40 plus years ago, a writer named Stan Lee created the character of Spider-Man against the protests of the higher ups at Marvel Comics, and in doing so, ushered in Marvel’s golden era.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet ruled on Monday (January 17) that Stan Lee is entitled to a 10 percent share of profits earned by Marvel for the success of the Spider-Man franchise and other Marvel Comics-based films over the past seven years.

Today the character has been the flagship of Marvel Comics and is still going strong.

Stan Lee, now 82 years old, is a legendary figure in comics and he co-created some of Marvel Comics’ most popular characters, including Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, The Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, the X-Men to name a few.

According to the Judge’s decision Marvel must share 10% of any profit participation or benefit it receives from movies, television, or other ancillary uses of Mr. Lee’s characters, including certain merchandising.

The combined worldwide box-office grosses for Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, X-Men, X2, Hulk and Daredevil exceed $2.7 billion, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, of which Marvel gets a small percentage (Lee’s 10 percent would come from the profits Marvel receives).

Spider-Man 3 and X3 are in the pipeline and the long-awaited movie adaptation of the Fantastic Four is due out this summer. A big-screen version of another Marvel favorite, Iron Man, is also in the works.

He filed the lawsuit in November 2002, pointing out a clause in his contract that entitled him to 10 percent of TV, movie and merchandising deals.

"In short, the first sentence of [the contract] is not ambiguous," the Judge said in his ruling "It provides that Lee is entitled to share in the results of Marvel’s arrangements for movie and television productions involving Marvel characters."

Judge Sweet sees it as pretty clear that Marvel has dropped the ball in not doing what it is contractually obligated to do.

"I am very gratified by the Judge’s decision although, since I am deeply fond of Marvel and the people there, I sincerely regret that the situation had to come to this," said Mr. Lee.

Stan’s concept of creating comic characters we all could relate to resonated with readers. The truth is without Stan Lee, and other talents that supported and assisted in his work, superhero comics would have fizzled out long ago and we wouldn’t have the industry we do today.

Suddenly, with the debut of Fantastic four #1 in 1961, people were really turned on to the superhero comic in a way they had never been before, and the genre was given the jumpstart it badly needed.

As far as I am concerned Stan really is the man.

'Nuff Said!

Source Links:
Financial News: Press Release - Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP Represents Mr. Lee in Victory

Movies - E! Online - Stan Lee’s Spidey Score Settled