On Monday, the man responsible for the Marvel Universe - Stan Lee, passed away at the age of 95.

Lee's wide-spanning cultural influence all started in 1961, when he and Jack Kirby birthed Marvel with The Fantastic Four. Following that initial success, Lee went on to create Spider-Man, Black Panther, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Iron Man and The Avengers, all of which have become freshly relevant following the recent movie adaptations.

In the wake of his passing, comic book fans, movie lovers, celebrities and collaborators alike have been posting tributes to Lee's legacy.

Fans pay tribute at Stan Lee's Walk of Fame #Star in #Hollywood https://t.co/kWF4NqNOMo pic.twitter.com/NeTq3h5nnL
— RT (@RT_com) November 13, 2018

From 1965 up until 2001 Lee wrote a monthly column called Stan's Soapbox in Marvel Comics. In 1968 he penned an essay about the evils of racism, one that sadly still resounds.

That essay has resurfaced and gone viral in the wake of his death.

In 1968, Stan Lee used his Marvel "Stan's Soapbox” column to talk about the ignorance of racism. "Racism and bigotry are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today … Sooner or later, we must learn to judge each other on our own merits” https://t.co/3kowLk0WxT pic.twitter.com/Lw8FtxIyuk
— Ryan Parker (@TheRyanParker) November 12, 2018

"Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today." "A story without a message... is like a man without a soul."

RIP Stan Lee #StansSoapbox pic.twitter.com/S8PvuDassx
— jen yamato (@jenyamato) November 12, 2018

The essay points out the ways racism and bigotry strip everyone of their humanity, and stop us from reaching our human potential:

"Let's lay it right on the line. Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today. But, unlike a team of costumed super-villains, they can’t be halted with a punch in the snoot, or a zap from a ray gun. The only way to destroy them is to expose them—to reveal them for the insidious evils they really are. The bigot is an unreasoning hater—one who hates blindly, fanatically, indiscriminately. If his hang-up is black men, he hates ALL black men. If a redhead once offended him, he hates ALL redheads. If some foreigner beat him to a job, he’s down on ALL foreigners. He hates people he’s never seen—people he’s never known—with equal intensity—with equal venom."

"Now, we’re not trying to say it’s unreasonable for one human being to bug another. But, although anyone has the right to dislike another individual, it’s totally irrational, patently insane to condemn an entire race—to despise an entire nation—to vilify an entire religion. Sooner or later, we must learn to judge each other on our own merits. Sooner or later, if man is ever to be worthy of his destiny, we must fill out hearts with tolerance. For then, and only then, will we be truly worthy of the concept that man was created in the image of God–a God who calls us ALL—His children."

People have been pointing out just how relevant Lee's words remain to our current political climate.

Stan “the man” Lee telling it like it is 50 years ago!
— James Hadfield (@coregenomics) November 12, 2018

https://twitter.com/Lul1900T/status/1062069175299072002https://twitter.com/YuriKitten/status/1062074899802386434https://twitter.com/Foxholenorman/status/1062090820503789568

https://twitter.com/ErikViker/status/1062134528158957569

RIP, Stan Lee, you were a man with true vision.

Stan Lee’s takedown of racism from 1968 goes viral in wake of his death.