Stan Lee fans slam Bill Maher for saying comic books played a part in the dumbing down of America: 'You had no problem taking that check' for 'Iron Man 3'

A day after Stan Lee was laid to rest in a private funeral service, Bill Maher took a shot at the Marvel Comics legend, and his grieving fans aren’t happy.

In a post titled “Adulting” on the Real Time With Bill Maher host’s blog, Maher linked comic books to the dumbing down of America — and Donald Trump‘s presidential victory — saying that in our country, “We’re using our smarts on stupid stuff” like picture books about superheroes.

“The guy who created Spider-Man and the Hulk has died, and America is in mourning,” Maher wrote. “Deep, deep mourning for a man who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie, I guess. Someone on Reddit posted, ‘I’m so incredibly grateful I lived in a world that included Stan Lee.’ Personally, I’m grateful I lived in a world that included oxygen and trees, but to each his own.”

Maher said he has nothing against comic books, but then he dissed them, saying he read them as a boy when he couldn’t find a real book. He said he was raised to think that comics were for children, “and when you grew up you moved on to big-boy books without the pictures.” However, he went on to say, 20 years ago, “something happened — adults decided they didn’t have to give up kid stuff. And so they pretended comic books were actually sophisticated literature. And because America has over 4,500 colleges — which means we need more professors than we have smart people — some dumb people got to be professors by writing theses with titles like Otherness and Heterodoxy in the Silver Surfer. And now when adults are forced to do grown-up things like buy auto insurance, they call it ‘adulting,’ and act like it’s some giant struggle.”

Maher said that Americans aren’t necessarily “stupider” today than we were then, but we’re “using our smarts on stupid stuff.” He ended with the Trump zinger, writing, “I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to suggest that Donald Trump could only get elected in a country that thinks comic books are important.”

The comments on Maher’s post were pretty blunt. The first one we saw started with, “Bill, you can go f*** yourself.” Twitter pretty much agreed, blasting the guy who, um, appeared in 2013’s Iron Man 3 but has a problem with comics.

Lee passed away on Monday at the age of 95. On Friday, his family held a private funeral service. A statement on Lee’s Twitter account said there won’t be a public memorial (he didn’t want one), but a tribute is in the works by his POW! Entertainment family. And fans can share messages on a tribute wall on Lee’s website.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

Advertisement