Stan Lee’s legacy is one in a million. When it comes to Marvel Comics, his name is almost synonymous with the superhero brand. The comic book writer, editor, former executive vice president, and publisher of Marvel Comics had forged his legacy all by himself.

Stan Lee. Credit: Gage Skidmore/CC
Lee co-created the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, the X-Men, and several other iconic Marvel superheroes and is widely known for his iconic cameos in the MCU movies until his demise on 12 November 2018. Lee would have turned 101 yesterday. Lee had astounding faith in one MCU superhero as he called the hero the future of the MCU.

Stan Lee Was Amazed By Ant-Man’s MCU Onscreen Debut

Paul Rudd as Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly as Wasp
In 2015, Paul Rudd’s titular character Ant-Man made the onscreen MCU debut, and the movie grossed over $519 million worldwide with positive critical responses. The original character of Ant-Man was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby, and when Lee heard the news of his character getting the big screen debut, he was amazed by it.

Speaking with GQ, Rudd explained, meeting with the Marvel legend and his enthusiasm for the Ant-Man movie,

“One of the most incredible experiences I’ve had working on the Marvel films is getting to meet Stan Lee. One of the things he told me was how happy he was they were making Ant-Man as a film. He felt in the comics; it was very tough to really gauge the scale. If you’re drawing Ant-Man, you can’t really draw other things at the proper scale. So, audiences were going to finally see Ant-Man in the way that he always envisioned Ant-Man.”
Of course, cinema can depict anything a mind can imagine, and the first Ant-Man movie was really astonishing. The comedy balanced with the narrative also worked for the best. The movie went on to establish a franchise while debuting in the Avengers.

Ant-Man Director Sought Advice From Stan Lee

Stan Lee Cameo in Ant-Man. Credit: Marvel Entertainment
While developing Ant-Man, director Peyton Reed sought advice from the character’s creator, Lee. Reportedly, Reed had a conversation with Lee about putting the character into a cinematic perspective. Responding to Reed’s conversation, Lee revealed the limitations of the character in the comic books. “Well the thing that was wrong in the comics the thing about Ant-Man is he’s that small and everything else is big,” Lee told Marvel Entertainment at the Ant-Man world premiere.
“They never drew him tiny with something recognizable next to him like an apple or a banana so you could see how small he is but they would just draw his figure in the panel and he looked like a normal guy so in comics the drawings have to be the equivalent of special effects in a movie they didn’t put enough special effects in the comic books which is why he never became our best-selling hero although he was always popular but now with this movie, they won’t be able to print enough books to satisfy the public.”
Lee also revealed that he was happy to see his creation coming to life in the visually spectacular narrative on the big screen.