When was Marvel comics founded and how many films did Stan Lee make a cameo in?

IT's not hard to believe that Marvel's range of comic books can easily be recognized as some of the biggest superhero novels in the world.

From those that helped establish the brand to its writer Stan Lee, who, prior to his passing in 2018, had made endless cameos in several film adaptations, here's what you really must know about the iconic franchise and the people who built its dynamic legacy.

When was Marvel comics founded?

Marvel started in 1939 as Timely Publications before becoming Atlas Comics by the 1950s.

The brand name of Marvel was used from 1961.

That same year Stan Lee created The Fantastic Four along with artist Jack Kirby.

In 1963 The Amazing Spider-Man began as a monthly periodical.

The story created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko went on to become the brand's most successful comic.

This same creative duo also worked on other titles such as Doctor Strange and The Green Goblin.

What Marvel films did Stan Lee make a cameo in?

Stan Lee made an appearance in all of the Marvel films, starting with Iron Man in 2008.

He finished filming for his cameo in the fourth Avengers movie before his death on November 12, 2018, aged 95.

Here's all the other films he appeared in...

• 2008: Iron Man - credited as "himself" and appears at a gala where Tony Stark mistakes him for Hugh Hefner
• 2008: The Incredible Hulk - Stan plays a man who accidentally ingests Bruce Banner's blood in a soft drink and gets gamma radiation sickness.
• 2010: Iron Man 2 - at the Stark Expo Stan is wearing suspenders and a red shirt and is mistaken by Tony Stark for Larry King.
• 2011: Thor - credited as "Stan the Man", Stan is one of the people at the site where Thor's hammer Mjolnir lands on earth
• 2012: The Avengers - Stan's character is interviewed about the Avengers saving Manhattan and responds "Superheroes in New York? Give me a break" before returning to his game of chess.
• 2013: Iron Man 3 - Stan plays a beauty pageant judge who appears on a television monitor and happily gives one of the contestants a 10.
• 2013: Thor: The Dark World - Stan appears as a mental ward patient who loans his shoe to Erik Selvig for a demonstration about "the Convergence" in his delusions. When Selvig finishes and asks if anyone has questions, Lee says, "Yeah, can I have my shoe back"?
• 2014: Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Stan plays a security guard at the Smithsonian Institution who after discovering that Captain America stole his own World War II uniform from an exhibit, says, "Oh man, I am so fired."
• 2014: Guardians of the Galaxy - Stan plays an elderly man having a conversation with a significantly younger woman. Rocket, viewing him through a scanning device, dismisses him as part of what he saw was wrong with the planet Xandar.
• 2015: Avengers: Age of Ultron - Stan appears as a military veteran who attends the Avengers' victory party. He claims he fought at Omaha Beach and claims he can handle a shot of Asgardian liquor from Thor, but is then carried away drunk, muttering his catchphrase, "Excelsior."
• 2015: Ant-Man - Stan appears as a bartender in a story Luis tells to Scott Lang explaining that Falcon was looking for him. His part in the story is encouraging Luis's cousin, and the informer of the story, Ignacio, to talk to a "crazy stupid fine" woman in the bar.

• 2016: Captain America: Civil War - Stan appears as a FedEx postman, delivering a package from Steve Rogers to Tony Stark at the end of the film, mispronouncing Stark's name as "Tony Stank".
• 2016: Doctor Strange - Lee plays a bus passenger laughing while reading reading Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception, oblivious to a battle between Doctor Strange and Mordo and Kaecilius and his followers.
• 2017: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - Stan appears as an astronaut telling a story to The Watchers, mentioning his stint as a deliveryman in Civil War.
• 2017: Spider-Man: Homecoming - Stan plays an annoyed neighbour named Gary who, after witnessing Spider-Man mistakenly accosting an innocent civilian says to him, "Don't make me come down there, you punk!"
• 2017: Thor: Ragnarok - Stan appears as a servant to the Grandmaster on Sakaar who cuts Thor's hair. Beforehand, he asks Thor to be still as "[His] hands aren't as good as they used to be."
• 2018: Black Panther - Stan plays a patron of a casino in Busan, South Korea, and takes T'Challa's won but unclaimed chips.
• 2018: Avenegrs: Infinity War - Stan appears as the driver of Peter Parker's school bus. When the students on the bus watch Ebony Maw's ship arriving, the driver says, "What's the matter with you kids? You never seen a spaceship before?"
• 2018: Ant-Man and the Wasp - Stan plays a pedestrian whose car is shrunk by Wasp. He remarks, "Well the '60s were fun, but now I'm paying for it", implying he took drugs.
• 2019: Captain Marvel - Lee makes a posthumous appearance as himself, riding on a subway train and reading his lines from the screenplay for the film Mallrats. When he sees Carol Danvers, he smiles at her, and she smiles back. Although Lee did not create Danvers, the film's Captain Marvel, he co-created the first incarnation of the character in Marvel Comics.
• 2019: Avengers: Endgame - Lee will make his final cameo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies when the forthcoming superhero hits cinemas on April 25. Details regarding his cameo remain unknown.