Stan Lee gives Disney-Marvel his blessing!

[FFB]

Is there a lawsuit going on between him and Marvel that Marvel keeps dragging out, perhaps waiting for Lee's demise? If so, Lee would want all manner of horrors to fall on the Marvel's upper management-- I know I would. He would also want settlement and Disney might want to look good, for at least a few minutes or so, by settling the suit. Lee's suit might have been factored in as a liability when making the huge purchase. Pure speculaiton...

 

No there isn't. They had a lawsuit several years ago regarding a lifetime employment contract entered into following the Marvel bankruptcy, but it was settled amicably some time ago. Marvel took a $10 million charge on its financials for the settlement, if I remember correctly. Marvel and Lee have a great working relationship, and they did even during the pendency of the Lee/Marvel litigation, which Lee described at the time as the friendliest lawsuit you ever saw. It was purely a dispute over the legal effect of a profit sharing provision, and Lee and Marvel came to an agreement that both sides were happy with.

[FFB]

Is there a lawsuit going on between him and Marvel that Marvel keeps dragging out, perhaps waiting for Lee's demise? If so, Lee would want all manner of horrors to fall on the Marvel's upper management-- I know I would. He would also want settlement and Disney might want to look good, for at least a few minutes or so, by settling the suit. Lee's suit might have been factored in as a liability when making the huge purchase. Pure speculaiton...

 

Even if there are any remaining litigations between Stan and Marvel, when you are talking $4B for the total deal, the amount Stan might be seeking (less than $100M) would be peanuts in comparison.

 

Stan is not seeking anything... He made his final deal with Marvel. This lawsuit is by the current owners of Stan Lee Media, who claim that the assets of that company included Stans ownership of Marvel characters which they claim Stan folded into SLM.

 

If anything, since Stan settled with Marvel for his stake in the characters, they might get any winnings from HIM through a fraudulent conveyance lawsuit.

 

lawyers please chime in.

 

They didn't settle with Stan in exchange for his stake in Marvel's characters. Marvel owned those characters when Stan created them because he created then in the course and scope of his employment with Marvel. Marvel settled with Stan because of a provision in his lifetime employment contract, signed after the Marvel bankruptcy, which entitled him to 10% of the profits from the use of Marvel's characters. Lee voluntarily took a huge haircut in my opinion in settling that case for $10 million, and the fact that he was willing to settle for such a massive discount to what was the potential value of the contract shows that he bears the company no ill will and wants to see it succeed.

 

Captain America was a different story because Joe Simon created Cap while he was a freelancer, and thus, under the new Copyright Act, the rights reverted back to Simon after a period of time. That lawsuit was also settled, and Marvel now owns the rights to Captain America as well.

 

As for the Stan Lee Media lawsuit, that is nothing more than a desperate grab by a crook who is going to win absolutely zip from the lawsuit. Stan Lee Media never owned the rights to any of Marvel's characters because Stan never owned the rights to those characters, and thus, never had the power to transfer them to SLM. Stan and SLM only owned rights to the characters Stan created outside of Marvel.

[Aman619]

better explanations than mine. thanks.

 

I meant Stan's 10% of the movie monies when I wrote his "stake in the characters". I described it as "rights' because, that percentage was all Stan had left coming to him from all his Marvels years... that plus his million dollar salary) which, he wasnt getting anymore was he?

 

Anyway, yeah, he probably could have gone for more. but as you say, Stan's done fine and values his relationship with Marvel too much to go all out against them for, really, just a little more money. He's in a good place about all that stuff. He knew all along he was an employee at Marvel, and well taken care of... and missed his chances to be an owner as far back as when Cadence came along in like 1970.