Stan Lee’s Daughter J.C. Lee Shares Rare Family Photos and Reflects on Her ‘Magical’ Childhood (Exclusive)

J.C. Lee, daughter of the late Marvel mastermind, tells PEOPLE what he was like when he was at dwelling: “Not a drinker, not a smoker,” and he “might have run for President”

It was a wonderful life rising up with as a dad.

“It was magical,” , the Marvel mastermind’s daughter, tells PEOPLE of her childhood rising up in each Lengthy Island and, later, Los Angeles. “My mother and I assumed he was the neatest, best, funniest, most elegant, hardest employee ever.”

The famed cartoonist, who co-created characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Physician Unusual, Black Panther, Thor, the X-Males, Ant-Man and The Wasp, was born Stanley Martin Lieber in New York Metropolis in 1922.

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He obtained his begin working as a author at a comic book firm known as Well timed Comics, which was later rebranded as Marvel, the place he was the inventive lead for 20 years. However in accordance with J.C., he had different aspirations as effectively.

“Stan all the time wished he was youthful and will have run for president,” says J.C., 74. “He mentioned he would have received. He was an actual thinker and as sensible as they arrive. He learn each political and humorous comics however all the time saved up with present occasions by way of radio and TV.”

“What was happening on this planet was essential to him. He additionally had a depraved humorousness — he was a superb speaker and thinker. He was additionally so mild and sort and cherished canines.”

As for his favourite character? She says it was Spidey.

“All of us cherished Spider-Man,” she says. “Spider-Man was the actual brother of mine and a part of the household. All of the characters sat on the desk with me and lived in the home with me, Stan, and my mom. As an solely baby, they have been like siblings to me.”

She provides that her dad additionally had a keenness for a personality that by no means noticed the sunshine of day: “I might say that Stan had a particular place in his coronary heart for his one undone child, the Silver Surfer.”

Lee retired from the corporate within the ’90s however remained the face of the model, typically making cameos in Marvel motion pictures and TV reveals . “He did over 50 cameos,” Lee says.

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However in accordance with his daughter, regardless of all of his fame and accolades, he was at coronary heart a household man, decided to offer his daughter the most effective life.

“Oh, the life was fantastic,” she says. “I met counts, and I met princes, and I met the highest film stars and intellects. Michael Jackson would come over with the infants, and my mom would assist him change diapers.”

She continues, “Jon Voight, James Cameron, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sylvester Stallone and Andrew Cube Clay have been all well-known followers of Stans. Stan was mates with Lou Ferrigno, the unique Unbelievable Hulk from the Seventies TV present, Bob Kane, the creator of Batman, Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds. He was additionally mates with Ronald Regan, Invoice Clinton. They’d name him on a regular basis!”

Lee credit her father’s success together with his limitless drive.

“He had a tremendous work ethic,” she says. “He would work all day, come dwelling and have dinner together with his household, after which return to work. I believe I inherited that from him. Once I set my thoughts to finish a specific portray or collection of work, I work late into the evening, typically forgetting to eat. Stan would say, ‘Failing doesn’t matter! Not attempting is the sin!’ “

Regardless of his workaholic tendencies, Lee says he was deeply dedicated to her and her mom, Joan Boocock, a singer from England who married Lee in 1947. She died in 2017.

“We have been his best muses,” she says. “My mother was the one who got here up with the title Marvel, and my dad would joke that the Hulk was impressed by my toddler tantrums.”

Lee says her mom and father have been excellent companions in life. “It was an ideal marriage and an ideal love story.” Nonetheless, they confronted loads of heartbreak, particularly when J.C.’s twin sister Jan died three days after the 2 have been born in 1950.

“They have been distraught,” she says of her mother and father shedding one in every of their daughters. “They couldn’t have extra youngsters as a result of, on the time, you couldn’t have multiple cesarean part.”

Adoption wasn’t an choice. “My mother was Church of England and British; my dad was Jewish and American. They tried, but it surely wasn’t within the playing cards.”

One factor individuals won’t guess concerning the Marvel figurehead was how strictly regimented he was. “He additionally didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, and he would by no means have allowed his characters to drink or smoke,” she says.

She provides that he nonetheless cherished having enjoyable. “Beloved it,” she says. “He would play ping-pong, roller-skate, bike journey, and dance.” And he cherished his followers and embraced his recognition.

“It was by no means an issue,” she says of followers coming as much as him to inform him how a lot his creations meant to them. “He was so for the individuals, and he’d labored so arduous for that.”

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