The next day, Bernard Esinger visited Stan Lee again and brought him the new Fantastic Four comic.

Stan Lee felt extremely heartbroken when he saw his children turn into this.

When Bernard Aisinger said goodbye, he specifically reminded Stan Lee to pay attention to each issue of the "Fantastic Four" comic.

In mid-August, the most exciting news in the entertainment industry was not that Charlie Sheen cheated again, nor that a reporter photographed Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston walking into the store to buy handcuffs, nor that there was a media rumor that Stewart Townsend gave his girlfriend a loud slap in the face on the street...

Instead, Stan Lee, who is known as the "father of Marvel", officially filed a lawsuit in the New York District Court and sued Marvel Entertainment!

In the indictment, Stan Lee claimed that Marvel Comics signed an agreement with Stan Lee that if every character he participated in was made into a movie or a TV series, he would receive 10% of the profit the company made from, but all Marvel adaptations, including Spider-Man, did not get Stan Lee a dollar.

Before the lawsuit, Ronan received the news and personally called Avi Arad and asked him to contact Stan Lee to resolve the issue.

But Stan Lee still sued Marvel Entertainment.

Ronan was a little hot and was quite dissatisfied with the management of Marvel Entertainment and called Avi Arad to Los Angeles.

In the conference room on the top floor of the Relativity Building, Avi Arad was a little embarrassed, and Kevin Feige, who was specially called, was watching more. After all, he was only after Marvel Entertainment was established that he actually joined Marvel.

Robert Iger looked serious.

Robert Lee's face was gloomy. As the head of the legal and copyright department of the group company, he knew very well what trouble the contract would cause to Marvel Entertainment and even the entire Relativity Entertainment Group if it really existed.

Fortunately, Relativity Entertainment and Marvel Entertainment have always taken the strictest confidentiality measures for the "Avengers Project", otherwise the troubles may be ten times more than twenty times greater.

"I need an explanation, Avi!" Ronan stared at Avi Arad coldly: "Why didn't I know that there was such a contract between Marvel and Stan Lee? Why didn't anyone report this to me?"

Avi Arad first apologized: "I'm very sorry, this is my negligence."

Ronan ignored it and continued, "I need an explanation."

Avi Arad could see that this super rich man in the entertainment industry, the only master of Marvel Entertainment and Relativity Entertainment Group, was really angry.

"This is the contract signed with Stan Lee when Marvel Comics began to sell superhero copyrights in the early 1990s." Avi Arad hesitated for a moment and said as the truth: "Since then, Marvel Comics fell into a crisis, with frequent shares changing, and managers coming and going, and most people, including me, ignored this contract."

He did not shirk responsibility: "This is my dereliction of duty."

Ronan looked at Avi Arad and didn't speak.

Avi Arad said: "After the 20th Century Fox's "X-Men" movie was divided, someone remembered the contract, but was on the board of directors..."

Before he could finish this, under Ronan's gaze, Avi Arad changed his words: "To be precise, under my instruction, Stan Lee's share was deducted."

Robert Eiger interjected and asked, "That is, does this contract really exist?"

"Yes." Avi Arad could not deny: "Perrelman, the owner of Marvel at that time, wanted to use Marvel's listing to make quick money from the financial market, and did not care about anything else. In order to win the support of Stan Lee, who was extremely heavy at Marvel at that time, he signed such a generous share contract with Stan Lee."

Kevin Feige asked: "Marvel's equity has changed several times, is this contract still valid?"

Robert Lee answered: "Unfortunately, the legal effect remains."

Kevin Feige gasped: "Our Avengers Project, all the main creators are Stan Lee's superhero adaptation movies, can Stan Lee make 10% profit?"

Avi Arad closed his eyes slightly and nodded slowly: "It's nothing wrong to interpret according to the terms of the contract."

"You are seriously dereliction of duty!" Robert Iger is already the CEO of Relativity Entertainment, and his voice is quite harsh: "Avi, your negligence may lead to the Avengers program being greatly passive."

"I'm very sorry." Avi Arad did not want to lose his current position, but he defended himself: "This contract is legally problematic, but from the perspective of the company's business, it is very unreasonable. Since the late 1990s, Stan Lee's health has been deteriorating, and Marvel's cramped liquidity, in order to maintain the company, I made the decision to withhold the share. Those millions of dollars are nothing to big companies, but for Marvel at that time, it was the funds that could save the company."

Avi Arard further defended: "On the other hand, because strictly speaking, Marvel did not breach the contract. The contract stipulates 10% of Marvel's profits, but in fact, Marvel has been in a loss state."

Robert Iger agrees with Avi Arad's view: "Marvel has indeed not made any profit in recent years."

Ronan said: "The key to this contract is not the past and present, but the future."

Everyone in the conference room understood what Ronan was talking about. It is not difficult to make the profits of the past few Marvel movies based on accounting calculation rules and company changes. But what about the "Avengers Plan" in the future? How much will it cost? Should all the movies be made into losses? Who would believe that filming and production of films after large investment loss after losses?

"If this lawsuit goes into legal proceedings," Ronan asked Robert Lee: "How much is our winning rate?"

Robert Lee said: "I looked at the contract with a lawyer. Attorney Dina's opinions are up to 50%.

"The best way is to reach an out-of-court settlement," Robert Iger said.

Kevin Feige reminded: "The key is that contract!"

Avi Arad spoke again: "Marvel has been in contact with Stan Lee. Based on what we have learned, Stan Lee's daughter has played an important role in it."

"Stan Lee's daughter?" Ronan asked.

Avi Arad knew that Joan Claya Lee was the best, and roughly introduced the basic situation to Ronan and others.

Robert Eiger was a little surprised: "There are people like this."

Ronan shook his head secretly. He seemed to have roughly seen the news about this, but I don’t remember it very clearly. Anyway, in the last ten years, Stan Lee had too many people with bad intentions around him.

From lawyers to family members to assistants to nannies, it seems that too many people want to get something that shouldn't belong to this comic master in their last years.

I remember reading a report that it seemed that Stan Lee's lawyer, assistant and nanny accused him of harassing the female nanny, and later it was proved to be a collusion and accusation.

There is such a top-notch daughter, and you can imagine the future life of this comic master.

Ronan asked, "What about Stan Lee's daughter?"

The problem is easier to solve if Stan Lee's greedy daughter alone.

Avi Arad understood what Ronan meant and said, "No one else was found to intervene."

Ronan looked at Robert Lee: "You have someone in New York. Go and check the specific situation of Chastan Lee's daughter, and check it carefully."

"Okay." Robert Lee picked up his phone and started texting.

"Kevin is right." Ronan continued: "The biggest problem with this contract is not how much profit Stan Lee gets from Marvel's past and present superhero movies, but the future!"

He stressed: "We can't let this contract continue!"

Robert Iger agreed: "This means we may pay a heavy price in the future." He had communicated with Ronan before: "Our advantage is that the Avengers plan is still in the confidential stage, so we must solve the problems brought by this contract as quickly as possible, otherwise once "Iron Man" is released, this contract will become a sharp blade that cuts Marvel's flesh and blood!"

Ronan glanced at Avi Arad, temporarily suppressed his dissatisfaction and said, "This matter must be handled immediately. I need Marvel to understand the situation and establish a direct communication channel with Stan Lee to strive to reach an agreement outside the court."

Robert Eiger whispered a few words with Ronan and said, "If necessary, you can pay a certain price to buy out the agreement."

Avi Arad took the initiative to take a step back: "I personally am willing to give up my salary this year to be used as a fee for this."

Ronan didn't say anything, Robert Eiger was directly responsible for the internal management of the company.

Robert Eiger said: "Now is not the time to hold the responsibility accountable. Let's resolve the contract and talk about other things."

Ronan has no objection to this.

Robert Iger said directly: "Avi, you return to New York and set up a crisis PR team at Marvel, specifically responsible for dealing with this incident."

Avi Arad knew he couldn't hesitate: "I'll go back in the afternoon."

Robert Eiger continued: "Lee, you join the lawyer Dinah and take your department's capable personnel to New York immediately, and you are fully responsible for the handling."

Avi Arad was a little disappointed, but he could not object, because the mistakes within Marvel management had lost the initiative to deal with them.

"Marvel Entertainment will cooperate with you with all your strength." Avi Arad immediately made a statement.

Now that Marvel Entertainment has been delisted, more than 90% of its equity is in the hands of Relativity Entertainment, it is not difficult to replace the CEO.

Kevin Feige looked at Avi Arad and responded immediately, while also showing his presence: "What can I do?"

Ronan understood his thoughts and said, "You should be responsible for the Iron Man project and don't let this matter affect the crew."

"I understand." Kevin Feige stopped at the right time.

Robert Eiger said no more: "Take it now."
Chapter completed!