Stan Lee Wouldn't Be Proud: 5 Comic Book Creators Marvel Failed

Marvel and DC rake in box-office billions while the storytellers who built their universes still fight for fair pay. From Stan Lee to Sara Pichelli, lawsuits, fan backlash, and royalty disputes are forcing a reckoning over who really profits when heroes hit the big screen.

I love these movies as much as anyone, but the way big studios treat the people who actually invent these characters is... not great. Marvel and DC have been circling the same fights for years: who gets paid, who gets credited, and whether billion-dollar box office should mean more than a pat on the back. From Stan Lee to Sara Pichelli, you can find lawsuits, public pressure, and a lot of creators pointing out the gap between what their work earns and what they see. Here are five Marvel cases that still sting, laid out without the corporate gloss.

1. Bill Mantlo (co-creator of Rocket Raccoon)

   Rocket Raccoon went from deep-cut comics oddity to the scene-stealing trash panda who keeps trying to steal Bucky’s arm. Bill Mantlo helped build that character during nearly two decades at Marvel. Then life took a brutal left turn: in 1992, while Mantlo was skating, a driver shot around a corner, Mantlo smashed into the windshield, then the pavement, and emergency responders rushed him to the hospital. According to his brother, Mantlo spent decades in intensive care with his family carrying the load.

   Marvel did eventually negotiate a substantial compensation package to use Mantlo’s characters. Per his brother, that money finally let Bill leave the institution he had lived in since 1995 and receive in-home care for the rest of his life. The timing? It lined up with the Guardians of the Galaxy movie hitting in 2014. After fans made noise and the spotlight got bright, Marvel cut a deal. Helpful, yes. Also a little damning that it took a blockbuster to get there.

   For the paper-trail folks: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) was directed by James Gunn, starred Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and Dave Bautista, opened August 1, 2014, pulled an 8/10 on IMDb and 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, grossed $773.4 million worldwide, was produced by Marvel Studios, and is streaming on Disney+.

2. Ed Brubaker (creator of the Winter Soldier)

   Ed Brubaker is the reason Bucky Barnes didn’t stay dead. He turned Captain America’s kid sidekick into the brainwashed assassin who became Steve Rogers’ worst nightmare… and then a hero again. Massive storyline. Massive character. Not matched by massive checks.

   'For the most part, all Steve and I have got for creating the Winter Soldier and his storyline is a thanks here or there, and over the years that’s become harder and harder to live with.'

   Brubaker said that in his newsletter (as highlighted by The Guardian). Another Marvel creator, speaking anonymously, described the standard reality: a $5,000 payment and a thank-you note even when the movie makes a billion dollars, plus pressure to sign a 'special character contract' that was 'really, really terrible' because it was basically that or nothing. The math doesn’t add up for the people who made the toys everyone else is selling.

   If you’re connecting dots: Captain America: Civil War (2016) was directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, starred Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., and Scarlett Johansson, opened May 6, 2016, scored 7.8/10 on IMDb and 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, made $1.1 billion worldwide, was produced by Marvel Studios, and is on Disney+.

3. Jim Starlin (creator of Thanos, Drax, and Gamora)

   Jim Starlin gave Marvel its biggest big bad and two Guardians fan favorites. Thanos is basically the highest-grossing villain in movie history. You would assume the person who imagined him got paid accordingly. You would be wrong.

   'Just received a very big check from DC Entertainment for my participation in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Anatoli Knyazev)... much bigger than anything I’ve gotten for Thanos, Gamora, and Drax showing up in any of the various Marvel movies they appeared in, combined.'

   After Starlin went public about that DC payout (yes, for a DC movie using a DC character he created), Marvel renegotiated. He later said he gets a 'taste' now — not nothing, not life-changing. In his words, he wasn’t about to become the next Bill Gates.

   Context check: Avengers: Endgame (2019) — the Thanos finale — was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, starred Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Mark Ruffalo, opened April 26, 2019, holds an 8.4/10 on IMDb and 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, grossed $2.7 billion worldwide, was produced by Marvel Studios, and is streaming on Disney+.

4. Steve Ditko (co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange)

   Spider-Man is one of the most famous characters on Earth. Steve Ditko co-created him with Stan Lee and also created Doctor Strange. Ditko, fiercely principled and famously private, walked away from Marvel in 1966 over internal disputes. He reportedly turned down what he saw as 'mercy checks' — to him, he’d been paid for work-for-hire and didn’t want charity. He lived modestly, mostly in a small studio apartment, and died at 90.

   In 2021, his estate filed a notice to reclaim rights to Spider-Man. Marvel countersued to stop that from happening. That ongoing tug-of-war tells you a lot about how far the company will go to keep its crown jewel locked down.

   Meanwhile, the webhead’s biggest movie yet: Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) was directed by Jon Watts, starred Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Benedict Cumberbatch, opened December 17, 2021, sits at 8.2/10 on IMDb and 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, made $1.9 billion worldwide, was produced by Marvel Studios, and is on Disney+.

5. Jack Kirby (co-creator of the Avengers, X-Men, and so much more)

   Jack Kirby isn’t just important to Marvel — he’s foundational. He co-created an absurd number of the characters driving the MCU. And he spent much of his career fighting for credit and fair pay. Kirby left Marvel in the 1970s, fed up with how little recognition and money he saw relative to his impact.

   He died in 1994 while still locked in a legal battle with the company. Kirby wanted his thousands of pages of designs and ideas back; Marvel wanted any future royalties waived. He never lived to see how enormous his creations would become. In 2014, before the dispute could reach the Supreme Court, Marvel and the Kirby estate settled. The terms were not disclosed.

   The machine Kirby helped invent hit another gear with The Avengers (2012), directed by Joss Whedon, starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson. It opened May 4, 2012, has an 8/10 on IMDb and 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, earned $1.5 billion worldwide, was produced by Marvel Studios, and is on Disney+.

None of this is a shock if you follow the business side, but it still lands with a thud: the people who dream up our favorite characters often get the smallest slice. If the industry is serious about creator respect, the fixes are obvious — better contracts, fair credit, and royalties that reflect reality — they just need the will to do it.