Joan Celia Lee, who often goes by JC Lee, the daughter of the late, great Marvel mastermind Stan Lee, had some biting words for Marvel Studios parent company Disney after it failed to reach an agreement with Sony Pictures to keep Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Lee spoke with TMZ about the situation, and it’s clear that she’s not happy over what she perceives to be a Disney power play to score full control of Marvel Comics’ flagship character, whom Stan Lee co-created with Steve Ditko, and for whom Sony has long held the film rights. She said:
“Marvel and Disney seeking total control of my father’s creations must be checked and balanced by others who, while still seeking to profit, have genuine respect for Stan Lee and his legacy. Whether it’s Sony or someone else’s, the continued evolution of Stan’s characters and his legacy deserves multiple points of view.”
Lee then went from implying Marvel Studios did not have respect for Stan the Man’s legacy to outright stating it.
“When my father died, no one from Marvel or Disney reached out to me. From day one, they have commoditized my father’s work and never shown him or his legacy any respect or decency… In the end, no one could have treated my father worse than Marvel and Disney’s executives.”
That’s a brutal assessment, and, frankly, confusing, considering that Stan Lee made cameos in every single Marvel Studios film up until his death. Publicly, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige has never shown anything but respect for Lee and his legacy. After the icon’s death last year, Feige said in a statement,
“He was very special, and I’ve always said, anybody who met Stan…I’ve never heard one story of somebody meeting Stan and not being overwhelmed with excitement. He never disappointed, and I was lucky enough to see him about 10 days before he passed away… it doesn’t seem like he’s gone. Because just like with Walt Disney on this lot, his influence will never go away.”
JC Lee’s comments came the same week as a Sony Pictures statement which painted the decision to axe the wall-crawler from the MCU as one which ultimately was made by Marvel. It read:
“We are disappointed, but respect Disney’s decision not to have [Feige] continue as a lead producer of our next live-action Spider-Man film. We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him – including all their newly added Marvel properties – do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own,” Keep watching the video to see Stan Lee’s daughter has harsh words for Disney after Spidey loss!
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