You probably remember Stan Lee with a smile on his face. Meeting fans. Signing comics. Cracking jokes. Even well into his 90s, he never seemed to lose the spark that helped build the Marvel universe. But a new documentary is asking you to look behind those public appearances… and what it claims happened is hard to hear/read.
Stan Lee: The Final Chapter will be released July 28 and look at the comic book icon’s final years before his death in 2018 at the age of 95. The documentary alleges that Lee’s former road manager, Max Anderson, controlled both his personal and financial affairs while mistreating the Marvel legend.
A newly released clip, obtained by Entertainment Weekly, centers on one of Lee’s signing appearances and raises questions about what happened to the money earned that night.
After the event, Lee can be heard asking, “How much money did I make here tonight?”
“Not enough,” Anderson replies. “It’s never enough, Stan.”
The film’s producer, Alex Barajas, who worked with Lee for several years, recalls being asked to count the money collected before handing it over.
“Then I would leave and then whatever happens to the money at that point, none of my business. It’s not my thing to ask.”
The allegations come after Anderson was sentenced last June to one year and one day in prison on tax fraud charges for failing to report $1.2 million earned through his work for Lee.
Lee’s daughter, J.C. Lee, also filed a lawsuit accusing Anderson of stealing more than $21 million from her father. That case was settled last May. Anderson has consistently denied any wrongdoing in his dealings with Lee.
Stan Lee helped transform Marvel Comics from a modest publisher into a global entertainment powerhouse, co-creating iconic characters including Spider-Man and the X-Men. After retiring from Marvel in the 1990s, he remained one of the company’s most recognizable ambassadors, delighting audiences with cameo appearances throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Iron Man in 2008 and continuing through Avengers: Endgame in 2019.
If the documentary’s allegations are true, could Stan Lee: The Final Chapter permanently change how fans remember the final years of one of pop culture’s most beloved creators?
