Stan Lee is dead. The man who made Marvel comics and the films that followed a part of the international culture was 95.

Stan died after a year from hell following the death of his wife Joan. Friends, associates and family– all greedy– conspired to drive him crazy and ultimately caused his death.

Last March during Oscar week I got an earful about how badly Stan was being treated by his daughter and others who just wanted his money. With Joan gone, Stan was confused and lonely. Everyone preyed on him.

What happened next were lawsuits, accusations, restraining orders that included sales of his blood as souvenirs, Stan losing good friends, and so on.

Now all of those people have had their way. Stan is dead. You can say 95 is “a good life” but what was done to him once his wife died is merciless. Now he’s at peace.

Spider Man, X Men, the Fantastic Four, Wolverine, Avengers, Iron Man, et al– we owe all of it to Stan. In each movie he made an infamous appearance– his “Hitchcock” moment as it were– and audiences always applauded when they caught him sneaking by. I’d guess that he’s in the last “Avengers” movie coming soon. And that better be the end of it. Stan Lee was exploited enough in life.

The “Roma” Oscar campaign came to New York last night with a screening and reception that included Michael Moore, Julian Schnabel, Gay Talese, Nick Pileggi and many others, at the Whitby Hotel. Director Alfonso Cuaron–  already winner of an Oscar for directing “Gravity” (and issuing in an era of Mexican directing winners)–brought his star Yalitza Aparicio and Gabriela Rodriguez.

“Roma” is a masterpiece in a season of foreign language films that are all exceptional (Capernaum, Cold War, Never Look Away).  On critics’ minds, will its nominations be for Best Foreign Language Film or a straight Best Picture?  But that’s not what’s on this director’s mind. Cuaron has turned his talents to a black & white, acutely detailed, Spanish and indigenous language realization of a key figure in his childhood, a maid he renamed Clio who came to live with his family in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City. A mother figure to him, from a disadvantaged class, he asks himself, what does she represent in the world of now?

“Roma,” says Cuaron, honors a sense of memory to form a narrative that builds upon narrative. He wrote his script hoping a narrative would build. Thinking more practically, the producer Gabriela Rodriguez told a post-screening crowd that included they had to borrow furniture from family members to honor Alfonso’s memory, to get the apartment just right, and recreate Mexico City in 1970, which they could do from photos; many iconic places had been damaged by a 1985 earthquake. And the cars! In one hilarious recurring image the family Galaxy fits into its spot like a hand in a tight glove. No one can steer it straight into the narrow parking space, laden with dog shit.

Clio was cast after the film team had met 3,000 women from the far reaches of Mexico. From a town 4 hours away from the nearest city, Yalitza Aparicio had never heard of Alfonso Cuaron and at first refused to audition fearing this was a scam for human trafficking. When finally she was persuaded, she never saw a script but was told her lines each day before shooting. In a scene when she tells her lover that she is pregnant, she had no idea what he would answer back. And the crew was clueless too. Only Cuaron who did his own camera work, knew what would happen. After this role, Yalitza Aparicio has traveled far.

Cuaron has, too. “Roma” shimmers in a way most American movies this year just aspire to. And it has lots of in jokes, too– look for a nod to “Gravity” that almost no one is mentioning. Cuaron has two feet on Earth but always an eye to the skies!