While the world mourns the passing of Stan Lee, 95, the creator of some of the best superhero Marvel characters of all time, there are plenty of reasons to celebrate the man’s life – including his 68-year marriage to wife Joan Boocock.
In an interview with People in 1979, the comic creator, then 56 and already happily married for over 30 years, revealed how the pair almost didn’t meet. Stan Lee planned to ask some “gorgeous red head” on a date in 1947, but it was Joan Boocok who answered the door, and it was love at first sight. There was a problem, however: she was already married.
Joan said of her first marriage, “I had only known him 24 hours when we decided to get married. In many aspects it was a great marriage, but after living with him for a year I was finding him sort of boring.” She felt right the opposite about Stan Lee, however, and he proposed within two weeks of meeting her. He even helped her obtain a divorce for her first marriage!
In an interview with Hollywood Reporter in 2016, Lee revealed he instantly knew she was the one because she resembled the dream woman he had been drawing all along. “There was one girl I drew,” he said. “One body and face and hair. It was my idea of what a girl should be. The perfect woman.” When he saw Joan in real life, he decided it was fate. “She was the girl I had been drawing all my life.”
Joan went on to inspire Lee to create some unforgettable characters, including Peter Parker’s first love, even though he thinks she never even read a story he wrote! “My wife and I are really so close,” he said in a 2011 interview. “And yet, I’m not sure if she’s ever read a story I wrote. She’s not into comics at all. She loves things like decorating. She’s the perfect wife for me because I spend so much time writing when I’m home.”
The couple often made cameo appearances in Marvel films, and remained happily married until Joan’s death in July 2017 at the age of 93, due to complications from a stroke. Lee reunited with his dream woman just a little over a year later.
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