Stan Lee’s Cause of Death Revealed

Just over two weeks after the death of Stan Lee, a cause of death has been released. Lee’s death certificate reportedly lists heart failure and respiratory failure as the cause of death, with aspiration pneumonia — when you inhale stomach acid, saliva, or food into your lungs — as a contributing factor.

Lee was rushed by ambulance to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Monday, November 12th, where he later died. The late Marvel Publisher had been rushed to Cedars-Sinai earlier in the year after nurses found him short of breath with an irregular heartbeat. He remained hospitalized for a few days afterwards for observation.

According to TMZ, Lee was cremated and his remains were given to his daughter JC.

Since his passing, fans from all facets of the entertainment industry have come forth to pay tribute to the comic legend. One heartwarming story, in particular, came from Hugh Jackman, the fan-favorite actor behind Wolverine in Fox’s X-Men franchise.

“I was really taken back by how relaxed and happy and I got the sense of a man who had become a god within a subculture and this subculture had become mainstream and at age 75, getting respect and adulation,” Jackman told MTV News about his time interacting with Lee. “And he was like, ‘I can’t believe this. This is amazing. We’re the kids in our basement drawing pictures and we know a few people and then 30,000 of us get together, there’s 30,000 of us dressing up and there’s Star Wars.’ Now there’s a million and a half and all of a sudden, everyone’s courting them.”

“Movie studios, everybody was courting them, and you just got the sense that he’s a kid in the candy store who still loves it,” Jackman continued. “He’s like a kid. He was just really warm. Like, he would turn up to do all those cameos, thinking, ‘This is the greatest, I’m in an X-Men movie, they’re bringing this stuff that’s been in my head and on the page, they’re bringing it to life.’”

Lee passed away at the age of 95. He’s survived by his daughter JC and was preceded in death by Joan, his wife of 50-plus years.