Letters to Stan Lee

━━ from athousandwishes1000

━━ from athousandwishes1000 ━━

To Stan Lee, a legend,

I never had the opportunity to meet you in a person, but maybe through this letter, I can convey some of the gratitude and admiration I have for you.

I've been a Marvel fan since 2013, a year after the Avengers came out. I had never been interested in superheroes or Marvel before then, but after watching the Avengers, I fell headlong into the abyss that is the Marvel fandom.
Marvel is one of the things that essentially formed my adolescent life and paved my way into being a true fangirl. Even now, thinking back to simpler times in my life, Marvel and it's characters linger as I reminisce. It always brings nogalista back to me, but the good kind that makes me laugh or smile when I think about the things I did as I obsessed.
Actually, I don't even think I would be the same person that I am today if I had never gotten into Marvel. Marvel fueled my fangirl fantasies and was the very first fandon I wrote fan fiction for. Crappy fan fiction I might add. But it was through fan fiction that I refined my writing skills and today, writing is what I do best and what I want to make a living doing.
Marvel helped me in that journey of discovering my talent. And as a writer now, I am astounded and blown away by the characters and worlds you created. It's not an easy feat to create unique relatable characters that resonate with audiences, but you did it. I aspire for the kind of creativity and love and devotion you poured into characters like Tony Stark, Peter Parker, and Steve Rogers. Characters that inspire their readers to be better versions of themselves, characters that readers can look at and see themselves and realize, 'It's okay to not be perfect.' Because perfect characters are annoying and perfect people don't exist.
The characters of Marvel are now some of my favorites and the whole industry is one of my favorites. All the people who are given amazing opportunities through the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's fantastic and I hope to one day have the opportunist to portray a beloved character onscreen as well. The thing is, I have never been a huge Marvel comic book collector. Oh, I have read quite a few and I have my favorite series, but I get easily overwhelmed just thinking about how extensive the Marvel universe is.
I don't own original editions of vintage comic books and most of my knowledge is of the MCU, so I feel a little weird writing this because I think that I can't really write an emotional letter about something I don't know a lot about. I mean, the truth is, I was sad, but I didn't cry. I completely understand why other people did, but for me, I felt like I didn't really understand well enough to cry.
Nevertheless, I could feel the loss in Marvel. You are a legend and just because my main love is for the MCU, rather than the actual comics you created, doesn't mean that I can't still feel sorrow for the man who gave me some of my favorite characters and in turn those characters granted me some of my happiest times.
There are plenty of people I would never have been friends with or talked to if it had not been for connecting over our love for Marvel. And now as Endgame is about to premiere and as actors start new journeys and say goodbye to their iconic roles they've had for 10 years, it truly does feel like the end of an era.

So thank you. Your creative genius will live on for a long time, in the hearts of friends, family, and fans.

Sincerely, Rachel. ( athousandwishes1000 )