Whenever someone makes a pile of money, there will inevitably be someone who decides they would like some of that money. Whenever a company does the same, almost like clockwork, there will be a lawsuit alleging that they are entitled to some of that money.
So it goes with Disney. After their acquisition of Marvel for $4 Billion, Marvel has since brought in over $5 Billion in profits in little under three years.
And of course, a lawsuit claiming they don’t actually have those rights magically appears. Again.
So, Stan Lee Media has filed suit with Disney stating that they were the ones who actually had the rights to all Marvel characters and stories.
Don’t be fooled by the name of the company: Stan Lee has long since disowned them. They actually went bankrupt in 2000, and their co-founder fled the country over shady stock transactions, got extradited back to the US and plead guilty for securities regulation fraud.
Lee then assigned major character rights to his new company, POW! Entertainment, which he got told he should’ve disclosed that a little bit better.
Aside from that, Stan Lee Media has been batting well below the Mendoza Line on lawsuits, but since 2007, have pretty much been suing with regularity.
So now, Stan Lee Media is saying that they are entitled to $5.5 Billion, because Stan Lee had transferred the rights to the company and had no standing to do so. Except they’ve tried to do literally this same thing with Lee before, suing him directly for the exact same reason.
That suit was not only dismissed, but done so on the basis of res judicata, which is fancy lawyer talk for: “you can’t file suits against each other anymore.” Which means now, instead of suing Lee, they’re just going to sue Disney. The Walt Disney Company. With all their lawyers.
So, yeah, good luck with that.
Question: Is Onslaught a great Marvel villain, or the best Marvel villain?
