Back before Marvel was called by that name, two young men, the one of whom bore the name of Stanley Martin Lieber, and the other of whom was his younger brother Lawrence Lieber, began his career for Timely Comics, previously called Atlas Comics. Then, when Timely changed its name to the Marvel Comics Group in 1961, Stan was tapped for the role of creating a line of Super-Hero comics. Always up for a challenge, Stan was also bored with the somewhat repetitive quality of the work he was doing. Working with artist extraordinaire Jack Kirby, created the central characters of some of the most prominent titles still in publication, titles like Fantastic Four, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers, The Invincible Iron Man, The Uncanny X-Men, The Mighty Thor, and Dr. Strange,Master Of The Mystic Arts. These titles became immediate successes and remain popular to this day.

Like Midas, it seemed that everything Stan Lee created was destined to be golden. His only real obstacle was his being answerable to Martin Goodman, then Marvel's publisher, who maintained an attitude of reluctance to "fix" what was not "broken." Goodman believed that comics were meant to be written and drawn for young kids, and always feared inserting any content that might go over the heads of such kids--by contrast, Lee knew that there were many older readers who could be won over without losing any readership from kids. Eventually, Lee's workload had grown so big that other creators were sought out to take over the books that he created. He served as the chief editor of these titles for years and eventually became publisher of Marvel himself.

Even after his retirement, Stan Lee remains Chairman Emeritus for Marvel Comics. It's no exaggeration to say that Marvel Comics would not exist as it does today without the man known as Stan "The Man" Lee.

He used to be a comic book editor and character creator when he worked at Marvel Comics. He currently works on the Fox Marvel movies as a producer and often makes cameo appearances. He has done this with the three X-Men films, the two Fantastic Four films, and Daredevil.

Creations of Stan Lee

Adam Warlock with Jack Kirby

Angel with Jack Kirby

Avengers with Jack Kirby

Beast with Jack Kirby

Black Panther with Jack Kirby

Black Widow with Don Heck and Don Rico

Blob with Jack Kirby

Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants with Jack Kirby

Cyclops with Jack Kirby

Daredevil with Bill Everett

Doctor Doom with Jack Kirby

Doctor Strange with Steve Ditko

Fantastic Four with Jack Kirby

Falcon with Gene Colan

Galactus with Jack Kirby

Hank Pym with Jack Kirby and Larry Lieber

Hawkeye with Don Heck

Hercules with Jack Kirby

Howling Commandos with Jack Kirby

Hulk with Jack Kirby

Iceman with Jack Kirby

Invisible Woman with Jack Kirby

Iron Man with Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber and Don Heck

Jean Grey with Jack Kirby

Magneto with Jack Kirby

Mastermind with Jack Kirby

Mimic with Werner Roth

Mr. Fantastic with Jack Kirby

Nick Fury with Jack Kirby

Professor X with Jack Kirby

Quicksilver with Jack Kirby

Ravage 2099 with Paul Ryan

Scarlet Witch with Jack Kirby

She-Hulk with John Buscema

Silver Surfer with Jack Kirby

Spider-Man with Steve Ditko

Thing with Jack Kirby

Thor with Jack Kirby and Larry Lieber

Toad with Jack Kirby

Wasp with Jack Kirby

Wonder Man with Jack Kirby

X-Men with Jack Kirby

Shows

Who Wants To Be A Superhero

Stan Lee's favorite catch-word, which just happens also to be the state motto of his native New York State, is, "Excelsior!!!"

Cameo Appearances

Stan Lee is renown for often appearing as some unimportant character in many Marvel movies where he has been granted a cameo appearance for having created or co-created the character in said movie.

1989: Stan Lee has his first cameo appearance in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, a TV movie in which he is seen as a the jury foreman at David Banner's trial.

1996: Lee has a cameo role in the telefilm Generation X.

1998: Lee has a cameo role in the telefilm Nick Fury: Agent of Shield.

2000: In X-Men, Stan Lee is seen as a hot dog stand customer on the beach as a naked Senator Kelly comes ashore, having just escaped Magneto.

2002: Stan Lee is seen as a civilian saving a little girl from falling debris in Spider-Man when Peter first battles the Green Goblin.

2003: Stan Lee's life is saved in Daredevil when a young Matt Murdock saves him from crossing the street as a car would have hit him.

2003: The Hulk featured Stan Lee's first speaking role in any of his "cameo films" and he is seen as a security guard at Bruce Banner's lab alongside Lou Ferringo (the man who played Hulk in the TV series).

2004: In Spider-Man 2, Stan Lee once again takes on the role of someone pulling a civilian to safety during Spidey's first battle with the film's villain, this time its Doctor Octopus.

2005: Stan Lee is given an actual role of a comic book character in Fantastic Four when he plays Willie Lumpkin, the mailman that often greets the Fantastic Four at the front of the Baxter Building.

2006: Both Stan Lee and Chris Claremont are given cameo roles and are seen as Jean Grey's neighbors twenty years in the past. He is credited as "Water hose Man" as he is watering the lawn with a water hose when Jean Grey displays her telekinesis, causing the water to go upwards rather than down.

2006: Stan Lee makes an appearance on the episode Unexpected of the series Heroes where he is a kind bus driver greeting the eager young hero, Hiro Nakamura.

2007: Credited as "Man in Times Square", Stan Lee appears in Spider-Man 3 where he gives a short but inspirational speech to Peter when he says, "You know, I guess one person can make a difference. 'Nuff said."

2007: In Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Stan Lee actually takes on the role of Stan Lee, a wedding guest at Sue and Reed's wedding. However he is told to leave because his name isn't on the guest list despite the fact that he tries to point it out. This event actually happened to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the comic issue where the two were married (Fantastic Four Annual #3).

2008: Once again credited as "Himself", Stan Lee is seen with his back turned at a gala with three blond women. Tony Stark pats him on the back saying and compliments him, mistaking him for Hugh Hefner.

2008: The Incredible Hulk. Stan Lee shows makes as an apearance as a man who drank a gamma radiated soft drink.