Stan Lee's Daughter J.C. Lee Shares Rare Family Photos and Reflects on Her 'Magical' Childhood (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Stan Lee, JC Lee and Joan Boocock c. 1990.Photo:Courtesy of JC Lee

Courtesy of JC Lee

It was a marvelous life growing up withStan Leeas a dad.

“It was magical,“J.C. Lee, the Marvel mastermind’s daughter, tells PEOPLE of her childhood growing up in both Long Island and, later, Los Angeles. “My mom and I thought he was the smartest, greatest, funniest, most elegant, hardest worker ever.”

The famed cartoonist, who created characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Thor, the X-Men, Ant-Man and The Wasp, was born Stanley Martin Lieber in New York City in 1922.

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Stan Lee and his only daughter JC Lee at the Spider-Man premiere in 2004.Vince Bucci/Getty

“What was going on in the world was very important to him. He also had a wicked sense of humor — he was a brilliant speaker and thinker. He was also so gentle and kind and loved dogs.”

As for his favorite character? She says it was Spidey.

“We all loved Spider-Man,” she says. “Spider-Man was the real brother of mine and part of the family. All the characters sat at the table with me and lived in the house with me, Stan, and my mother. As an only child, they were like siblings to me.”

Stan Lee, Joan Boocock and JC Lee c. 1954.Courtesy of JC Lee

Stan Lee and JC Lee circa 2015.courtesy of JC Lee

courtesy of JC Lee

But according to his daughter, despite all of his fame and accolades, he was at heart a family man, determined to give his daughter the best life.

“Oh, the life was wonderful,” she says. “I met counts, and I met princes, and I met the top movie stars and intellects. Michael Jackson would come over with the babies, and my mother would help him change diapers.”

A signed photo Stan gave J.C. in 1985.Courtesy of JC Lee

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Stan Lee and J.C. Lee c. 1980.Courtesy of JC Lee

Lee credits her father’s success with his endless drive.

“He had an amazing work ethic,” she says. “He would work all day, come home and have dinner with his family, and then go back to work. I think I inherited that from him. When I set my mind to complete a particular painting or series of paintings, I work late into the night, sometimes forgetting to eat. Stan would say, ‘Failing doesn’t matter! Not trying is the sin!’ "

Stan Lee and J.C. Lee c. 1953.Courtesy of JC Lee

Despite his workaholic tendencies, Lee says he was deeply devoted to her and her mother, Joan Boocock, a singer from England who married Lee in 1947. She died in 2017.

Lee says her mother and father were perfect companions in life. “It was a great marriage and a great love story.” Still, they faced plenty of heartbreak, especially when J.C.’s older sister Jan, born three years after her, died after childbirth.

Joan Boocock and J.C. Lee c. 1985.Courtesy of JC Lee

“They were distraught,” she says of her parents losing one of their daughters. “They couldn’t have more children because, at the time, you couldn’t have more than one cesarean section.”

Adoption wasn’t an option. “My mom was Church of England and British; my dad was Jewish and American. They tried, but it wasn’t in the cards.”

One thing people might not guess about the Marvel figurehead was how strictly regimented he was. “He also didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, and he would never have allowed his characters to drink or smoke,” she says.

JC Lee and Stan Lee at Comic Con in 2016.Kelly Sullivan/Getty

She adds that he still loved having fun. “Loved it,” she says. “He would play ping-pong, roller-skate, bike ride, and dance.” And he loved his fans and embraced his popularity.

“It was never a problem,” she says of fans coming up to him to tell him how much his creations meant to them. “He was so for the people, and he’d worked so hard for that.”

source: people.com