Spider-Man. The Fantastic Four. The X-Men. The Incredible Hulk. Daredevil.
This is just a small collection of the characters co-created by “The Man” of Marvel Comics. During the 1960s, he was a creative visionary who revolutionized the comic book industry by writing his character’s adventures – simply put, he was a genius.
Now, Stan “The Man” Lee is in a legal battle with his former employer over money made on the cinematic smash “Spider-Man.”
His $10-million-plus lawsuit is also seeking for Lee to get cut in on profits from the 2000 success “X-Men” as well as the rest of the upcoming Marvel films – “Daredevil” and “The Incredible Hulk,” in addition to all of these film’s sequels.
It’s easy to see that if Marvel Enterprises is making money hand over fist with “Spider-Man” – $403 million in its U.S. theatrical run, the highest grossing film of all time – based on an idea from Lee, he should be entitled to some of the film’s profits, but there’s more to this issue than meets the eye.
Lee signed an agreement with Marvel in 1998 that would give him 10 percent of any profit garnered from movies and TV shows based on his characters.
But what about the rest of the comic creators? None of Marvel’s hit characters were created by Lee alone. Spider-Man was created in 1962 with the help of artist Steven Ditko. The Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men were partially based on ideas from artist Jack Kirby. Daredevil was co-created by artist Bill Everett.
None of these three artists were presented with the opportunity to sign deals of their own. In the ’60s, artists were just paid on a per-page basis – no back-end deals were available for these creators.
Such was the case for so many comic creators in the early days of the medium.
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were the creators of perhaps the most recognizable comic character of all time, Superman. Rights to this iconic creation were sold in 1937 for $130 and the promise of more work (it was just after the Depression and in-between the two World Wars, after all).
It doesn’t seem fair Siegel and Shuster were cheated out of their profits while Lee, who already gets a $1 million salary for his work with Marvel, is trying to get so much more.
Interestingly enough, the lawsuit follows the heels of not only the success of the “Spider-Man” movie, but also the folding of Stan Lee Media, Lee’s attempt to splinter off into his own company. When the “X-Men” movie was released, earning more than $150 million in the United States, Stan Lee Media was still going strong, working on Lee’s own projects as well as crafting comic versions of the Backstreet Boys.
Being a fan of Lee, I’m somewhat biased in my opinion that Lee should get compensation for his creation, but at the same time, I’ve also been a long-time fan of Ditko and Kirby’s work as well. If Lee is going to get compensated, his co-creators should be privy to the same deal, contract or no.
When the “Superman” films began coming out, Siegel responded, saying, “The publishers of Superman comic books, National Periodical Publications (which has since become DC Comics), killed my days, murdered my nights, choked my happiness, strangled my career. I consider National’s executives money-mad monsters. I, Jerry Siegel, the co-originator of Superman, put a curse on the ‘Superman’ movie!”
This angry response did spark DC to give the creators a little compensation for their work, but the gesture came far too late.
Luckily, copyright laws have been changed since the early days of comics. In 1999, the late Siegel’s wife and daughter regained the creator’s portion of the Superman copyright, beginning a trend that could aid old comic creators in regaining their lost work.
Being the creator of Spider-Man, Lee is entitled to some payment for his work, but until Kirby, Ditko and the rest of the comic creators receive the same compensation, Lee should be content with what he’s got.
Todd LaPlace is a junior in journalism and The Lantern arts editor. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
