The life of comic book industry icon Stan Lee continues to be a complicated one, as he's now filed a $1 billion lawsuit against POW! Entertainment. Marvel Comics' legendary former editor-in-chief has had a rough couple of years recently, with undoubtedly his biggest hit coming via the death of his beloved wife Joan last year at the age of 95. Lee - himself now 95 - also was reported to be the subject of disturbing elder abuse, although he would later publicly refute those claims.

Lee was also recently accused by several women of sexual misconduct, although he has denied those allegations as well. His health has been a concern too, with the co-creator of countless beloved Marvel superheroes being hospitalized due to a bout with pneumonia a few months back. Clearly, Stan Lee has a lot of worries on his plate nowadays, although that certainly hasn't done anything to harm his revered status among those who enjoy comic books and the countless additional pieces of popular culture based on them.

In the latest bit of drama involving Stan Lee, THR reports that the man of a thousand MCU cameos has just filed a massive $1 billion lawsuit against POW! Entertainment, a production company he actually co-founded back in 2001. Lee says he was tricked into signing over the exclusive rights to his name and likeness by POW!, an agreement he obviously wouldn't have had much incentive to agree to, considering how much weight the Stan Lee name and brand carries within entertainment.

Marvel Stan Lee

The alleged fraud against Lee occurred last year, when POW! was acquired by Chinese company Camsing International. As part of the deal, Lee says he was told he was signing a non-exclusive agreement allowing for the use of his name and likeness in connection with POW!'s creative works. Instead, Lee signed away the exclusive rights, a move he says he would never make willingly.

Lee claims that POW! executives and his former business manager teamed up to take advantage of his distraught state at the time - due to Joan being on her deathbed - and his vision problems - macular degeneration rendered Lee legally blind in 2015 - in order to get him to sign the agreement without knowing its true terms. Assuming Stan Lee's accusations against POW! are true, it's definitely not hard to understand why he's opted to take them to court over this matter. Here's hoping the truth prevails and the situation is rectified in a just manner.

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Source: THR