In a complaint filed today in Los Angeles, legendary comic creator Stan Lee is suing Pow! Entertainment, the company he co-founded in 2001 for one billion dollars. In the complaint, Lee is saying two partners and the company took advantage of his deteriorating eyesight and his state of mind while his wife was on her deathbed — all in an effort to have Lee sign away the exclusive rights to his name as the company was being sold to Hong Kong-based company Camsing International.
According to the complaint, per Variety, Lee had the understanding that he was signing away a non-exclusive right to his name to the company. The complaint also states that Camsing was given access to his Twitter, Facebook, Instagram accounts against Lee’s wishes. The suit hopes to roll back the agreement and collect damages up to one billion dollars.
“Lee does not recall anyone reading the Illegitimate Document to him, and, due to his advanced macular degeneration, he could not have read it himself,” writes attorney Adam Grant in the complaint. “While the Illegitimate Document purports to contain Lee’s signature, Lee never knowingly signed it. Either Duffy, Champion, Oliveraz [sic] or POW! (1) forged Lee’s signatures; (2) lifted Lee’s signature from another document and imposed it on the Illegitimate Document; or, (3) someone, likely one of the Defendants, induced Lee to sign the Illegitimate Document by using a bait and switch tactic: telling Lee it was something else.”
Lee has been in a whirlwind of lawsuits over the last few months. He’s currently suing his ex-business manager Jerardo Olivarez for fraud, while vials of his blood were used for signatures on comics in Las Vegas without him knowing.
Kevin Smith and others have reached out to the 95-year-old Lee in an effort to help him in his time of need.