When the news broke earlier today that Stan Lee was no longer with us, the fans responded with an outpouring of heartfelt tributes to the legendary comic book creator, and among these reverent social media posts is a tweet from Captain America himself, Chris Evans.
The Avengers: Infinity War star reflected on Lee’s game-changing contributions to the comic book world, before drawing on his own personal experience of knowing the man and signing off with the writer’s famous catchphrase:
“There will never be another Stan Lee. For decades he provided both young and old with adventure, escape, comfort, confidence, inspiration, strength, friendship and joy. He exuded love and kindness and will leave an indelible mark on so, so, so many lives. Excelsior!!”
Evans’ acting career been defined heavily by his involvement in various Marvel-related flicks, be it in the role of Steve Rogers, or as the Human Torch in the 2005 and 2007 Fantastic Four movies. In a 2015 episode of Larry King Now, Lee said that he bonded the most with Evans out of all the Marvel Studios cast:
“Chris, the fellow who plays Captain America, he was the Human Torch and then they made him Captain America and he’s the greatest guy, but I love them all.”
Though Lee may be gone, the current superhero landscape of the page and the screen will always be his world in the eyes of many a fan, with his work on such famous characters as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Panther, the Fantastic Four and Daredevil helping to make Marvel into the pop culture juggernaut it is today.
Though Stan Lee holds a special place in the hearts of countless comic book readers, filmgoers are also likely to recognize the icon through his regular cameos in superhero movies, and you can imagine that he still has a few big screen appearances to go, with shooting for upcoming projects like Captain Marvel and Avengers 4 already wrapped. Though this tradition has proved popular with viewers over the years, Lee’s final MCU appearances will no doubt be quite bittersweet for fans in 2019.