Stan Lee

Stan Lee is revered by comic book fans for creating Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and other fresh superheroes of the 1960s. Lee became editor of Marvel Comics (then Timely Comics) shortly after his service in World War II. The company was overshadowed by rival D.C. Comics (home to Superman) but in the 1960s Lee made Marvel into a comics powerhouse by introducing conflicted, wisecracking superheroes who were as different from Superman as was Steve McQueen from Gary Cooper. Marvel Comics is often credited with revitalizing the superhero genre in general; the label's other creations included the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Captain America, and the melancholy Silver Surfer. In later years Marvel Comics became Marvel Entertainment Group and Lee expanded into movies, TV and the Internet with mixed success and some financial troubles. (His Stan Lee Media was a prominent dot-com flop.) Feature films based on Lee's Marvel characters include Spider-Man (2002, with Tobey Maguire), The X-Men (2000) and 2003's The Hulk (directed by Ang Lee, no relation to Stan).

Extra credit: Artist Jack Kirby collaborated on many of Lee's signature creations... Marvel's character The Silver Surfer is a favorite of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who wrote a famous bit of dialogue about the Surfer for the 1995 film Crimson Tide.