Stan Lee, internationally known as the godfather of superheroes and creator of Marvel Comics, has died at the age of 95 in L.A. During his career, he co- created a wide variety of world-famous superheroes such as Superman, The Incredible Hulk and The Justice League. His characters attracted thousands of followers by combining superpowers with human fragility and morality.
The son of two lower-class Jewish immigrants, Lee started working as an assistant at the new Timely Comics in the 40s. During the Second World War he joined the US Army repairing telephone poles and cartooning in his free time. It wasn´t until the 50s with the outbreak of the Cold War when comics took a political form and this cartoonist rose to fame. After analyzing this historical phenomenon, we cannot help but wonder, what was the relation between The Cold War and the birth of a new superhero generation?
It is widely known that book characters are inherently political. In fact, the books were originally devoted to the adventures of powerful individuals who used their abilities to impose morality through violence when they were compelled by circumstances. Lee´s new generation of comics were scientists and military men, responding to the political and social climate of the Cold War´s decade. One of Stand Lee´s iconic heroes, The Fantastic Four, were tasked with flying an experimental space rocket in order to beat the Soviet Union. Not surprisingly, one of its principal characters stated in a remarkable dialogue “We´ve got to take that chance unless we want the commies to beat us”. At that time, there words were more than an abstract concept, considering that the Soviet succeeded in putting the first man into space in that year, and American people lived in constant fear of Soviet technological superiority.
Another crucial hero of the Cold War was named “The Incredible Hulk”, an American scientist, named Bruce Banner, was accidentally exposed to a blast of his own creating that transformed him into the rampaging Hulk, a creature who looked like Frankestein´s monster. Curiously, this accident happened to him in a lab where all the experiments were supposed to be under control. The answer is simple, Banner´s assistant Igor, who happened to be a soviet spy, sabotaged his boss creating the accident under strict orders from behind the Iron Curtain.
Despite all the political inclinations are hard to miss, all of those superheroes re-defined an era that connects recent World history with postmodernity in a form of art that is communicative, appealing to young generations and influential to future writers.