Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics. With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Under a variety of pseudonyms as well as his own name, Bill McCay is the author of more than seventy books, including such series as the Race Against Time, The Three Investigators, Young Indiana Jones, and Tom Clancy's Net Force. He has also worked with Stan Lee on Riftworld, a science fiction comedy-adventure set in the comics business. McCay has also written five novels based on the film Stargate. His fantasy short fiction has appeared in several anthologies and his Star Trek novel Chains of Command (cowritten with E. L. Flood) spent several weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. See also William McCay