Stan Lee: With Great Power

Throughout the years, children have used their imaginations to become whoever they

wanted to be. Most young boys, myself included, have had fantasies of becoming a superhero.

Every child wants to fight crime alongside Iron Man and Spider-Man. Today, children can thank

one man for giving them the stories of The Avengers and the X-Men we have today, the

mastermind Stan Lee. Most ordinary folks today would know Stan Lee as the crazy old man who

shows up in every Marvel movie. Bigger fans, however, know him as the man who created the

worlds of Marvel, we all know and love. Thanks to his vision of heroes and his drive to inspire

generations, Stan Lee could very well be considered the greatest hero of all time and one who

spoke out against injustices.

Stanley Martin Lieber was born December 28, 1922, in New York City. Stan was born

from two Romanian immigrants and grew up during the Great Depression (Stan Lee). He later

shortened his name to Stan Lee when, in 1939, he went to work for Timely Comics at 19 years

old. Later in 1960, Lee was asked to make a new series for Marvel Comics to compete with the

DC hit comic, The Justice League. Before Lee, many heroes had a traditional look about them.

Lee decided to team up with Jack Kirby to create a new kind of superhero that didn’t use these

stereotypes. With Lee and Kirby’s combined efforts, The Fantastic Four was born. Following the

success of The Fantastic Four, Lee would go on to create many more superheroes such as Spider-

Man, The Hulk, X-Men, and many more.

Marvel soon became one of the biggest parts of comic book history. Children and adults

alike all became invested with the rise of the Marvel madness. It even started what we know

today as the Marvel and DC Comics rivalry. There is a reason why Stan Lee’s creations became

so popular, too. He made his heroes human. To understand what that means, we have to take a
look at some of DC’s most popular heroes. Batman was a multi-billionaire genius who made all

these gadgets to become one of the greatest detectives. Super-Man was an alien who had almost

every superpower you can think of. Wonder Woman was similar to Super Man in a way, she

grew up on earth but in an ancient part of the world where women had these unnatural abilities of

strength. While these heroes are all cool, you cannot relate to them in any way. Then we take a

look at Stan Lee’s Spider-Man, who’s been Stan Lee’s most popular superhero even among non-

Marvel fans (Bradley). Spider-Man, or Peter Parker, is a teenager in high school. He gets bit by a

radioactive spider and then gains the abilities of a spider. The reason people like this is because

he’s relatable. Every other superhero before now has been an adult. The target audience for

comic books is children. Kids, especially teenagers, can easily relate to a character who not only

has to balance a superhero life, but also a high school and social life. People found Lee’s heroes

relatable for various reasons similar to this. Unlike the heroes of DC, Marvel characters had

somewhat of a personality to them. They all had feelings and emotions that would often be

expressed throughout their stories. People were able to identify better with heroes they could

connect with.

One of the most important part to remember about Stan Lee about the time is that he was

anti-racism. Around the time of the 1960’s, there were a lot of issues with civil rights and racism.

Even around the time of Martin Luther King Jr. Stan has stated multiple times that a lot of his

comics were meant to fight racism. He’s stated before that he felt his X-Men comics spoke out

multiple times about injustices and discrimination (Haltiwanger, John). The X-Men comics are

about a world in which a small part of the population has undergone some form of mutations,

giving them unnatural abilities. Not everyone was willing to accept the X-Men, and while most

of these mutants wanted to be heroes who protected and saved people, they would still be treated
like monsters and discriminated against. This is similar to who some Americans, around the time

of the ‘60’s, would be little, segregate, and even assault African Americans simply because they

were different. In another issue, Stan Lee’s Spider-Man had some thoughts in regard to racism.

Stan Lee has often stated that one of the best parts about Spider-Man was how his mask covered

his whole face. It was not very common for superheroes to wear masks that covered their whole

face. This made it seem like anyone could be Spider-Man, and anyone could wear the mask

(Garuso, Alisha). There are dozens of examples to where Stan Lee used his comics to help speak

out against racism and hate, which was important to do around the 1960’s when racism was at its

worse.

Stan Lee left more than just an identity for nerds to use. He also left a legacy of

inspiration. In an interview, Stan Lee talked about his creation of Spider-Man, and how

originally people thought it was a dumb idea. It is in this interview that he makes a quote that I

like to think about. “If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don’t let some idiot

talk you out of it” (UCLA Extension). Stan Lee’s early life started in poverty. At a young age, he

had to watch as his parents struggled to get by during the Great Depression (Stan Lee). He was

proud of the idea of Spider-Man and was excited to show it to his producer, only for his producer

to say to his face that his idea was dumb. Most people would have given up at that point and

thrown their idea away. Stan Lee, however, did not give up. Now, as I’ve said before, Spider-

Man is the most popular superhero among children and adults. Stan Lee’s stories inspired people.

Stan Lee once said, “I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic-book writer while other

people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize:

entertainment is one of the most important things in people’s lives. Without it, they might go off

the deep end. I feel that if you’re able to entertain people, you’re doing a good thing” (Hanover).
 Many children look up to superheroes like Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-

Man, and The Hulk. Many children wish to dress up as their favorite superheroes for Halloween.

For Christmas, they might have a long list of just Superhero toys. Without Stan Lee, children and

adults alike wouldn’t have had such a wonderful world to look to in dark times. These stories

allow us to escape when times get hard, and Stan Lee’s struggles at the beginning inspire us too.

No matter how small we think we are, we can bloom into greatness just like Stan Lee. Stan Lee

died November 12, 2018, at the age of 95. He lived a full life, but behind him, he left a legacy for

people to look upon for generations to come. Stan Lee left a true blessing in this world, and he

will be missed. As Stan Lee would often say, “Excelsior!”

Bradley, Laura. “Stan Lee's Most Iconic Characters.” Vanity Fair, Vanity Fair, 12 Nov. 2018,

www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/photos/2018/11/best-stan-lee-characters. 

Garuso, Alisha. “It's A Good Time To Remind Everyone Stan Lee Was Anti-Racist His Entire

Career |.” Atom Insider | Discover Movie News & Exclusive Articles, 16 June 2020,

atomtickets.com/movie-news/stan-lee-anti-racist-bigotry/. 

Haltiwanger, John. “Stan Lee Spent a Lifetime Condemning Racism, Most Prominently through

the Heroes in His Comic Books.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 12 Nov. 2018,

www.businessinsider.com/stan-lee-death-racism-comics-heroes-x-men-2018-11. 

Hanover, Noah. “Stan Lee.” The MY HERO Project, 16 May 2019, myhero.com/stan-lee-3. 

“Stan Lee.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 13 Dec. 2019,

www.biography.com/media-figure/stan-lee. 

UCLA Extension. “Stan Lee Keynote at the 2017 Graduation Ceremony.” YouTube,

uploaded by UCLA, 24 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMo9Guj5gCc.