Coming off the news of Kevin Smith’s near fatal heart attack over the weekend, the hits keep on coming for comic book and movie fans. After his unexpected absence from the Wizard World Cleveland 2018 convention caused fans to fear the worst, Stan Lee’s explanation confirms what many fans suspected. In his second major health scare of the year, Stan Lee — the writer behind the creation of the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the X-Men and many more of Marvel’s greatest hits — revealed that he is currently battling pneumonia. And at age 95, that’s a cause for major concern for the comic icon.
It may very well be that Lee’s advanced age is finally catching up with him. Although he has been an active and energetic member of the superhero fandom, especially in recent years, his health has been in an obvious decline over the past several months. He attended the global premier of the latest Marvel blockbuster, Black Panther, bound to a wheelchair. Shortly afterwards, he was hospitalized for an irregular heartbeat. And now, not quite a month later, this.
Regardless of what private health battles he might be fighting, Lee has publicly kept in high spirits, reassuring fans at every step that he is indeed alive and well and looking forward to the next movie’s red carpet release. After this most recent revelation, he told fans that:
“I want you all to know I’m thinking of you, of course I always think of the fans, and I hope you’re all doing well, and I miss you all. I miss your enthusiasm, I miss all your notes, all your photos and emails… and I want you to know that I still love you all.”
Sadly, all we can do is to sight tight and wish Lee a speedy recovery. Something tells me, though, that this is only the beginning of his battles in 2018.