Universe "Marvel" - a fictional universe from a series of movies and comics, in which people live in the same world with fantastic heroes and villains. One of its creators is the world famous American long-lived Stan Lee.
Who is Stan Lee
Despite the fact that comics from the Marvel publishing house have been published since 1941, one of its creators, professional and talented artist Stan Lee, became known to millions of fans only in 2008. It was during this period that Marvel's own film company was founded, which began filming comics with the film "Iron Man". Stan Lee appeared in the film with a small cameo of a funny old man, giving rise to this tradition in subsequent films.
Stan Lee currently serves on Marvel's presidential board of directors and recently celebrated his 95th birthday. Despite his venerable age, the American is still involved in the creation of new comics and movies, starring in the latter and never ceasing to demonstrate amazing cheerfulness and optimism. His life path is very extensive, interesting and does not leave indifferent any connoisseur of the modern entertainment industry.
Early years and beginning of activity
The future "superhero creator" was born in 1922 into a Jewish family of Jack and Celia Lieber, who arrived in the United States from Romania. Parents were ordinary workers, and with the onset of the Great Depression, they were left practically without a job. The family moved from place to place for a long time, until they stopped in a small apartment in the most common area of New York - the Bronx. In 1931, Stan's younger brother, Larry, was born. The lack of funds became so severe that, as a teenager, Stan began looking for work.
The future genius tried himself in different fields for several years in a row - he worked in a cafe, sold subscriptions to newspapers and even wrote press releases and obituaries. A little experience in the newspaper field allowed him to get a job at the publishing house of Martin Goodman. As a result, he became a simple clerk who had to fill inkpots, monitor the condition of writing instruments and carry out other minor assignments for employees.
In 1941, when the war with Nazi Germany was raging in the world, Stan created his first comic book about the superhero Captain America - a model of a gallant American soldier endowed with superpowers and fighting Nazi invaders. It was decided to use the surname Lee instead of Lieber as the author's pseudonym. At the same time, several small publishers across the country began publishing their comics for propaganda purposes. The Captain America comic was released in a small print run, but the readers received it very warmly. The leadership allowed the young artist to lead his own small department, which quickly grew into a separate studio for the production of Marvel comics.
Military playwright and film producer
Just a year later, Stan Lee was drafted into the army and sent to the front. He was assigned to the signal troops, entrusting the repair of telegraph and other communication equipment. During the service, Stan did not stop drawing cartoons, inventing slogans and writing scripts for educational and educational films. Thanks to his talent, he settled down well in the headquarters and remained in the internal position of a playwright until the very end of the war.
In the early 1950s, Stan Lee improved his writing skills by publishing stories in the genres of satire, horror, western, melodrama and, of course, fiction. Together with artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he came up with many comic book characters that remain popular today. Among them:
- Iron Man;
- Spiderman;
- Hulk;
- Daredevil;
- Fantastic Four;
- X-Men, etc.
A little later, the first attempts to film adaptation of the Marvel universe, which was already quite extensive by that time, began. In the 60s and 70s, full-length films and series about Captain America, the Hulk and some other heroes were released. Stan Lee acted as their ideological inspirer and producer. Gradually, the rights to use many of Marvel's characters in film adaptations, including Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four, were transferred to major Hollywood studios, which later turned into a series of high-profile "superhero" premieres in the early 2000s.
By now, the Marvel universe has grown so much that the creators of the original characters had to enter into negotiations with Sony, New Line Cinema and other corporations to share the rights to their own creative fruits. Disney Corporation acquired Marvel in 2017. This accelerated the process of transferring and consolidating rights, thanks to which the long-awaited movies about Spider-Man, X-Men and the Avengers began to appear on the screens, now completely under the control of Marvel Studios itself.
Interesting facts and personal life
With the release of the first Hollywood film from his own film company, Marvel in 2008, Stan Lee has become an incredibly public figure, capturing the attention of the whole world. In numerous interviews, he revealed many interesting facts about himself, including the following:
- his favorite characters are Doctor Strange, Iron Man and the Silver Surfer;
- he considers himself a fan of films with Bruce Lee;
- Stan Lee argues that the reason for his continued longevity is simply a pacemaker built into the heart;
- loves the animated series The Simpsons and even appeared as a cameo in one of the episodes;
- inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995;
- deliberately uses the same letters for the names and surnames of some characters (Happy Hogan, Curt Connors, Stefan Strange, Bruce Banner, Peter Parker and others).
Science fiction as well as classical prose have played an important role in Stan Lee's life since childhood. He enthusiastically read the works of such authors as:
- H. G. Wells;
- Charles Dickens;
- Mark Twain;
- William Shakespeare.
In adulthood, he read many books from Harlan Ellison and Stephen King, which also made a considerable impression and became the basis for some of the characters.
Since 1947, the author of the Marvel universe has been married to Joan Bukok. The couple lives happily, they have a daughter and grandchildren. Stan and his wife prefer not to sit in one place, often travel and move. However, for the past two decades, they have lived in their mansion located in West Hollywood. Unfortunately, the venerable age makes itself felt, and instead of the usual funny cameos in the premieres of 2018, viewers saw only Stan's image flashed in a couple of frames. And yet, despite the years, the "maestro of superheroes" to this day remains a public person and takes an active part in the creation of projects from the publishing and Hollywood studios "Marvel".
