On Stan Lee and the Marvel of the Superhero

The paeans to Stan Lee at his passing this week make us more aware than ever of the power of superheroes.

They are an American invention, up there with jazz and musicals. And the story of superheroes is the story of change in America.

Superman, essentially the first, arrives in April 1938, towards the end of the Great Depression. He fights corrupt businessmen and politicians as a champion of ordinary Americans. He’s a socialist people’s hero. He is also an immigrant from another world who is accepted and gives back. In his story is the DNA of the American ideal.

Batman, arriving in 1939, is the opposite. He is human and urban while Superman is alien and regional. Superman is day and idealistic while Batman is night and revengeful. They are the Superego and the Id. This duality reflects America’s growing divide.

Spider-Man is the first teenage superhero, and Marvel’s mascot. What a gift: a confused teenager, trying to balance crime fighting with passing calculus, becomes a superhero! Stan Lee’s great maxim, introduced in the original August 1962 issue, becomes Spider-Man’s guiding principle: ‘with great power there must also come – great responsibility!’. It enters our psyche.

Watergate happens, and so Captain America (whose first appearance in 1941 saw him punching Adolf Hitler) confronts a villain who turns out to be The President. This President shoots himself in the head in the White House. After that, Captain America becomes Nomad, rejecting his country.

The Civil Rights Movement happens, and so The X-Men fight against bigotry in a society fearful of difference. They reflect Harvey Milk and Malcolm X. The rebels become the heroes. The Black Panther arrives in 1966, before the Black Panther movement. Importantly, he’s African, not African American.

When we get to the Vietnam War, we get Iron Man. War is big business and Tony Stark is an arms dealer. He’s based on Howard Hughes. He has shrapnel in his heart, and is an alcoholic. Later, he renounces the manufacture of weapons and works for the good of all.

In 1975, as vets return from the war in Vietnam, The X-Men return, darker and uglier: antiheroes. Wolverine is our Id. He has to slice himself apart. Man or animal?

Luke Cage, in 1972, is the first black superhero to be the title character of a comic book. Unlike Malcolm X, he has bullet-proof skin.

Through the 1950-60s, Wonder Woman (an ambassador of the Amazon people who was fighting the Nazis when she arrived in 1941) is domesticated and de-costumed. That’s America. But, thanks to Gloria Steinem, she returns in the 1970s, back in costume and with her superpowers. Linda Carter!

Storm arrives in 1975 too. Born in Harlem, she is the first African-American member of The X-Men and their frequent leader. She can control the weather. The Phoenix prevents the complete destruction of the universe. She eats stars.

The Punisher arrives at a time – in the 1970s and ‘80s – when New York is in a crime wave. He is judge, jury and executioner, obsessed with vengeance. We don’t always believe that what he's doing is right.

Gen X brings Deadpool, the first ironic superhero. But he still wants to be a good guy. In the new millennium, The X-Men are back and it now seems that being a mutant is a bit like being gay. But the outcasts are winning.

Tony Stark returns in 2008 and he’s dealing arms in a different war. He changes his mission: from supporting the war in Iraq to questioning the war on terror. By 2013 we get Ms. Marvel, a Muslim superhero.

This is a truly American artform. It’s inclusive, speaking to colour, gender and religion. It makes superheroes of rebels and underdogs. It inspires us to something beyond ourselves.

Stan Lee didn’t create all of these superheroes, but he was the greatest of the creators. His influence, I think, is up there with The Beatles. He taught us that we all, despite our flaws, possess superpowers. He made us believe that we can impact the world in a great adventure, being kind and good, even though our life might still be a mess. Excelsior, he exclaimed, imploring us ever upward. And now, in heaven or wherever he is up high, he is bending the ears of angels with astounding tales, and they are marvelled.