Thwack! With one mighty blow the comic-book creator Stan Lee took a swipe at Marvel comics this week. Ugh! A judge in the United States awarded the 82-year-old deviser of Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and X-Men a 10% share of the profits from films and television productions based on his characters.
Kapow! Lee now stands to receive royalties of at least $10-million.
Lee, who has worked for Marvel since 1939 and is still paid an annual salary of $1-million, took the company to court in 2002, arguing that he was a victim of a practice known as ”Hollywood accounting”.
Under a contract negotiated between Lee and the company in 1998 he was guaranteed a 10% share of the profits derived from film or TV productions using Marvel characters.
But the company maintained that this meant net profits, once production and distribution costs had been subtracted.
Lee’s lawyers argued that he was entitled to a share of the gross profits, and those arising from merchandising.
Lee took legal action after the success of the first Spider-Man film, which grossed more than $830-million worldwide.
Spider-Man 2, which was released last year, grossed more than $775-million worldwide, but was not addressed in the ruling.
Lee will, however, also be entitled to a 10% share of Marvel’s profits from the films Blade, Hulk and Daredevil.
This year sees the release of another film inspired by Marvel characters, Fantastic Four.
The judge in New York hearing the case also ruled that Lee was entitled to a 10% share of film-related merchandising sold by Marvel, and left it to the jury to decide whether he should receive a share of profits from merchandising sold by the company in partnership with the film studios.
The judge pointed out that Marvel made a profit of $50-million from the first Spider-Man movie, which would mean that Lee was entitled to receive $5-million on account of that film alone.
Lee, who joined Marvel Enterprises when it was known as Timely Comics, said after the ruling: ”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.”
The case illustrates the turnaround in the company’s fortunes in the past decade.
In 1994 Marvel was declared bankrupt, but its fortunes changed when the first Spider-Man film was made.
The company, which owns the rights to 4 700 characters, said it would appeal against the ruling.