Stan Lee (1922–2018) began his career with wartime Timely Comics, and staying the course throughout the Atlas era, Stan the Man made comic book history with Fantastic Four #1, harbinger of a bold new perspective in story writing that endures to this day. With some of the industry’s greatest artists, he introduced hero after hero in Incredible Hulk, Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men, and more, forming a shared universe for rival publishers to measure themselves against. After an almost literal lifetime of writing and editing, Lee was involved in movies and television via his company POV! Entertainment. He was Marvel’s chairman emeritus and best-known public representative.

Joe Simon is the co-creator of heroes including Fighting America, The Boy Commandos and The Guardian. With his partner Jack Kirby, Simon came to DC Comics shortly after the pair created Captain America for Marvel Comics. The Simon and Kirby team would go on to fame as the originators of the romance comics genre, as well as innovating with war, Western and mystery titles before splitting up in the late 1950s.