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On Monday, Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee passed away at the age of 95. The scope of his work stretched across many facets of the entertainment world, not just the comics he created, prompting voices from inside the industry and beyond to share their memories of Lee.
On Wednesday, Lee’s official Twitter account posted a short video of him, capturing a spontaneous and authentic moment in which he talked about his fans. The posthumous “thank you” immediately went viral.
So many wonderful moments with Stan came spontaneously. As we were setting up the camera one day, he casually started talking about his fans. We know how much Stan meant to you, and we thought it would be nice for you to hear how much your support meant to him. pic.twitter.com/WTX8U1afLm
— stan lee (@TheRealStanLee) November 14, 2018
“Sometimes, at night, when I’m sitting here, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, what’s it all about?,’” Lee said. “And then I get a letter from a fan, or I read something, or I see something, or I remember something, and I realize, it’s so lucky to have fans ... fans who really care about you.”
The video itself is moving. Lee always had a big heart for his fans and this last glimpse of him talking about how much they mean to him is a fitting goodbye to someone whose path was bumpy and true to Hollywood. No one can deny that Lee loved the people he impacted the most.
The use of Lee’s Twitter account to promote the video is also an eerie reminder of his troubling final months. The account was once managed by POW! Entertainment, a production company he founded in 2001, which Lee sued earlier this year for a fraudulent business deal. Before the lawsuit, a series of concerning tweets emerged from Lee’s account, claiming that he hadn’t been in control of his own profile and still could not access his Instagram and Facebook. This was in response to tweets calling The Hollywood Reporter “fake news” and messages to others in the industry that were not actually tweeted or sent by Stan Lee.
The situation was resolved, with POW! stating that at the time of those flagrant tweets, someone else had control of the account, and from then on, all tweets made by Stan Lee himself would be signed off with “Stan.”
Stan Lee cherished his fans as much as they cherished him. It’s been a rough few days, but the video is a touching reminder that his legacy lives on.
