Who was Stan Lee and why he was famous ?

Lee created The X-Men series with Kirby in 1963. The team of fictional superheroes — known as mutants — explores the alienated feelings that many teens experienced growing up, while also providing a father figure type with Professor Xavier.

Lee told Rolling Stone in 2014 that he loved the concept of supervillain Magneto and the idea of the X-Men as "hated and feared" mutants who were on the side of good.

The X-Men series was relaunched with artist Dave Cockrum, featuring heroes such as Wolverine, who was originally imagined as a mutated wolverine. The idea was vetoed by Lee.

In 1971, Lee developed an anti-drug comic book upon request from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The Spider-Man comic, about Peter Parker's best friend Harry Osborn's struggle with addiction, would not be approved by the Comics Code Authority and was published without their seal of approval.

Lee became a film screenwriter when he worked with documentary filmmaker Alain Resnais, whose films included Nuit et Brouillard about Nazi concentration camps. The pair worked on two films between 1968 and 1971 — The Inmates and Monster Maker — that were never produced.

Lee was heavily influenced by the action films of actor Errol Flynn as a child. "When I was a kid, my favourite superhero was Robin Hood," Lee said in 2013.

Lee ended his role as an editor at Marvel in 1971. He would move to California on a full-time basis to further pursue film and television opportunities.

He became Marvel's publisher and editorial director in 1972.

Lee was at his creative peak at Marvel in the 1970s, becoming a media celebrity by way of college tours and comic book conventions. With aspirations to be a filmmaker and screenwriter, Lee began to develop a dismissive tone towards his comic book work.

For three months in the 1970s Lee attempted to ban exclamation marks in Marvel Comics, deeming them childish. The ban ended after writers ignored the edict.

The late American industrialist Howard Hughes served as the model for Tony Stark, better known as Iron Man.

Lee co-created the superhero team the Fantastic Four with Jack Kirby in 1961. Like his other work, it focused on real world problems and issues, separating it from the more action-oriented books of his competitors at the time.

The Fantastic Four was hugely successful and proved that audiences enjoyed reading more realistic adventures. "It became fun when I was able to do the kind of stories I wanted instead of the kind of stories my publisher wanted me to do," Lee told Comic Book Resources in 2017.

In 1963, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby appeared as themselves in an issue of the Fantastic Four.

George Lucas offered Lee the chance to publish the first Star Wars comic book in 1977. Lee initially turned it down, but agreed after learning that actor Alec Guinness was slated to appear in the film. The six-issue adaption, written by Roy Thomas, sold more than one million copies per issue.

Lee posed nude for a Marvel Comic in the 1980s, The Marvel Fumetti Book featured photographs instead of drawings and initially included a picture of Lee covered up by a sole comic book. In the published version, he appeared to be wearing a Hulk costume.

Lee signed a lifetime deal with Marvel Enterprises in 1998. The contract stipulated that Lee devote 10 per cent of his time to the company.

The contract also stipulates that he appear in Marvel films based on characters he created.

Lee claims his favourite cameo was for Avengers: Age of Ultron: "Well, I think the cameo that's my favourite is the one I did [with] Thor. I'm standing in a bar with him and he's drinking this Asgardian drink, which is very powerful, and I ask for a sip and he says, 'No, it would kill you,' and I insist. And he gives me a sip and then in the next scene, they're carrying me out."

Lee appeared in the 2004 film The Princess Diaries 2, in a cameo as a man obsessed with Three Stooges movies.

Lee is often credited as an executive producer for Marvel-based television and film projects. The first such credit was for the direct-to-video Captain America film in 1990.

In 1987, Stan Lee "officiated" the New York City wedding ceremony of Spider-Man and his love Mary Jane at Shea Stadium, featuring actors playing the roles in a publicity stunt.

In 1994, Lee was formally inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame. He would be inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995.

In 2002, Lee co-wrote his memoir, Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee, with writer George Mair.

In 2010, television show Stan Lee's Superhumans premiered. Hosted by Lee, the show featured a search for real people with extraordinary abilities.