Stan Lee has dropped a $1bn lawsuit against his former company Pow! Entertainment over claims he was conned as part of a “nefarious scheme”.
In May, the 95-year-old Marvel superhero creator launched the suit against the company’s co-founder Gill Champion and its CEO, Shane Duffy, after it was alleged Lee had been tricked into signing a document giving away rights to use his name and likeness.
In a statement, Lee has revealed that he is terminating the lawsuit.
“The whole thing has been confusing to everyone, including myself and the fans, but I am now happy to be surrounded by those who want the best for me,” Lee said. “I am thrilled to put the lawsuit behind me, get back to business with my friends and colleagues at Pow! and launch the next wave of amazing characters and stories!”
The original document claimed that a “nefarious scheme” saw Champion and Duffy conspire to fraudulently steal his name and likeness. Pow! Entertainment was acquired by Camsing International in 2017 and Lee had alleged that the details were not properly disclosed to him.
“We are ecstatic that this ill-founded lawsuit has been dismissed and we look forward to working with Stan again to develop and produce the great projects that were put on hold when the lawsuit was filed,” Duffy said. “We recently got together with Stan to discuss our path forward and we and Camsing are pleased with his overwhelmingly enthusiastic reaction.”
The past week also saw the dismissal of a temporary restraining order filed on behalf of Lee against his former business manager. It failed because there was confusion in court over who was representing Lee, with the judge refusing to recognize his lawyer after Lee’s daughter claimed her lawyers should be speaking for him.
The original order against the Spider-Man co-creator’s former adviser Keya Morgan claimed that Morgan tried to embezzle $5m worth of Lee’s assets. It also alleged elder abuse. Morgan denies both allegations. He has also been charged with filing false police reports and violating his probation. A new restraining order is expected to be filed in the coming weeks.
