(14 Nov 2018) Stan Lee, the master and creator behind Marvel Comics' biggest superheroes, died at age 95 on Monday.
As fans celebrate his contributions to the pop culture canon, some have also revisited how Lee felt that with his comic books came great responsibility.
The Marvel wizard used his pen to conquer such real-world foes as racism and xenophobia.
Since the 1960s, Lee advocated for tolerance through the only platform he had: the comic book pages. It was on those pages that he wrote "Stan's Soapbox" columns preaching against bigotry and that he introduced characters of color.
While Marvel's representation of minorities in comics hasn't been without its stereotyping hiccups, there's no denying Lee broadened the image of the quintessential superhero.
Under Lee's leadership, Marvel Comics introduced a generation of comic book readers to an African prince who rules a mythical and technologically advanced kingdom, a black ex-con whose brown skin repels bullets and the X-Men, a group of heroes whose superpowers are as different as their cultural backgrounds.
The works and ideas of Lee and the artists behind T'Challa, the Black Panther; Luke Cage, Hero for Hire; and Professor Xavier's band of merry mutants - groundbreaking during the 1960s and 1970s - have become a cultural force breaking down barriers to inclusion.
Lee had his fingers in all that Marvel produced, but some of the characters and plot lines "came from the artists being inspired by what was happening in the '60s," said freelance writer Alex Simmons.
Still, there was some pushback by white comics distributors when it came to black heroes and characters. Some bundles of Marvel Comics were sent back because some distributors weren't prepared for the Black Panther and the phenomenal super African kingdom of Wakanda developed by artist and co-creator Jack Kirby.

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