Greatest Stan Lee Stories Ever Told: #50-46

Last month, Stan Lee passed away at the age of 95. Lee was likely the most famous comic book creator in the history of the medium and he was the Editor-in-Chief for Marvel Comics for a remarkable three decades stint from the Golden Age through the launch of the Marvel Age of Comics. Working with iconic creators like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, Joe Maneely, John Buscema, Don Heck, Wallace Wood, Dick Ayers, Gene Colan and many more, Lee either co-plotted and scripted or simply scripted some of the most famous stories in the history of comics. We asked you to vote for your picks for the top comic book stories that Lee either scripted or co-plotted and scripted. Here are the results!

50. "The Domain of the Dread Dormammu!" Strange Tales #126-127 (1964)

Steve Ditko and Stan Lee's Doctor Strange is most famously remembered for the trippy dimensions that Steve Ditko drew, stories that were psychedelic before psychedelia was even really a thing. While Ditko had been experimenting with some different approaches in the issues before this two-parter, it is clear that Doctor Strange's journey into the domain of the dread Dormammu took the adventures of Doctor Strange into a whole other realm. Doctor Strange goes to help a mysterious young woman who he would eventually learn was named Clea. He goes to protect her from Dormammu and ends up in quite the pickle...

Lee and Ditko grounded the fantastical story in the very real burgeoning relationship between Strange and Clea and it gave the whole over-the-top tale a strong piece of humanity at its center. By the end of this story, Doctor Strange would be granted his famous cloak as his reward for a successful mission.

49. "Killed In Action!" Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #18 (1965)

The trouble with setting stories during World War II is that it is tough to get by without showing the horrors of war, but at the same, Marvel was limited in how much the company could depict in terms of the horrors of war due to the strict rules of the Comics Code. Therefore, the stories of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos tended to be without all that many stakes. Sure, characters died in the early issues, but none had quite the impact as the death in Sgt. Fury #18, by Lee, Dick Ayers and Chic Stone.

In that story, Fury and his Howlers are on yet another dangerous mission when the chain that Fury had that had the engagement ring that he was going to use to propose to his British girlfriend, Pamela Hawley, was snagged by a Nazi and Fury took a break from his standard mission to risk his life to rescue the ring...

After a stunning scene of Fury risking his very life to protect the ring he wanted to use to get engaged with Pamela, he visits her father for permission to have her hand in marriage and, well, things do not go well...

What a heartfelt piece of sorrow.

48. "The Sword in the Scabbard" Journey Into Mystery #117-Thor #133 (1965-1966)

This sprawling narrative by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Vince Colletta sees the Odinsword begin to become damaged. Odin sends his warriors to discover what caused this and he discovers that the world of the Asgardians are headed to their end times, their Ragnarok. This is the first time that we see Ragnarok depicted in the comics (via vision of the future by Odin) and it is amazing...

When they discover that Loki is responsible for Ragnarok, the mission begins to stop that from happening. This storyline introduced the Warriors Three, a major part of Thor's supporting cast.

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47. "Spider-Man Versus Doctor Octopus" Amazing Spider-Man #3 (1963)

Spider-Man learned his first lesson of the great responsibility that came with his great powers right from his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15. However, it was not until the third issue of his solo series that Spider-Man discovered that his great power might not be powerful ENOUGH. What does Spider-Man do when he meets someone stronger than him? That was the problem he dealt with in this issue, which introduced the brilliant (yet evil) scientist Doctor Otto Octavius, who suffered an accident that bonded his robotic arms to his body and turned him evil.

He faced off against Spider-Man and, well, he beat the heck out of Spider-Man...

This was Spider-Man's first true test of fortitude and Steve Ditko and Stan Lee made sure that he passed the test with flying colors!

46. "The Fantastic Origin of the Red Skull" Tales of Suspense #66 (1965)

Soon after Captain America got his own ongoing feature in Tales of Suspense, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby decided to go back in time and tell new stories starring Captain America and Bucky set in World War II. The benefit of this set-up was especially shown in Tales of Suspense #66 when Kirby, Lee and Chic Stone provided us with the chilling origin of Captain America's World War II rival, the Red Skull!