As hard as it may be to believe now, there was a period in American superhero comics when the genre and medium as a whole was written off as little more than children's literature and World War II-era propaganda. Nowadays, superhero films earn billions of dollars at the worldwide box office, comic book conventions pack in hundreds of thousands of fans and Marvel's heroes and villains are the backbone of the most recognizable brands on Earth. The dividing line between the period of superheroes in the mainstream and the genre being dismissed and forgotten by the general public is Stan Lee.

Stanley Lieber was born on Dec. 28, 1922 in New York City, the city that would forever become associated with his work. A writer since childhood, Lieber long dreamed to one day write the next Great American Novel while starting to work at Timely Comics in 1939 as an assistant. After transitioning to an editor position with the publisher and writing a short story for 1941's Captain America Comics #3, Stan took on the pen name Stan Lee, a moniker less identifiably Jewish in a country still rife with anti-Semitism, while reasoning he could use his real name when he began writing more traditionally literary works. Of course, the pseudonym would stick with him for the rest of his life.

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After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Lee returned to the industry to write romance, Western and horror comics at a time when the superhero genre was on a bit of a decline. As the genre began to receive its second wind thanks to the more sci-fi oriented reinventions of DC Comics' The Flash and Green Lantern, Lee decided to branch more into the superhero comics that had given his professional career its start over a decade prior.

Now a seasoned writer, Lee wasn't interested in replicating the archetypal, seemingly flawless characters seen throughout the medium with the overt, jingoistic moral messages completely lacking in subtlety. Instead, Lee wrote from his own human condition, scripting characters that would experience the daily hang-ups and personal setbacks people faced in the real world. The virtuous messages would still be there, but as undertones, not overtones. Stan and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four would deal with the dynamics of family. Their Incredible Hulk explored handling one's own darker impulses and propensity for self-destruction. Their X-Men espoused the importance of tolerance. And Stan and Steve Ditko's Spider-Man, of course, was all about responsibility.

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The more nuanced storytelling approach paid off. The Amazing Spider-Man quickly became one of the highest-selling series in the industry following its debut in 1963, and a poll of college students less than two years later cited the character as a revolutionary icon; Spidey was the only fictional character included on the list. The Marvel revolution began with those foundational heroes, and Lee expanded on the dream by co-creating Iron Man with Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Kirby; Thor with Lieber and Kirby; Black Panther with Kirby; Silver Surfer with Kirby; Ant-Man with Kirby and Lieber; Wasp with Kirby and Ernie Hart; Doctor Strange with Ditko; and Daredevil with Bill Everett. The heroes that weren't performing as well as Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four were given their own ensemble book in The Avengers, created by Lee and Kirby, with the creative team reviving Kirby's co-creation, Captain America, by the fourth issue, with the added narrative element that he was a man out of time.

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These heroes leaned heavier into the possibilities and anxieties of the Atomic Age and Cold War than their counterparts at DC. Sci-fi accidents gone wrong were usually firmly at the heart of the origin of many of the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe, from cosmic radiation changing the fate of four astronauts and a gamma bomb exposing a scientist to untold elements, to a certain radioactive spider bite changing a high school student's life forever. The Golden Age heroes often received their powers and motivations from the last vestiges of the pulp action-adventure genre. Marvel's heroes were products of the Cold War-fueled scientific revolution taking up the headlines seemingly every day. DC's heroes lived in fictional cities like Metropolis, Gotham and Central City; Marvel's heroes lived in Lee's native New York, a real world allusion that was there from day one, both emotionally and geographically.

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By the late 1960s, Lee had shifted into more of an editorial role with Marvel, writing monthly columns known as "Stan's Soapbox" in which he reminded readers of the moral messages across the publishing line while promoting new books and hiring new talent that continued to push the boundaries of the medium, including Jim Steranko and Roy Thomas. Under his supervision, the Marvel heroes and titles created in the early 1970s reflected contemporary interests from street-level heroes like Luke Cage to horror-tinged series, including Werewolf by Night and The Tomb of Dracula. It was at this time that Stan Lee began to truly become publicly identified with genre he helped reinvigorate and expand beyond children's literature. At the advent of comic book conventions, Smilin' Stan was a regular presence, and quickly became the face of the industry with his amiable persona and friendly demeanor with fans.

Perhaps the best thing about Stan's life is that he lived long enough to see technology and public interest catch up to his imagination, as his creations would be adapted to film and television. The countless cameos were always more than just an easy paycheck for the venerable comic book creator; it was a chance to play in the worlds he had helped create decades previous.

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A common thread in Stan Lee's creations was a sense of striving for self-acceptance despite one's own perceived flaws. Peter Parker was ever the social pariah in high school before he became Spider-Man. Bruce Banner has the worst issues with repressed anger and rage in the history of modern fiction. Tony Stark, Matt Murdock, Stephen Strange, Charles Xavier and Scott Summers each suffer from their own respective physical disabilities. Ben Grimm, Norrin Radd and Steve Rogers each just want to fit into the strange world around them. Each of these superheroes would channel their own insecurities and perceived shortcomings into achieving something greater and become role models to the world.

Stan Lee himself may have never written that Great American Novel, but he was integral in laying the foundation of a world of heroes that would go on to shape American pop culture more than any single novel published in his lifetime. And that came from taking his own feelings and hangups and threading them throughout what would become the Marvel Universe. Excelsior.