Stan Lee: The Final Chapter documentary, directed by Jon Bolerjack, is knocking on the door with the single promise that it will do justice to famed Comic creator and Marvel mastermind Stan Lee. But do you know who even inspired Peter Parker’s first love?
Joan Boocock Lee wasn’t just the wife of Stan Lee, the legendary co-creator of Spider-Man, Iron Man, Daredevil, and countless other Marvel heroes—she was his muse, his biggest supporter, and the love of his life.
How Joan Boocock and Stan Lee met?
In 1947, long before Marvel became the pop culture powerhouse it is today, a young Stan was introduced to a “gorgeous redhead” through a cousin. That woman was Joan Clayton Boocock, a hat model originally from England. When she answered the door, Stan took one look at her and declared, “I love you!” The only catch? Joan was already married.
“I had only known him 24 hours when we decided to get married,” Joan told People Magazine. “In many aspects, it was a great marriage, but after living with him a year, I was finding him sort of boring…”
{{/usCountry}}“I had only known him 24 hours when we decided to get married,” Joan told People Magazine. “In many aspects, it was a great marriage, but after living with him a year, I was finding him sort of boring…”
{{/usCountry}}“He wore a marvelous floppy hat and scarf and spouted Omar Khayyam when he took me for a hamburger at Prexy’s,” she recalled. “He reminded me of that beautiful man, [British actor] Leslie Howard.”
Just two weeks after the meeting, Stan proposed. But before they could marry, Joan had to get a divorce. She travelled to Reno for a quick dissolution of her first marriage, where she caught the eye of a wealthy cowboy. Fearing he might lose her, Stan rushed to Reno to win her back. It worked. The same judge who granted Joan’s divorce officiated their wedding in 1947, and they remained together for 69 years.
Their love story remained strong until Joan’s passing in 2017 at the age of 95.
The couple settled in Long Island, raising their daughter Joanie, while Stan worked tirelessly at Marvel, co-creating Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and the Hulk.
“My wife and I are really so close,” Stan told People Magazine in a 2011 interview. “And yet, I’m not sure if she’s ever read a story I wrote. She’s not into comics at all.”
“She plays with the house. She could spend all her time rearranging the furniture,” Stan joked.