Stan Lee was born Stanley Martin Lieber on December 28, 1922, in New York City to Romanian immigrant parents, per The New York Times. After high school, he fell into the comic book business when he was hired at Timely Comics as an errand boy. In the 1960s, he helped launch the golden age of comics via Marvel. He married Joan Boocock in 1947 and their daughter J.C. was born in 1950, per Metro. A second daughter, Jan, came three years later but died in infancy.

Until her death in 2017, Joan kept a steady hand on the rudder of the family’s assets, according to AARP The Magazine. But J.C. wasn’t very good with money, according to Stan Lee. He and Joan created a trust to prevent her from burning through her inheritance before her parents died. The control of Stan Lee’s fortune allegedly led to J.C. shouting and physically abusing her elderly father.