D23 2024: Marvel Comics Pays Tribute to Disney Legend Steve Ditko

Marvel recognizes 2024 Disney Legends inductee Steve Ditko in its August titles.

By Cameron Bonomolo

Disney is celebrating Marvel Comics artist Steve Ditko before his induction into the company's Hall of Fame. Ditko — who co-created Spider-Man and Doctor Strange with Stan Lee, drawing such titles as Amazing Fantasy, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish, and The Amazing Spider-Man — is among 14 inductees into the 2024 class of Disney Legends who will be honored during this month's D23: The Ultimate Fan Event.

A commemorative page featured in Marvel's August 2024 titles pays tribute to the late artist ahead of the August 11th ceremony. The Disney Legends program has honored "gifted animators, Imagineers, songwriters, actors, and business leaders" for "the significant impact they've had on the Disney Legacy" for 37 years.

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The page, which is included in this week's issues of Amazing Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, Incredible Hulk, and more, showcases a Ditko Spider-Man pin-up from 1964's Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 and a pin-up of the Sorcerer Supreme from 1965's Strange Tales #128.

Ditko died in 2018 at age 90. The visionary artist — who designed Spider-Man's signature look and such characters as Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, Kraven the Hunter, Clea, Wong, Dormammu, the Leader, and Squirrel Girl — is one of few Marvel legends to be recognized by the program. 

Ditko contemporaries Lee and Jack Kirby (Captain America, Fantastic Four, and X-Men) were inducted in the class of 2017; Marvel Studios' Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. and director Jon Favreau in 2019; and Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman was honored posthumously in 2022. Boseman's co-star Angela Bassett, who received an Oscar nomination for her role as Queen Ramonda of Wakanda in 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, will be named a Disney Legend at D23 alongside Star Wars and Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford (who plays Red Hulk in the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World).

This year's honorees include filmmaker James Cameron (Avatar), Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (Disney's Dumbo and The Little Mermaid), James L. Brooks (The Simpsons), Jamie Lee Curtis (Haunted Mansion and Freaky Friday), and composer John Williams (the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films).

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"To be named a Disney Legend is the highest honor our company can bestow on anyone, reserved for those whose talent and achievement have earned them an enduring place in our history," Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement. "The fourteen individuals to be honored as Disney Legends this year have each made extraordinary creative contributions across the worlds of Disney and we look forward to celebrating them at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event."

D23 2024 runs August 9th—11th in Anaheim, California.

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