Superman Statue in Metropolis Wears Black Armband in Honor of Stan Lee

The Superman statue that stands in the heart of Metropolis, Illinois has been adorned with a black armband to mark the passing of legendary comics creator Stan Lee.

The Superman statue stands out of the Super Museum, which houses a collection of Superman memorabilia that attracts many tourists every year. Though Superman is a DC Comics character and not one of the many characters Lee co-created, the Man of Steel is still paying his respects.

You can see a photo of the mourning statue in the report from KSN.

Following Lee’s death last week, DC Comics released the following statement:

“He changed the way we look at heroes, and modern comics will always bear his indelible mark. His infectious enthusiasm reminded us why we all fell in love with these stories in the first place. Excelsior, Stan.”

Marvel Comics and its parent company, Disney, followed soon after.

“Stan Lee was as extraordinary as the characters he created,” Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger said in the statement. “A superhero in his own right to Marvel fans around the world, Stan had the power to inspire, to entertain and to connect. The scale of his imagination was only exceeded by the size of his heart.”

Lee was 95 years old. Born Stanley Martin Lieber, Lee began working in comics in 1939, back when Marvel Comics was still Timely Comics but rose to prominence in the 1960s. He collaborated with Jack Kirby to create the Fantastic Four and birth the Marvel Universe as we know it, and with Steve Ditko to create Spider-Man and redefine what a superhero could be. From there, he helped create some of the most popular comic book, TV, a film characters ever, including the X-Men, the Avengers, Black Panther, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, and Daredevil.

In an interview with ComicBook.com in 2015, Lee reflected on how he never could have expected his comics would spawn a multi-billion dollar franchise.

“No, no, years ago when I was doing these comics, we’d give the comic books away free to people,” Lee said. “The printer would send us a lot of comics, more than we needed. A guy would come up to deliver sandwiches from the drug store. We’d say, ‘On your way out, you want to take these books with you?’ We would even give out original artwork, we never thought it would be worth anything! It’s changed.”

Lee’s wife of 70 years, Joan, died in 2017. He is survived by his daughter, JC.

“My father loved all of his fans. He was the greatest, most decent man,” JC said following Lee’s death.