Stan Lee to Receive Visual Effects Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award

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Stan Lee, the man who co-created Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, the Avengers, Silver Surfer and Doctor Strange, is being honored with the Visual Effects Society's 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award.

The former comic book writer, who became Marvel Comics' first publisher in 1972 and is currently Chief Creative Officer of POW! Entertainment, will be given the honor at the 10th Annual VES Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 7, 2012.

"Stan Lee's imagination has created a completely original and profitable niche in the entertainment world and has allowed visual effects to flex its muscle in service to it!" VES Chair Jeffrey A. Okun said in a statement. "Thanks to Mr. Lee's fantastic creations and amazing stories he not only created a future filled with gadgets and inventions that we aspire to create for real -- but all while inspiring the minds and imaginations of storytellers, visual effects artists and computer wizards everywhere."

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"As a writer there is nothing more rewarding than to see your creations brought to life on the screen and I am indebted to all of the incredibly talented artists who have contributed to my projects," Lee said in a statement.

Lee's Marvel Comics characters have been licensed and marketed since 1965. More than 2 billion of his comic books have been published in 75 countries and in 25 languages.

Films featuring the X-Men, Spider-Man and members of the Avengers have grossed billions of dollars at the box office over the last decade. The next major Marvel film, The Avengers, opens May 4, 2012 and the trailer has already broken records with over 10 million downloads in just 24 hours.