Stan Lee – the man who singlehandedly changed the game when it comes to storytelling in comics. He redefined superheroes, proving that even larger-than-life beings could have depth, insecurities, and flaws. As the mastermind behind Marvel Comics, Stan Lee was behind some of the most iconic superheroes to leap off the page. From Spider-Man to the Scarlet Witch, the legacy he has left behind is timeless. While the entire world bows down to the genius, he had some regrets about the business aspect of it all.
Creatively, Stan Lee’s mind couldn’t have been defeated. However, while dealing with the business side of the story, even he admitted to regretting how he handled things and how he should have been greedier to get a deal he actually deserved.
Stan Lee regretted his business decisions
Stan Lee rose through the ranks of Timely Comics, which we now know and love as Marvel Comics, to reach the top and boy was the view unbeatable from there.
He started working at Timely in 1922 when he was just a teenager and would make eight dollars per week for his contributions to the company, as per The New York Times. It’s truly insane to think about the graph he saw in his professional life, going from $8 to raking in millions thanks to Marvel, despite his business partners exploiting him for money.
The legend’s net worth is estimated to be around $50 million at the time of his death (November 12, 2018). And while the amount is in no way a joke, it seems a little low given the fact that the Marvel Universe itself has made billions and billions of dollars over the years.
Well, Lee would blame himself for not making deals worth his while.
In a 2016 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lee called himself “stupid” for not being greedy with what he was making. He stated, “I was stupid in a business way. I should have been greedier.”
Through the years, Marvel has been bought and sold multiple times before finding its home with Disney, thanks to a $4 billion deal. Lee, though, never made any real cash from the deals as he was never an owner.
Lee regrets some of the deals he made in his career, including the one in 1998 that allowed him to earn a share of the profits made by movies and television shows based on his characters.
When Stan Lee sued Marvel
Spider-Man (2002) made a fortune at the box office, but apparently, the creator of the character himself didn’t receive his monetary share of the success. In 2002, Lee filed a lawsuit against Marvel in New York federal court, stating that he was entitled to 10% of the company’s profits from the movie, or about $10 million.
Despite the 1998 deal, Lee’s lawyers claimed that their client did not receive his fair share of the profits from Spider-Man or the first X-Men movie. However, here’s what Marvel said in a statement (via Entertainment Weekly),
Mr. Lee has made contributions to Marvel and the comic book industry in the past, for which he continues to be well-compensated. Marvel believes it is in full compliance with and current on all payments due under the terms of Mr. Lee’s employment agreement and will continue to be so in the future. However, Marvel does not comment on either pending litigation or threatened future actions.
Years later, the company was given the verdict that it owed Lee 10% of the profits made by Spider-Man and any other film based on his characters. According to LA Times, his attorney called this a “sweeping victory for Mr. Lee.“
And this is how Lee managed to get himself a deal worth millions and millions of dollars, on top of his reported $1 million annual salary as Marvel’s chairman emeritus.
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