One of the most successful comic book characters in history, Spiderman, nearly didn't get off the ground, creator Stan Lee told fans last year.
Lee, the man behind Spider-Man, as well as Black Panther, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Iron Man and The Avengers, died overnight.
He was 95.
He told reporters in Tokyo last year that he came up with his most famous character while watching a fly climb a wall and wanted to create a superhero with the same abilities.
"Somehow calling him 'flyman' didn't sound dramatic enough. What else could he be? Mosquito man? Then I said: Spiderman. And it sounded so dramatic," said Lee.
Lee decided to make his new creation a teenager and give him "many personal problems".
"He won't have enough money, he lives with his aunt who is ill and needs medicine and he has to take care of her. And he's also got to fight the bad guys," he said.
He took the idea to his publisher who said: "Stan, that is the worst idea I have ever heard."
Superheroes have to be adults and cannot have any problems -- that's why they are superheroes, said his boss.
And another thing: "People hate spiders so you can't call a hero Spiderman!"
Lee was nevertheless allowed to slip a Spiderman story into the last edition of a book and it became an instant hit.
"Just for fun, to get it out of my system, I put Spiderman in that last edition and forgot about it," he said.
"A month later, after all the sales figures were in, my boss came running into my office and said: 'Remember that character Spiderman we both liked so much, let's make him a regular feature'."
"And that's how Spidey was born," said Lee to applause and laughter.
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