Stan Lee Honored With Hand And Footprints At Chinese Theater, Celebrates Marvel Career

The 94-year-old Marvel Comics legend and geek culture icon, Stan Lee, made his grand appearance at the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles to endow the Hollywood Boulevard venue with his hand and footprints, as well as his signature. The ceremony was emceed by movie maker and comic geek, Kevin Smith, according to ABC News. Lee was also honored at the D23 Expo this past weekend.

Smith had joked that since he comes from New Jersey, putting people in cement was done in a somewhat different way, as opposed to being honored in Hollywood. Kevin spoke about his shared experience with Stan in a movie he had written called Mall Rats. At the time, Smith had written a role for a guru-like character that would impart wisdom to the main character. He likened the part with the one Wolfman Jack played in American Graffiti.

The producer of Mall Rats, James Jacks, actually knew Lee and was able to get him to fill the role of the character for the movie.

Kevin Smith then introduced Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige to the podium, and he gave his testimonial to the living legend. Feige gave his accolades regarding Stan.

“He never disappoints. Never ever…ever does he disappoint. His creations don’t disappoint. His imagination doesn’t disappoint. And any personal encounter one could have with Stan is as amazing as you would dream a personal encounter would be with Stan.”

Kevin Feige talked about his first encounter with Stan Lee on the set of the first X-Men movie and recalled Lee’s cameo performance as the hot dog vendor. Kevin admitted that he wanted to keep his distance while Stan Lee did his thing because he was too shy to approach.

The Marvel Studios president spoke of a memorable experience with Stan that was not in person, but came via a voice mail message that opened with “Fearless Feige! Stan Lee here!”

The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Clark Gregg came next and admitted he was “geeking out” for the moment. He gave credit to Jack Kirby and Stan Lee for the characters that have been “brought to life” on paper and on the big screen. Gregg admitted that because of all this, a good top portion of his IMDB page is filled with his Marvel roles.

Gregg, who plays Agent Phil Coulson, felt he was more of an “adopted son of Stan’s.” Clark also mentioned how his family was on the road a lot, traveling from town to town, and through it all, he had his comics to keep him occupied. He felt it a privilege to have experienced from the inside the development of the on-screen characters. Gregg referred to the small screen as he said season 5 would mark over 100 episodes starring on the TV show.

Other well-known comic book and actor greats such as Spawn’s Todd McFarlane and Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman followed-up. McFarlane gave great credence to the event that is occurring at the Chinese theater, but “the only thing that would make it better, is if Joanie was here.” Joanie was Stan Lee’s late wife, who passed away recently. This being said, she’s had a great influence on Stan’s dreams of becoming a comic artist, especially when he had times where he struggled trying to achieve his passion.

@TheRealStanLee has been immortalized outside the #tclchinesetheater #marvel #stanlee pic.twitter.com/HW1a9sINMF

— NERDOPHILES (@nerdophiles) July 18, 2017

Stan Lee then finally approached the podium, gave a few choice words, and acknowledged that he’s been lucky to have great friends and a wonderful wife.

The speech ended and then Lee made his way down to the wet cement to make his mark on history.

[Featured Image by Kevin Winter /Getty Images]