Legend
Early life
Stanley Martin Lieber was born on December 28, 1922, in New York City to Romanian immigrants Celia and Jack Lieber. With part of his childhood spent during the Great Depression, Lieber and his younger brother, Larry, watched his parents struggle to make ends meet for the family. Lieber, who later shortened his name to "Lee" as a writer, went on to be hired as an office assistant at Timely Comics in 1939 and became an interim editor for the company in the early 1940s. Lee also served domestically in the Army during World War II, working as a writer and illustrator.
Early days with Marvel
Among the hundreds of characters and teams that he helped to create were the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Avengers, and the X-Men. In 1961 Lee and artist Jack Kirby created The Fantastic Four, about four astronauts who gain superpowers after a cosmic incident. The series made him and Atlas—now known as Marvel—major forces in the comics world. One year later Lee and artist Steve Ditko created Spider-Man. Lee, Kirby, and Ditko adopted a collaborative workflow that came to be known as “the Marvel method.” The technique gave artists significantly more input on story plotting, and it allowed Marvel to produce new content at a dizzying rate. The books joined a roster of increasingly successful series that also included The Incredible Hulk. Lee and Kirby added another winner to the group when they created The X-Men in 1963. A distinctive feature of Lee’s comic-book heroes is that they combine superhuman powers with human insecurities and emotions. Marvel continued to prosper, and in 1972 Lee became publisher and editorial director of the group. He has camoes in all of the marvel movies.