Search form

Stan Lee, Marvel Sued for $750 Million by Ex-Shareholders

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS reports that shareholders from an old Stan Lee venture are looking for a settlement amounting to $750 million in profits from films and other works based on Marvel comic characters like SPIDER-MAN, X-MEN and IRON MAN.

Filed Monday in a Manhattan federal court on behalf of shareholders in Stan Lee Media, Inc., the defendants include Lee, his wife, New York-based Marvel Entertainment, Inc., and former Marvel CEO Avi Arad. According to lawyer Martin Garbus, the suit is aimed at reclaiming money for all Stan Lee Media, Inc. shareholders, but names four specific people who live in Florida, California and Canada.

The suit claims profits from Lee's comic creations belong to the company, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2006. Therefore, Lee, Marvel and others violated Stan Lee Media's copyright interests and the firm is due profits from the properties, including the blockbuster films made after 1998 based on Lee's characters.

Marvel issued a statement immediately saying the lawsuit is filled with "ridiculous claims." Lee's attorney, Mark W. Williams, said, "We look forward to a positive resolution for Stan Lee and his family."

Marvel also said the suit has claims that have already been pursued in previous cases. Garbus said the new suit differs in that it names Lee, Arad, who has produced many of the Marvel-based films, and current Marvel CEO Isaac Perlmutter. "It's a very different lawsuit," Garbus said. "It's different money."

Garbus told the AP he suspects Lee, who once sued Marvel over profits from his creations, entered into an agreement that deprived Stan Lee Media's shareholders of the monies earned from Marvel-based films. "He made a deal. That money should have gone to the corporation," Garbus added.

The dissolution of Stan Lee Media has led to court actions in New York, Colorado and Los Angeles. Lee helped form the company, an online comics site in the late 1990s, but it went into bankruptcy in 2001 and several of its officers were arrested and accused of stock manipulation. Lee was never implicated in the scheme.

In 2007, Lee sued Stan Lee Media for copyright infringement, cybersquatting, defamation and other claims, and last year, Lee's lawyers denied he gave the company copyright interests in characters he created during his long stint at Marvel.

Tags