Stan Lee: 10% or $10 Million?

Stan Lee Biography

I was recently reading the biography, Stan Lee: Creator of Spider-Man with my son and I learned quite a bit about "The Man." But one little tidbit tucked in the back of the book really made me stand up and take notice.

The book says that Stan Lee has a contract with Marvel to get 10% of all profits from movies starring characters he created. That's 10% of EVERYTHING - not just the box office but all the ancillary profits from toys, video games, shirts, DVD's, licensing rights - you name it.

To put that in perspective, Marvel movies have made BILLIONS of dollars worldwide in box office alone. Now, sure, not all of that is Marvel profits but Marvel certainly sees a sizable chunk of that. Add toys on top of that (toys from the original Spider-Man movie topped over $100 million in sales in one year alone) and it's a virtual gold mine.

So if Stan Lee's gotten 10% of all of that, he's a very, very wealthy man - right?

Wrong. In 2002, Stan Lee sued Marvel (after the first few Spider-Man movies were a hit) because they weren't paying him and he won. But then Marvel appealed and the decision was overturned. Instead, Marvel paid Lee a one-time $10 million and Lee completely signed over the rights to all of the great characters he created.

Think of it. 10% would have been hundreds of millions of dollars (heck, maybe even a billion!) to date but instead Lee only got $10 million. Marvel should be ashamed of themselves because without Lee they'd be making NOTHING!

Still, I'll give Stan Lee a ton of credit - he still appears in these films, still promotes them for all he's worth, and still has a good attitude about the whole thing.

Stan Lee, to me, you'll always be "The Man" and it's a shame Marvel decided to stab you in the back when you're the one that built Marvel with your own two hands.

Stan Lee's Secrets Behind the Comics SC

Stan Lee origianlly published this book in 1947. It's being reprinted by Pure Imagination Publihsing. I'd like to take a peek at this legendary book but the new printing has a price point of $20.00... oddly, it appears that the cover will be unaltered even though it says "PRICE $1" on it.

Samuel L. Jackson Vs. Stan Lee - Box Office Wars

Recently, Guinness World Records proclaims Samuel L. Jackson the highest-grossing actor ever with a total box office of $7.2 billion.

I looked this up at http://www.the-numbers.com/people/SLJAC.php and their numbers don't match up. Their domestic box office total is about $5 billion and international box office almost $10 billion. That's for over 55 films, giving him an average domestic gross of just over $60 million per picture and that's including the three Star Wars prequel movies.

Compare this to Stan Lee at http://www.the-numbers.com/people/0SLEE.php. Stan Lee has been in seventeen films for a total domestic box office gross of $3 billion (over $6 billion internationally). Stan Lee's average box office gross domestically is over $191 million. 

Of the two, I'd take Stan Lee's record over Samuel L. Jackson's any day.

Stan Lee - 1

Samuel L. Jackson - 0

Stan Lee Teachs You How to Write and Draw Comics!

Are you, like me, an aspiring comic book writer? Well who better to learn from than the single most successful and influential comic book writer ever, Stan Lee? "The Man" has just announced his new books, Stan Lee's How to Write Comics and Stan Lee's How to Draw Comics. Now, I'm not sure what Stan Lee has to say about drawing comics because he's not an artist, he's a writer. But as head editor for Marvel for years, I'm sure he has learned quite a bit about the art of drawing comics even if he himself does not do so. So sit at the feet of the master and learn. Each book is only $24.99 (although there is a hardcover for $45.99).