Comic book legend Stan Lee has died, age 95

Where does one even begin when it comes to Stan Lee?

For starters, the movie business wouldn't look like it does today without him. The writer couldn't have envisioned when he first put ink to paper in 1939 that he'd be dreaming up some of the most iconic, recognizable characters in the universe?Marvel or otherwise?or that he'd become a superhero himself among comic book fans.

Lee died Monday. He was 95 and had been in frail health for some time, but still had writing, producing and cameo projects in the works, all stemming from his role as co-creator of Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Doctor Strange, Thor, the Silver Surfer and the X-Men, to name a few. His rep Dawn Miller confirmed his death to NBC News.

The sprawling film franchises featuring these characters have grossed billions of dollars, turning superhero movies into the lifeblood of the big-budget blockbuster industry and prompting Disney to buy Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in 2009

This is the house of ideas that Stan Lee built, the blueprints he scribbled on loose paper and handed to expert architects like Kirby and Ditko (and Bill Everett and Don Heck). It was his idea to do superheroes the way he wanted to do them, to show them not as gods but as flawed people. It was his idea to take the kid sidekick and make him the star named Spider-Man. It was his idea to turn the Civil Rights movement into the mutant metaphor in X-Men. It was his marketing savvy that knew he could promote his lesser-selling superhero comics by having them cross over with the Fantastic Four, thus creating a shared superhero universe — the Marvel Universe — that is still going 57 years later. This is the legacy he leaves behind — jobs created, myths told and retold, imaginations inspired, childhoods saved, friends made, memories cherished.

*THE Ben Reilly* wrote:

Where does one even begin when it comes to Stan Lee?

For starters, the movie business wouldn't look like it does today without him. The writer couldn't have envisioned when he first put ink to paper in 1939 that he'd be dreaming up some of the most iconic, recognizable characters in the universe?Marvel or otherwise?or that he'd become a superhero himself among comic book fans.

Lee died Monday. He was 95 and had been in frail health for some time, but still had writing, producing and cameo projects in the works, all stemming from his role as co-creator of Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Doctor Strange, Thor, the Silver Surfer and the X-Men, to name a few. His rep Dawn Miller confirmed his death to NBC News.

The sprawling film franchises featuring these characters have grossed billions of dollars, turning superhero movies into the lifeblood of the big-budget blockbuster industry and prompting Disney to buy Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in 2009

Stan Lee was a gentleman and an artist who had no ego whatsoever. He shared credit, downplayed his genius to the point of being ridiculous and was always a man of the people, who gave the world great characters and stories.

Excelsior!