Stan Lee, the creator of several Marvel Comics characters and titles, has passed away at the age of 95. While, as the Inquisitr has previously reported, his cause of death is not currently known, the visionary did leave behind a net worth of $50 million.
According to Daily Star , Stan’s net worth at the time of his passing – and during most of his lifetime – wasn’t as shockingly high as most people expected it to be. Despite being credited for playing a massive role in shifting Marvel from being a small publishing house to a huge media corporation – and creating tons of iconic superheroes – he didn’t see any of the $4 billion Disney used to purchase Marvel back in 2014.
Lee did, however, reportedly live off of a generous $1 million annual salary for life through Marvel.
Daily Star also reports Lee was commonly approached by individuals asking just how wealthy he was. In fact, Playboy once asked if he planned to buy a helicopter similar to one Tony Stark of Iron Man uses following the acquisition of Marvel by Disney.
“I don’t have $200 million. I don’t have $150 million. I don’t have $100 million or anywhere near that.”
Many compared Lee to George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars . Unlike Lee, Lucas currently has a net worth of over $5 billion. According to Celebrity Net Worth , Stan never had any ill will toward Lucas. In fact, he thought George deserved and earned every penny of his current net worth.
Stan Lee not only created legends, he was one. https://t.co/qVkkB69OgK pic.twitter.com/8FsFGkbglr
— E! News (@enews) November 12, 2018
“George Lucas did it all by himself. He came up with the ideas. He produced the movies. He wrote and directed them and held the rights to the merchandising. It was all his. In my case I worked for the publisher. If the books didn’t sell, the publisher went broke—and a lot of publishers did go broke,” Lee said as he explained the key differences between himself and Lucas.
Stan admitted to being happy with his paychecks and “being treated well” by Marvel.
“I always got the highest rate, whatever Martin Goodman paid another writer, I got at least that much,” Lee continued to explain in regards to his paycheck.
Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man and Marvel superheroes, has died, aged 95 https://t.co/NWGFsARUby
— The Age (@theage) November 12, 2018
Lee never envisioned himself having $100 million or $250 million. In fact, he saw those numbers as ridiculous every time he spotted a story on the internet claiming he had a net worth of those high numbers.
Stan Lee held a position as editor-in-chief for over 65 years with Marvel. He is credited for being the co-creator of Spider-Man, Hulk, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Silver Surfer, and several other characters.
