Stan Lee’s best Marvel comic superhero characters that will keep his legacy alive

By Vandana Srivastawa

on November 13, 2018

Stan Lee, the creator of some of the comic books’ most enduring and well-loved characters and former president of Marvel Comics is no more. He died at the age of 95 years, yesterday in Los Angeles. He was the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and later became its publisher and chairman and went on to expand it from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Stan Lee’s name is synonymous with most of the superheroes that we know today. He created some very well-known characters including Spider-Man, the Hulk, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Black Panther, and the X-Men. Along with his brother Larry Lieber, he co-created Ant-Man, Iron Man, and Thor. Unlike DC universe characters Stan’s characters had human flaws and were more relatable this made them a hit with children, teens as well as adults. Several Hollywood stars like Hugh Jackman, Robert Downey Jr. Mark Ruffalo, Ryan Reynolds, Chris Pratt and others took to social media to pay their tributes to the great man as they have essayed the role of superheroes he created.

Many of the well-known Hollywood actors today found their stardom portraying the comic characters created by Stan. Here’s a look at five of the best characters that he created from the Marvel universe.

1.Wolverine (From X-Men)

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Hugh Jackman earned name, fame and glory when he stepped into the enigmatic and layered character of Wolverine. Wolverine is a mutant who possesses animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, regenerative ability that heals him miraculously and three retractable claws in each hand. Wolverine is the main lead of mostly all the X-Men film franchise and has been played by Jackman on celluloid. The last film that was released that was a perfect swan song for the character was Logan in which the character ultimately dies after living a very long almost an immortal life.

2.Spider-Man

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Spider-Man is one of the most endearing comic characters ever created. He is a tween with common problems faced by many young people of the age and has a moral compass that makes him extremely relatable. Spider-Man is one of the characters that have been played by several actors over the years in films. Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and the most recently Tom Holland have portrayed Spider-Man on the big screen.

3.Iron Man

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Robert Downey Jr had a second lease of life and attained the cult status in Hollywood when he started essaying the role of Iron Man. Iron Man is a multimillionaire, playboy and ingenious scientist. He might have some serious daddy issues but the man is a genius and a superhero who is not afraid to take risks and work for the greater good.

4.Hulk

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Hulk was another flawed hero that was trapped in his own character and in a way hated his superhero alter-ego. Played by Mark Ruffalo in the recent Avengers franchise Hulk is one of the most loved characters. Bruce Banner is accidentally explored to gamma rays during the detonation of an experimental bomb and is physically transformed into the Hulk when he is subjected to emotional stress, at or against his will that often leads to destructive rampages. However, we must applaud Stan’s characterization because Hulk in some ways personifies a man ’s uncontrollable rage and how it leads to making matters worse for him.

5.Jean Grey (from X-Men)

[caption id="attachment_166430" align="aligncenter" width="612"] X-Men: Last Stand (2006)
Famke Janssen as Dr. Jean Grey/Phoenix[/caption]

Jean Grey is one of the mutants that appear in X-Men series. She has telepathic and telekinetic powers and is extremely powerful. However, she is a caring and nurturing character and has enough discipline to control her immense power.

Stan Lee knew well before anyone else did that we want our superheroes to be just like us-flawed, broken, emotional and yet triumphant. RIP Stan!