Joan Celia Lee, the daughter of the beloved Stan Lee, has weighed in on Disney and Sony's spat over Spider-Man film rights.
"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," Lee told TMZ. "Whether it's Sony or someone else, the continued evolution of Stan's characters and his legacy deserves multiple points of view."
Lee went on to say that, after her father died, no one from Disney or Marvel reached out to her. "No one could have treated my father worse than Marvel and Disney executives," she said.
Lee herself was accused of inflicting both physical and psychological abuse upon her father, as well as her mother, Joan Lee, prior to their deaths. An April 2018 report detailed allegations that J.C. Lee committed elder abuse, where J.C. grabbed her mother's arm and threw her against a window. It also claimed J.C. took her father's head and smashed it into the wooden back of the chair he was sitting on, an accusation accompanied by photographic evidence. Former caregivers also noted in the report that J.C. Lee would repeatedly call her father throughout the day to berate him and ask for more money.
Lee's comments come as negotiations between Marvel and Sony regarding Spider-Man's future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have collapsed. Disney reportedly asked for a 50/50 co-financing arrangement for all future Spider-Man movies, an offer Sony declined. Sony, on the other hand, is blaming Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige's busy work schedule, though there are also reports that negotiations between the two studios are ongoing.
Stan Lee is the co-creator of Spider-Man and has cameoed almost every one of the wall-crawler's big screen adaptions, with the exception of Spider-Man: Far From Home.