1. First, in 1939, Stan Lee landed his first job at Timely Comics — the company that would later transform into Marvel Comics.
2. In 2008, Stan Lee received the National Medal of Arts from President George W. Bush — he was honored for "his groundbreaking work as one of America's most prolific storytellers."
3. Stan Lee's first comic book writing credit was in Captain America Issue #3 — he simply provided the filler text in this story written by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.
4. Stan married his wife Joan on December 5, 1947, and they were married for 69 years until her death in 2017.
5. Before almost quitting Marvel in the 1950s, Joan convinced him to do one more comic book and that's when The Fantastic Four was born.
6. Stan Lee's inspiration for The Hulk came from his love of Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — he wanted to create a monster that was a misunderstood good guy.
7. In 1962, Stan Lee introduced the world to Spider-Man. His inspiration for the character came out of wanting to depict a teen hero who wasn't just a sidekick.
8. Stan Lee's work with Jack Kirby, Bill Everett, and Steve Ditko was in response to DC Comics creating Justice League of America — their collaborations would lead to the creation of The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, The X-Men, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man.
9. Stan Lee always believed comic books could be more than just "stories for young kids" — in 1971, he famously went against the Comics Code Authority because he wanted to depict the problems with drug abuse in The Amazing Spider-Man.
10. He appeared in several comic books throughout his career, but he made his first appearance with Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four #10 — the comic featured the duo as comic books writers who chronicle the lives of the Fantastic Four.
11. In 1972, he stopped writing monthly comic books. His final issue of The Amazing Spider-Man was #110 and The Fantastic Four was #125.
12. In 2010, he started his own charity, the Stan Lee Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides access to literacy, education, and the arts throughout the US.
13. Later in his career, Stan continued to pioneer and expand the world of graphic novels — in 2008, he started collaborating with manga writers.
14. In 2016, Los Angeles declared October 28th "Stan Lee Day" — the day was chosen to honor the start of his yearly Stan Lee Los Angeles Comic Con.
15. Finally, Stan Lee will make his final Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance when Avengers 4 hits theaters in 2019.
Thank you for filling our childhoods with such joy. You will be dearly, dearly missed...
A long standing tradition, Stan had appeared in every MCU movie in some capacity. He already filmed his next cameo prior to his death.