Stan Lee's death certificate confirms heart, respiratory failure

Marvel comics icon Stan Lee was cremated following his Nov. 12 passing, according to his death certificate. His ashes were given to his daughter, Joan.

The document, obtained by TMZ, cites heart and respiratory failure as Lee's cause of death at 95 years old. He also suffered aspiration pneumonia.

Just two days before his death, Lee spent a half hour at his Hollywood Hills home with Roy Thomas, his protege who succeeded him as editor-in-chief at Marvel.

"He just didn't have the energy that he had the last time I saw him," Thomas wrote for the Hollywood Reporter afterward. "He looked frail, but he could get around when he needed to. He seemed to be glad to see me. It was something different from the usual round of his life, the last few months as his health failed him."

Thomas added that while Lee's health was declining, he still expressed enthusiasm for filming cameo appearances in upcoming Marvel films, a tradition that's spanned more than a decade of superhero movies.

"As long as he had the energy for it and didn't have to travel, Stan was always up to do some more cameos," Thomas said. "He got a kick out of those more than anything else."

Lee died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was preceded in death by his wife of 70 years, who passed away in 2017.

See Stan Lee and his wife together: