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Invoking the name of Stan Lee ensures the Phase Five backlash didn’t waste any time crossing the line

It didn't take long for things to head down an unsavory road.

SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 19: Comic book writer Stan Lee attends Day 2 of The Samsung Galaxy Experience on July 19, 2013 in San Diego, California.
Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Samsung

There arguably isn’t a single name in the history of the comic book industry more famous or recognizable than that of Stan Lee, and he’s also technically the highest-grossing actor in the movie business has ever seen after making cameo appearances in virtually every Marvel Comics adaptation ever made up until his death in November 2018.

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Never in his wildest dreams would the bespectacled and mustachioed icon have envisioned the characters he created becoming household names in ever corner of the globe, as well as the faces of a franchise that’s long since secured its status as the most lucrative Hollywood has ever witnessed.

With that in mind, you’d imagine the prolific legend would have been hugely satisfied with the legacy he left behind, even if he didn’t account for terrible takes being made on the internet. In an attempt to fathom the ongoing backlash towards both Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Five as a whole, one idiotic Redditor wondered aloud if Lee would be ashamed with what’s become of his superhero back catalogue.

Thankfully, virtually every comment and reply without fail has torn the awful opinion to shreds, lit it on fire, and then put the ashes through a compressor to make them whole again, only to torch the solidified end result. Weaponizing the name of a deceased Marvel mainstay to try and weight to your own opinion is shady stuff, but the dissatisfaction certain elements of the MCU fandom are feeling at the moment meant that it was pretty much inevitable.