Kevin Smith Pays Tribute to Stan Lee on What Would’ve Been His 97th Birthday

Iconic comics creator Stan Lee passed away just over a year ago, and fans have been celebrating the legend ever since. Recently, ABC aired Celebrating Marvel's Stan Lee to honor him with many big names from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in attendance including Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Ming-Na Wen (Agent Melinda May), Paul Bettany (Vision), and more. Now, people are honoring Lee on what would have been his 97th birthday. Many fans took to social media to post about Lee as well as some of his longtime collaborators. One person to post about him was Kevin Smith, the director who featured Lee in his 1995 film, Mallrats. Here's what Smith had to say on Instagram:

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In a perfect world, @therealstanlee would have turned 97 today. I miss my mentor often - but I see him every night of the @jayandsilentbob #rebootroadshow Tour, when he closes out our credits in the @imdb clip from the @comic_con #imdboat. And every night, he gets the loudest, most loving response from everyone in the audience with thunderous applause. And for one, brief shining moment, it’s like the love in those rooms brings Stan back - if only for a few seconds. He was the best person I ever met - a fine fellow with a big heart, a deep abiding love for his wife Joanie, and the limitless imagination of a child at play. For some of his 95 years, we got to see that big kid at his most creative - and he made such an impact, they’ll still be telling stories about his characters long after you and I are gone from this world. One of the 10 smartest things I ever did was put my hero in #mallrats - because it kicked off a friendship that lasted nearly 25 years. I was blessed to have had Stan in my life, but I was lucky to have known him at all. Miss you, Maestro... #KevinSmith #stanlee #jasonmewes

A post shared by Kevin Smith (@thatkevinsmith) on Dec 28, 2019 at 12:40pm PST

"In a perfect world, @therealstanlee would have turned 97 today. I miss my mentor often - but I see him every night of the @jayandsilentbob #rebootroadshow Tour, when he closes out our credits in the @imdb clip from the @comic_con #imdboat. And every night, he gets the loudest, most loving response from everyone in the audience with thunderous applause. And for one, brief shining moment, it's like the love in those rooms brings Stan back - if only for a few seconds. He was the best person I ever met - a fine fellow with a big heart, a deep abiding love for his wife Joanie, and the limitless imagination of a child at play. For some of his 95 years, we got to see that big kid at his most creative - and he made such an impact, they'll still be telling stories about his characters long after you and I are gone from this world. One of the 10 smartest things I ever did was put my hero in #mallrats - because it kicked off a friendship that lasted nearly 25 years. I was blessed to have had Stan in my life, but I was lucky to have known him at all. Miss you, Maestro," Smith wrote.

Currently, Smith is on tour with Jason Mewes for the Reboot Roadshow, which is taking them across the country to screen their latest film, Jay & Silent Bob Reboot.

We miss you, Stan!