Excelsior is a word of Latin origin (excelsior) which means something or whatever illustrious, grandiose, higher, majestic or higher.
Due to the meaning given to this Latin term, Excelsior started to be used as the title of several segments, mainly of works related to literature, poetry and music. It is also widely used as the name of companies from different commercial sectors.
Excelsior is also the name of a Marvel Universe superhero group, created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona.
The first appearance of this group of heroes was in the comic book “Fugitivos (Vol. 2) #1”. The members of “Excelsior” are all characters from the Marvel Universe: Rick Jones, Turbo, Phil Urich, Steel Hawk, Julie Power and Rebound.
In Brazil, Excelsior was also the name of a television network founded in 1960 by Mário Wallace Simonses (TV Excelsior), and the last television broadcast was made on September 30, 1970, due to the oppressive command of the Brazilian military regime that ruled at the time.
The expression found special popularity among comic book fans through the work of Stan Lee (1922-2018), an American comic artist, writer, businessman and actor. Stan Lee was the editor-in-chief and president of
Marvel Comics, famous comic book publisher who gave rise to several characters such as the X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, etc.Originally, Lee adopted the expression excelsior as a signature in his comic book columns. The term logo became the comic artist's trademark, who started to use it in his interviews, appearances in films and in the media in general.