3 lesser-known contributions of Stan Lee, the creator of Doctor Strange 

Today, one of the most widely celebrated characters of Marvel Comics, Doctor Strange, is returning to global theatres. The movie, named Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, is directed by Sam Raimi, the man responsible for bringing back the superhero movie culture with the Spider-Man: No Way Home. According to media reports, the recent Doctor Strange movie is a follow up on Spider-Man: No Way Home and another popular Marvel series Wanda Vision.  

The character of Stephen Strange, famously known as Doctor Strange was created back in 1963 by world-renowned comic book author Stan Lee with inputs from his friend Stephen J. Ditko. Later on, it went on to become one of the most read Marvel comics of all time. While the legacy of Stan Lee continues, not many of us know that his contributions go far beyond creation of Marvel comics. Here, we are exploring some of the lesser-known ones. 

Lee took a bold stance against drug abuse 
In the year 1971, Lee was requested by the National Institute of Mental Health, USA, to include an anti-drug message in his upcoming comic series. He took up the offer immediately. In fact, in his ‘The Amazing Spider-Man #96’ he included a subplot where the protagonist’s best friend suffered from mental health issues and was a prey to drug abuse. While this was not approved by the Comics Code Authority (CCA), Lee dared to publish it anyway. Later, he had said that his only goal was to prevent another youth from drug abuse, irrespective of CCA’s permission. This daring step made CCA revise their code that very year and they allowed future comic writers to write about the adverse effects of drug addiction.  

Lee introduced the first ever African American superhero in mainstream American comics 
In the year 1966, the popular Marvel comics named ‘Fantastic Four’ was created by Stan Lee where he for the first time introduced a superhero of African American descent named Black Panther. Lee’s initiative was in the context of the American Civil Rights Movement that was in full swing back then. He focussed on the rights of the minority communities in the USA.  

Although Black Panther has been known to have been created by Marvel author Jack Kirby, it was in fact inspired and edited by Lee who even personally did the artwork for it.  

Lee stood up against bigotry through X-Men series 
In 1963, when the American Civil Rights Movement was ongoing, Stan Lee and his Marvel co-creator Jack Kirby had created the comics X-Men #1. It is actually an allegory for the struggles behind the Civil rights Movement. The protagonist Charles Xaviers, who was a human with superhero powers, and his mutants, who had different superpowers, constantly faced prejudices from hostile humans for their uniqueness. They had to keep fighting for their due recognition. Later on, Lee had said that their primary objective was to ascertain that bigotry is a terrible thing and diversity was important.