Nicolas Coppola, a young comic book enthusiast, adopted the moniker of Power Man, an African-American protagonist, and later rose to movie stardom as Nicolas Cage.
Len Wein, a prolific comic book writer, co-created Marvel's premier female superhero Ororo Munroe, also known as Storm, and the claw-bearing X-Man James 'Logan' Howlett, aka Wolverine.
As a writer, Len worked on various comics for both Marvel and DC franchises, including Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Thor, Daredevil, and the Justice League of America.
He edited DC's seminal series 'The Watchmen' in the 80s and was instrumental in reviving the popularity of the X-Men during the preceding decade.
Len was born in New York's Bronx and had a sickly early childhood, during which he became infatuated with comics.
He graduated with a degree in arts from Farmingdale State College, Long Island, and initially aspired to become an artist.
Although his art work didn't quite make the grade, he was able to sell his stories to DC by 1968.
With illustrator Bernie Wrightson, Len co-created the human/plant hybrid mutant 'Swamp Thing' in 1971.
He revamped the X-Men in 1975, along with writer/artist Dave Cockrum and Marvel editor Roy Thomas, adding new characters to their ranks.
Len co-created the teleporting Bavarian mutant Kurt Wagner, aka 'Nightcrawler', and the Russian metal giant Pyotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin, aka 'Colossus'.
He also co-created Barbara Ann Minerva, alias 'Cheetah', nemesis of Wonder Woman, and various other characters for DC Comics.
Another product of Len's imagination was Wayne Enterprises' business manager Lucius Fox, portrayed on screen by Morgan Freeman in The Dark Knight Trilogy.
Len suffered from long-standing heart ailments and had a quintuple bypass in 2015, sadly passing away on September 10, 2017, at the age of 69.
Dave Wielgosz, assistant editor at DC comic, eulogised Len, saying, "You can't be hyperbolic when it comes to Len Wein's legacy. He created, wrote, and edited more great superhero stories than anyone."
