10 Stan Lee Facts For His True Believers
9. Stan Lee Didn’t Like Capes, Sidekicks, Or Specific Colors
Stan Lee liked his superheroes and supervillains to have bright, unique colors (usually blue or green) but avoided using black, white, or brown to avoid any connection with ethnic groups.
Like Edna Mode from The Incredibles, Stan Lee was never a fan of capes. He believed they served no practical purpose for a superhero and capes would just get in the way. (Fun Fact – When Captain America wore a cape for the first time in Captain America #180, he tripped over it during a fight. How terribly embarrassing but hilarious.)
Another staple of superheroes are sidekicks. Almost every superhero has had a sidekick or has been a sidekick to another hero at some point. Introducing a sidekick is an easy to way to boost comic sales. When Robin debuted in Batman, the comic sales doubled.
However, Stan was never a fan of this trope. You see, to bring in younger readers, most sidekicks are teenagers. Stan believed that a true superhero wouldn’t endanger the life of a child and so, would never allow them to fight supervillains.
Now, you might think – Didn’t Captain America debut with his sidekick, Bucky? If Stan hates sidekicks, why did he devise one for Cap? Well, that’s the thing…