Stan Lee has withdrawn his $1 billion lawsuit against his former company POW! Entertainment less than two months after its filing.
In the suit, Lee said he was taken advantage of when he was in an emotionally and physically fragile state.
“The whole thing has been confusing to everyone, including myself and the fans, but I am now happy to be surrounded by those who want the best for me,” Lee said in a statement on Monday. “I am thrilled to put the lawsuit behind me, get back to business with my friends and colleagues at POW! and launch the next wave of amazing characters and stories!”
The initial May filing against current POW! CEO Shane Duffy and co-founder Gill Champion, stated that the two had “conspired and agreed to broker a sham deal to sell POW! to a company in China and fraudulently steal Stan Lee’s identity, name, image, and likeness as part of a nefarious scheme to benefit financially at Lee’s expense.”
POW! Entertainment issued a statement in May saying that the lawsuit was preposterous and completely without merit. “Even though the lawsuit was never served, POW! and its parent company, Camsing Global, did not take action against Stan but said they worked behind the scenes clear the lawsuit from both companies and to help Stan regain control of his life,” POW! said in a statement.
The company said in an open letter in April that POW!’s primary concern was for Stan’s well-being, and that nothing has changed that.
“We are ecstatic that this ill-founded lawsuit has been dismissed and we look forward to working with Stan again to develop and produce the great projects that were put on hold when the lawsuit was filed,” POW! CEO Shane Duffy said in a statement. “We recently got together with Stan to discuss our path forward and we and Camsing are pleased with his overwhelmingly enthusiastic reaction.”
POW! also said it will deal appropriately, through all legal means, with others who attempt to interfere with Stan’s well-being and his relationship with POW! and to prevent anything like this from happening again.