Stan Lee Cancels Upcoming Appearance at Wizard World Cleveland

If you were hoping to see Stan Lee at Wizard World Cleveland - we're sorry to be the ones to dash your hopes. Today the convention announced that Lee will not be appearing at as featured guest at the event, due to "unforeseen circumstances":

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Stan Lee will not be attending Wizard World Cleveland. All Stan Lee VIP, autograph, and photo op tickets are being refunded.

We apologize for the cancelation. pic.twitter.com/5bsqzz1ayo

— Wizard World (@WizardWorld) February 20, 2018

No doubt fans are going to be buzzing with skepticism and cynical assertions as to why Stan Lee isn't showing up. The Marvel Comics co-creator has had a pretty controversial time of things lately, including the following:

• The death of his wife, Joan, last summer.
• A scandal involving someone making high-value real estate purchases using Lee's funds.
• Allegations of sexual misconduct by in-home nurses working in his residence.
• A health scare that led to him being temporarily hospitalized.
• Most recently, an LAPD investigation at his home, alleged to involve his longtime bodyguard, Max Anderson.

Looking over that list, we're inevitably starting to come to a clear conclusion that needs to be drawn: Stan Lee's age may have finally caught up with his ability to keep up with the "man about town" role he's fashioned on the convention circuit.

If anything, the iconic creator needs to (literally) focus on his own house, and getting things in order. Such cycle of scandal and loss would be physically and emotionally trying for a person of much younger age, let alone Stan Lee. There are still so many Marvel movie cameos for him to appear in, so we'll need to keep him in as mint condition as possible, for as long as possible.

Black Panther is now in theaters. It will be followed by Avengers: Infinity War on May 4th, Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6th, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.