Thank You Stan Lee

            Let’s start with a story. My first experience with a superhero video game was the PlayStation classic Spiderman. Six-year-old me had yet to open up and read a comic book, so a superhero game on the first console generation was a great alternative. The game included exciting gameplay mechanics like web-swinging controls where Spidey could swing from “only” one building to the next. You heard right, only one building. Spiderman also shot his webs from not hands but thimble like balls for hands, and the game was filled with enough quips from Spiderman that made Deadpool seem absent of bad jokes.

            Beyond the dated early 2000’s gaming tech, the intro of the game included a narration by a man with a unique vigor in his voice. It was commanding not because of some overarching authority but because of the fun, light-hearted nature of it. This narrator sounded excited, no ecstatic, to be the opening narration (just as I would be) of a Spiderman game. “Welcome true believers and new comers alike, Spiderman co-creator, Stan Lee here” the man said as the game’s tutorial commenced.  This narrator’s enthusiasm not only made me excited to play through the title but also interested in exploring and learning about the superhero universe he created.

            Fast forward 18 years later, I am 24 playing through Marvel’s Spiderman on PS4 during the release weekend having nostalgia feelings of when I was six playing. Early in my play-through of the story, a cut scene occurs with Peter Parker and Mary Jane meeting for the first time at a diner to discuss criminal activity in New York and the couple’s romantic future. Their conversation is interrupted by the sound of police sirens echoing down the street with Peter giving a glance to MJ that is reminiscent of the times his other job took time away from them. After Peter leaves, MJ walks to the counter to pay the bill and talks to the owner, who happens to be Stan Lee, who comments to MJ, “Love seeing you two together again, you always were my favorites.” Besides making the fan-boy in me happy, there was a real sense of love conveyed in that spoken line showing the admiration Stan Lee had for co-creating those characters. It was the same care that I had heard in that narrator 18 years prior.  

            Stan Lee passed away on November 12^th, and fans around the world have paid homage to the man who helped create so much. He was responsible for putting together a mythology of heroes that will forever be etched in popular culture. For myself, celebrity deaths have rarely upset me as much as the passing of Stan Lee has. His death has instilled in me a real sense of just how much this man impacted not just my life but countless others with heroes that many could aspire to. You created Spiderman who is a character I have identified with for a majority of my life with regards to both struggles and victories, so thank you Stan Lee. Thank you.