Over the past decade, the American comics publishing house Marvel has become one of the great global cultural juggernauts, thanks to its billion-dollar movies and its half a dozen television shows. Last week, the man whose name is associated with Marvel more than any other, its former editor-in-chief Stan Lee, died at the age of 95 — setting off worldwide mourning of the sort usually seen when a great movie star dies. Lee, however, was a familiar face; he had made dozens of short, special appearances in Marvel superhero movies, and waiting for the Lee cameo was part of the

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