— – Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee’s wife, Joan, died Thursday in Los Angeles, and the entertainment company was quick to mourn the loss of the woman who served as the comic-book creator’s main source of inspiration and support over their 69 years of marriage and his half-century in the publishing business˳
“We are so saddened to hear about the loss of Joan Lee˳ We lost a member of the Marvel family today and our thoughts and prayers go out to Stan and his daughter Joan in this difficult time,” Marvel posted on Thursday night˳
Joan Lee, who was 93, met the Spider-Man creator in the late 1940s while she was working as a hat model, and the two married just weeks later˳
Stan Lee said later that it was fate as he knew instantly she was the one˳
“There was one girl I drew: one body and face and hair˳ It was my idea of what a girl should be˳ The perfect woman,” Lee told the Hollywood Reporter in 2016˳ “And when I got out of the Army, a cousin of mine said, ‘Stan, there’s this really pretty girl named Betty˳ I think you’d like her˳ Why don’t you go over and ask her to lunch?’ I went up to this place˳ Betty didn’t answer the door, but Joan did˳ I took one look at her˳ She was the girl I had been drawing all my life˳ She said, ‘May I help you?’ I think I said ‘I love you˳’ I proposed to her at lunch˳”
From the time they married, Joan served as a muse to the artist and scribe˳
Marvel set itself apart from its competition in the 1960s through its characters who lived in the real world and dealt with real-world problems˳ Stan Lee has credited his wife with inspiring him to create relatable heroes as opposed to perfect ones with wealth and charm˳
In fact, Lee has said that he thought about quitting the business before hitting it big in his late 30s˳
“I told my wife, Joanie, ‘I’m going to quit˳’ But she said: ‘Why not write it the way you want to write it? If it doesn’t work, the worst that’s going to happen is that they’ll fire you˳ And you want to quit anyway,'” Lee told the Washington Post in 2011˳
The result was 1961’s “Fantastic Four,” a “turning point of my life,” Lee said˳
“I tried having heroes in love and getting married˳ And the teenager was a brother, who didn’t particularly want to be a superhero,” he explained˳
But Lee didn’t stop there˳ When he created what he would later call his favorite all-time hero, Spider-Man, the next year, he gave the boy he related to most a love interest who may have seemed pretty familiar – Gwen Stacy˳
“Stan has always said that I have a cartoon face,” Joan Lee said in a 2002 interview about being the inspiration for Peter Parker’s first love˳ “I never felt that was kind of complimentary, but you know, little nose, big eyes, that was when I was younger, of course˳”
Joan became a voice-over star in the 1990s as several of Marvel’s animated series became big hits with shows like “Iron Man,” “Fantastic Four” and of course, “Spider-Man˳” She also appeared alongside Stan in cameos for more recent films like “X-Men: Apocalypse,” according to IMDB˳
“It was incredible, it was being with people who were absolutely wonderful,” she said of the work˳
“My wife and I are really so close,” Stan Lee said laughing in 2011˳ “And yet, I’m not sure if she’s ever read a story I wrote˳ She’s totally not into comics at all … She’s the perfect wife for me˳”
