion at the box office (115).
Stan Lee had regular cameos in the films that derived from his creations (116). By the end of his life, Stan Lee had appeared in 38 Marvel films in cameo roles (117). These cameo appearances became a popular element of Marvel films (118). The movie appearances also familiarized Lee with younger people who had not experienced the Silver Age of comics.
Lee’s fan interaction was one of his strengths as a public figure (119). Even into his 90s, Lee traveled to comic conventions and signed paid autographs (120).
On July 6, 2017, Joan Lee died (121). At the time of her death, she and Stan Lee had been married for 69 years (122).
Stan Lee died on November 12, 2018, at age 95 (123), one year after Joan.
Comic books had a formational role in American popular culture (124). Lee’s creations had a massive impact on the world’s popular culture (125), and his characters remain widely recognized. The products of Stan Lee’s imagination continue to entertain people today. The characters which Lee had placed an emphasis on humanizing eventually connected with people. Stan Lee’s superheroes became popular superheroes because they were likable and relatable. Having extraordinary abilities did not make them invulnerable, or perfect. Stan Lee created heroes which entertained people. And this they will continue to do.
Works Cited
12, 13, 14
“Action Comics (1938-) #1.” DC Universe Infinite, https://www.dcuniverseinfinite.com/comics/book/action-comics-1938-1/f5f6ab2b-0746-4a95-bf79-039a529bbb50. Accessed 20 May 2024.
65
“Avengers (1963) #1.” Marvel, https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/6951/avengers_1963_1. Accessed 20 May 2024.
16, 17
DC. “Batman, a History of Heroics: The Beginning.” DC. 19 March 2019, https://www.dc.com/blog/2019/03/19/batman-a-history-of-heroics-the-beginning. Accessed 20 May 2024.
66
Morris, Bryce. “The Origin of Wakanda’s Vibranium Redefines Black Panther’s Nation.” Screenrant, 1 September 2022, https://screenrant.com/black-panther-wakanda-vibranium-origin-redefines-nation/. Accessed 20 May 2024.
1
“Comic book.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comic%20book. Accessed 20 May. 2024.
3, 4
Centeno, Giovanna. “A Very Brief History of Comic Books.” Book Riot, 9 October 2020, https://bookriot.com/a-very-brief-history-of-comic-books/. Accessed 20 May 2024.
30, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 80, 81, 92, 93
Kiste Nyberg, Amy. “Comics Code History: The Seal of Approval.” Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, https://cbldf.org/comics-code-history-the-seal-of-approval/. Accessed 20 May 2024.
2
“Comic strip.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comic%20strip. Accessed 20 May. 2024.
46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51
“Fantastic Four.” Marvel, https://www.marvel.com/teams-and-groups/fantastic-four/in-comics. Accessed 20 May 2024.
111, 112, 113, 114, 115
“Top Lifetime Grosses.” Box Office Mojo, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/top_lifetime_gross/?area=XWW. Accessed 20 May 2024.
64
“Incredible Hulk (1962) #1.” Marvel, https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/8906/incredible_hulk_1962_1. Accessed 20 May 2024.
104, 105
“Iron Man.” Box Office Mojo, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1482327553/. Accessed 20 May 2024.
67
“Tales of Suspense (1959) #39.” Marvel, https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/11280/tales_of_suspense_1959_39. Accessed 20 May 2024.
94, 95, 97
Alter, Ethan. “Here’s how ‘Iron Man’ built the modern Marvel Cinematic Universe in 5 phases.” Yahoo! Entertainment, 3 May 2023, https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/iron-man-marvel-cinematic-universe-robert-downey-jr-tom-cruise-jon-favreau-165524497.html. Accessed 20 May 2024.
121, 122
"Joan Lee, Stan Lee's Wife of 69 Years, Dies at the Age of 93." Vulture, 7 July 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A497859314/GPS?u=mlin_b_bpublic&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=99eebde6. Accessed 20 May 2024.
27
Lewis, Andy. “Joan Lee, Wife of Marvel Comics Legend Stan Lee, Dies at 95.” The Hollywood Reporter, 6 July 2017, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/joan-lee-dead-wife-marvel-comics-legend-stan-lee-was-95-1018951/. Accessed 20 May 2024.
42, 43
Rosenberg, Rachel. “MAD Magazine: A History of the Counterculture Humor Magazine.” Book Riot, 1 March 2023, https://bookriot.com/mad-magazine-a-history-of-the-counterculture-humour-magazine/. Accessed 20 May 2024.
106
Levandoski, Quinn. “Every MCU Franchise Ranked by Box Office.” Screenrant, 11 February 2024, https://screenrant.com/every-mcu-franchise-ranked-by-box-office/. Accessed 20 May 2024.
96
"Gwyneth Paltrow Says Robert Downey Jr. Threw Out Script Pages While Prepping For Iron Man, And It Sounds Like That Was Actually Helpful." CinemaBlend, 9 Apr. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A789446525/GPS?u=mlin_b_bpublic&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=f68b4f95. Accessed 20 May 2024.
107, 108
"Christopher Nolan Gives MCU Movies Credit For Getting People Back To Theaters Post-Covid." CinemaBlend, 14 Feb. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A782523009/GPS?u=mlin_b_bpublic&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=c62f7bed. Accessed 20 May 2024.
117
Gorton, Austin. “All 38 of Stan Lee’s Marvel and MCU movie cameos, ranked!” Popverse, 4 January 2024, https://www.thepopverse.com/stan-lee-mcu-marvel-superhero-movie-cameo-ranked. Accessed 20 May 2024.
15
Romain, Lindsey. “Rare Superman Comic Sells for Record-Breaking $3.25 Million.” Nerdist, 8 April 2021, https://nerdist.com/article/action-comics-superman-auction-sells-record-breaking-3-25-million/. Accessed 20 May 2024.
60, 61
Nichols, Peter M. “How Spidey Was Hatched”. The New York Times, 3 May 2002, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/2002/05/03/849200.html?pageNumber=82. Accessed 20 May 2024.
85
Stroud, Michael. “New Superheroes on Wall Street.” The New York Times, 15 August 1999, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1999/08/15/042056.html?pageNumber=125. Accessed 20 May 2024.
6, 9, 25, 26
"Farewell, Stan Lee." Youngzine, 26 Nov. 2018. Gale In Context: Science, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A564076265/GPS?u=mlin_b_bpublic&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=104de84b. Accessed 20 May 2024.
76, 88
Pond, Steve. "Stan Lee." Brandweek, vol. 41, no. 18, 1 May 2000, p. IQ31. Gale OneFile: Business, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A62001164/GPS?u=mlin_b_bpublic&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=17479d82. Accessed 20 May 2024.
7, 8, 68, 116, 123, 124
"Prepare to be astonished! Stan Lee." The Economist, vol. 429, no. 9119, 24 Nov. 2018, p. 78(US). Gale OneFile: Business, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A563104825/GPS?u=mlin_b_bpublic&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=f929c0ab. Accessed 20 May 2024.
86, 87
Fisher, Sara. "Comic-book legend Stan Lee starts over." Los Angeles Business Journal, vol. 21, no. 4, 25 Jan. 1999, p. 12. Gale OneFile: Business, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A53988601/GPS?u=mlin_b_bpublic&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=8786a55b. Accessed 20 May 2024.
109, 119, 120, 125
"Stan Lee Gave More Than He Took." Vulture, 13 Nov. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A561961698/GPS?u=mlin_b_bpublic&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=fcf5b0c0. Accessed 20 May 2024.
11, 22, 23, 52, 62, 69, 71, 84, 89, 118
"Marvel Comics' Stan Lee: The Legend Who Created Legends." Fair Observer, 18 Nov. 2018. Gale OneFile: News, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A562715863/GPS?u=mlin_b_bpublic&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=20accd53. Accessed 20 May 2024.
53
"What Stan Lee Meant to One of His Closest Collaborators." Vulture, 13 Nov. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A562033605/GPS?u=mlin_b_bpublic&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=0fc18503. Accessed 20 May 2024.
5, 10, 45, 70, 110
"Marvel veteran Stan Lee passes away at 95." Animation Xpress, 13 Nov. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A562017021/GPS?u=mlin_b_bpublic&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=76dd0a1b. Accessed 20 May 2024.
54, 55
O'Connor, Tom. "Stan Lee Quotes: Legendary Comic Book Creator Dies at 95; 'With great power there must also come--great responsibility!' Stan Lee famously wrote in his debut 'Spider-Man' comic in August 1962." Newsweek, vol. 171, no. 16, 30 Nov. 2018. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A562952664/GPS?u=mlin_b_bpublic&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=ee937611. Accessed 20 May 2024.
24, 28, 29, 31, 33, 34, 44, 72, 73, 74, 75, 90, 91, 98, 99
Kandell, Jonathan, and Webster, Andy. “Stan Lee is Dead at 95; Superhero of Marvel Comics.” The New York Times, 12 November 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/obituaries/stan-lee-dead.html?smid=url-share. Accessed 20 May 2024.
63
“Spider-Man.” Marvel, https://www.marvel.com/characters/spider-man-peter-parker/on-screen. Accessed 20 May 2024.
77, 78, 79, 82, 83
Van Gelder, Lawrence. “A Comics Magazine Defies Code Ban on Drug Stories.” The New York Times, 4 February 1971, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/02/04/81873910.html?pageNumber=37. Accessed 20 May 2024.
100
Iamsid1996. “Spiderman All Movies.” IMDB, https://m.imdb.com/list/ls049852613/. Accessed 20 May 2024.
56, 57, 58, 59
“Amazing Fantasy (1962) #15.” Marvel, https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/16926/amazing_fantasy_1962_15. Accessed 20 May 2024.
101
“Franchise: Spider-Man.” Box Office Mojo, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchise/fr3662122757/. Accessed 20 May 2024.
18, 19, 20, 21
Diaz, Eric. “The History, Characters, and Legacy of the First Marvel Comic.” Nerdist, 1 November 2022, https://nerdist.com/article/marvel-comics-number-one-first-marvel-comic-ever-namor-submariner-human-torch-legacy-influence-mcu/. Accessed 20 May 2024.
102, 103
“Franchise: X-Men.” Box Office Mojo, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchise/fr3712454405/. Accessed 20 May 2024.
126:
Stone, Jason. “Beyond Amazing: Learning from 60 Years of Spider-Man”. University of Oregon, https://around.uoregon.edu/spider-man-60-learning-history-comics. Accessed 28 May 2024.