It’s been three quarters of a century since comic book icon Stan Lee started at the company that he would eventually make famous as Marvel Comics, and the publisher’s current parent company — the Walt Disney Company — hasn’t missed that fact.
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Disney Chairman Robert Iger recently presented Stan Lee with a token of their appreciation — a custom-built statue featuring Marvel’s most famous creation (Spider-Man) and Disney’s (Mickey Mouse) together.
Lee took to social media with a post to thank Disney for their kindness, which means even though it’s one-of-a-kind, fans can see the statue below.
Lee, who co-created many of Marvel’s most popular characters with a host of artists including the legendary Jack Kirby (X-Men, The Avengers) and Steve Ditko (Spider-Man, Doctor Strange), has maintained a consistent relationship with Marvel, never totally breaking ties even as he has moved on to other things, started his own (sometimes competing) companies, and ultimately mostly retired from day-to-day business.
He continues to appear in all of the Marvel/Disney collaborations — recently he filmed four cameo appearances in one day, meant for a number of upcoming films — and periodically appears in non-Disney Marvel films as well.
You can check out the image, and Lee’s thoughts on his “Stanniversary,” below.
Lee will next be seen onscreen in May’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Meanwhile, he continues to make convention appearances and is producing or writing a great deal of new, non-Marvel content for prose, film, and animation.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opens on May 5, 2017; Spider-Man: Homecoming– July 7, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; Black Panther – February 16, 2018; Avengers: Infinity War – May 4, 2018; Ant-Man and the Wasp – July 6, 2018; and Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019.
