Forbes has named Stan Lee among its most influential celebrities of 2014, a list led by Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and George Lucas. The 91-year-old comics legend came in at No. 9 (of just 10), between Bono and Rush Limbaugh.
“Maybe it’s all those cameos in Marvel movies,” the business magazine explains. “Lee doesn’t usually show up on this list but the comic creator is responsible for the characters in some of the biggest movies in recent years.”
Indeed, Lee has appeared in 18 live-action films
based on the Marvel characters he co-created, from 2000′s X-Men to 2008′s Iron Man to 2013′s Thor: The Dark World. He can next be seen in a guest role on the Feb. 4 episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
There’s a method to the Forbes list, which is based on polling conducted by E-Poll Market Research, “which ranks more than 6,600 celebrities on 46 different personality attributes based on their polling data of Americans.” Spielberg, who this year ousted Winfrey from the top spot, scored a 47 for influence, which the magazine states “means that 47% of the U.S. population believes he is influential.” By comparison, Lee has a 37 percent influential rating.
