Stan Lee Threatens To Sue Marvel

The Dow Jones Business News reports that Stan Lee, chairman emeritus of Marvel Enterprises Inc., may sue the company if it fails to pay him 10% of profits earned from movies and TV programs featuring classic comic characters.

Marvel, which says it’s paying Lee an annual salary of $1 million, dismisses the Spider-Man creator’s claim to profits, based on an employment agreement signed in November of 1998.

With Spider-Man movie revenue nearing the $1 billion mark, a 10% take for Lee would be substantial, to say the least. The web slinger is just one of many characters conceived by Lee, and one of more than 3,500 characters in Marvel’s catalog.