Spiderman vs. Marvel: Check Those Contracts

Marvel Enterprises Inc. has been ordered by a federal court judge to pay Stan Lee, creator of the Spiderman adventure strip, 10% of Marvel’s profits from the highly successful Spiderman movies. Stan Lee created the in 1972 and by 1977 the Marvel Enterprises, Inc. comic strip was syndicated into a seven-day-per-week feature. Today it is the most successful of all syndicated adventure strips, appearing in more than 500 newspapers worldwide.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered Marvel to pay Stan Lee a share of the proceeds it has received from movies, television shows and movie-related toys manufactured by Marvel since November 1998.

Marvel will appeal the ruling as more will be revealed later. After building up Marvel Enterprises with his Incredible Four radioactive mutants (Spiderman, Daredevil, Ironman, and The Hulk), Mr. Lee deserves at least 10% of the profits. Watch those contracts folks!