Stan Lee: Superhero for Justice & Diversity

Stan Lee is the grandfather of comic books. He has written many stories with characters of great diversity who inspire, educate, and entertain us.

Stan Lee’s real name was Stanley Martin Lieber who was born in New York in December 1922 to Romanian immigrant parents.  His father worked at a dress factory cutting fabric while his mother was a stay-at-home mom.

Stan loved stories and always carried a book or   magazine with him. At 16, when he graduated from high school, he landed a job at Timely Publishing Company in the comics department.

For the company that eventually became Marvel Comics, Stan was a gofer and did coffee runs for his boss.  But he really wanted to write. He received his chance when he was asked to write a story for Captain America.

After that, the company allowed him to write more, and at that time he began using the pen name Stan Lee.  Stan wrote the Fantastic Four which was about a group of scientists who experience a radioactive blast while in space, causing them all to obtain (gain) superpowers. They team up to form the Fantastic Four to fight crime and Doctor Doom. They were a smash hit.

 Stan went on to write the X-Men, who he used as an example for those experiencing racism. The mutants were persecuted for being born as mutants and having powers.

In the stories, parents would disown their children if they were born a mutant. The Xavier School for Gifted Children was a safe place for mutant children to learn without discrimination. They were taught how to use their powers for good.

  The X-Men were very popular among comic book fans. Comic fans from marginalized groups especially related to the X-Men and their stories.

As Stan’s writing career took off, he was drafted to fight in World War II. Even here, his talent and passion for writing was recognized.

He was given the rare but prestigious role of “playwright” during his service. This included writing slogans, manuals, and training films for the U.S. Government. During this time, he also continued to write for Timely Comics.

After the war, he went right back to writing comics fulltime. He then created Spider-Man, which was the story of a nerdy, unpopular high schooler named Peter Parker. Peter lived with his aunt and uncle in New York City.

Credit: Pixabay

On a school field trip, Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider and develops a special power to shoot spider webs out of his fingers. After the tragic death of his Uncle Ben, Peter becomes Spider-Man to fight crime and honor his uncle’s memory. He takes on villains including Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. Spider-Man was another huge hit.

Soon Stan Lee’s stories would be made into successful movies. His first big movie was Blade which came out in 1998.  Blade was a superhero-half vampire who fought evil vampires. He teamed up with other Marvel heroes as well.  

Blade was the first Black superhero that Stan created. Because the first Blade film was such a box office hit, there followed two sequels, all starring Wesley Snipes. There are discussions about an upcoming Blade reboot staring Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali as Blade.

Then came the X-Men movies which were also successful. This began the Stan Lee cameos, which became a phenomenon with fans. In the first X-Men film, Stan played a hot dog vendor. Then came the Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire. Stan’s cameos continued. In Iron Man he played a beauty pageant judge. He appeared as a patient in a mental hospital in Thor II.

Stan created Black Panther — his second Black superhero. Black Panther was both a superhero and a good king to the great nation of Wakanda. The movie starred Chadwick Boseman and was particularly popular with the African American audience.

Source: Amazon

This character gave the Black community the representation that should have been there long before. Disney hosted early screenings of Black Panther ahead of its national release to Black families, many of whom wore traditional African clothing to the events. This was a great source of pride for Black communities.

   Even in his 80s and 90s, Stan was still going strong. When asked if he would step down, he said he was having too much fun to retire!

 Stan’s other endeavors included having his own YouTube channel, speaking at universities, writing stories for DC Comics, and spending time with his wife, Joan Lee, and their daughter, Joan “J.C.” Lee.  Additionally, he had his own TV show, Stan Lee’s Super Humans.

Stan Lee died at the age of 95. During his life he taught us about diversity, activism, and justice for all. He was a bright star in the entertainment constellation.

The main lesson Stan left us is no matter who you are, anyone can be a hero and make a difference in their own community.