Stan Lee was born in 1922. When he was just 17, he got a job at a company that made comic books. Although the salary was beyond his imagination, Mr. Lee got tired of it. Most superheroes were strong and smart and always knew the right thing to do. Mr. Lee wanted to have a chance to create new superheroes that had weaknesses. Mr. Lee didn't create the heroes by himself. He worked with artists to come up with the ideas. Some people thought the comic books would not sell well and that the readers would be unhappy to see superheroes lead a normal life.
Mr. Lee was able to create characters that were different from anything that had been seen in comic books before. The Incredible Hulk was a really nice guy until he got angry. Spider-Man was never sure he was doing the right thing, but he always seemed to have something funny to say to the bad guys. Mr. Lee made it okay for comic book heroes to be like common people. He also had the clever idea of having his comic book heroes appear in each other's stories. For example, Spider-Man might show up in a Fantastic Four story. This made readers feel shocked. He also brought them into the real world. Batman and Superman lived in made-up cities. But Mr. Lee decided that Peter Parker (who turns into Spider-Man) should live in New York City.
In 1980, Mr. Lee moved to California to promote his movies. He played a small part in most of these movies, usually showing up on screen for just a few seconds to make audience feel the super heroes really exist in their lives. He wanted to try and get his superheroes onto TV and into the movies. He didn't have too much luck at first, although The In credibleHulk became popular TV shows. But after the success of TheX-Men and Spider-Man movies in the early 2000s, movies with Marvel heroes began to be favored by millions of fans. Marvel movies have now earned over $24 billion. Mr. Lee is no longer with us, but the heroes he created live on.
