THE SOAPBOX

Lee became Marvel's publisher in 1972. He went on the lecture circuit, move to Los Angeles in 1980 and pursued opportunities for his characters in movies and television.Through it all, he kept connected with fans, writing a column called "Stan's Soapbox" in which he often slipped in his catchphrase "'Nuff Said" or the sign-off "Excelsior!" In his later years, he gave constant updates via Twitter.

"Stan was a character. He was a character as much as any he ever created," Rhoades said. "He created himself, in a way."

He also made cameos in most Marvel films, pulling a girl away from falling debris in 2002's "Spider-Man" and serving as an emcee at a strip club in 2016's "Deadpool."

The Walt Disney Co bought Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4 billion in a deal to expand Disney's roster of characters, with the most iconic ones having been Lee's handiwork.

By that point, Lee had all but parted ways with Marvel after being made a chairman emeritus of the company. But even in his 80s and 90s, Lee was a wellspring of new projects, running a company called POW! Entertainment.

"His greatest legacy will be not only the co-creation of his characters but the way he helped to build the culture that comics have become, which is a pretty significant one," said Robert Thompson, a pop culture expert at Syracuse University.

Reuters