Stan Lee Elder Abuse Lawsuit Against Ex-Manager Settled by Comic Creator’s Daughter

Stan Lee’s daughter, Joan Celia “J.C.” Lee, has settled her elder abuse lawsuit against Max Anderson, her father’s former and longtime manager whom she accused of stealing more than $21 million worth of memorabilia and collectibles, as well as pushing the comic book icon to work extreme hours months before his death.

The settlement comes a week shy of the start date for the trial. As part of the settlement, the deal will go into effect only after specific, undisclosed terms are “satisfied.” J.C. and Anderson did not respond immediately to TheWrap’s request for comment.

“A notice of dismissal with prejudice will be filed within 10 days after the terms of the settlement have been satisfied … on or before July 2025,” the two-page legal document, which TheWrap has obtained, states. The settlement agreement was filed in California’s Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday.

Back in 2019, J.C., who is in charge of her father’s trust, filed a lawsuit against Anderson, claiming the longtime manager swindled Lee, who was in his 80s and 90s at the time, out of his comic book fortune. She stated in the suit that Anderson, who oversaw Stan’s memorabilia bookings, would often have Lee sign off on contracts and agreements that he wasn’t properly able to understand or read due to his age and declining vision. Lee suffered from sever vision degeneration, which J.C. said Anderson was aware of.

Some of the hundreds of pieces of collectibles and memorabilia, which were part of Lee’s Stan Lee Collectibles business, that J.C. said were wrongly taken were Batman creator Bob Kane’s original drawing of the Joker, as well as several props from Marvel projects. She also accused Anderson of stealing $11.1 million worth of profits, $10.2 million in appearance fees and compelling Lee to work extreme hours months before he died in 2018.

Anderson, who also served as a caretaker for the comic creator, reportedly started working for Lee around 2006, and he eventually started running operations for Lee’s comic book convention and public appearances shortly after. Anderson reportedly claimed that he was only paid for this work in the form of autographs on collectible items, which could cost $120 each. Before Lee, 95, died, J.C. stated her father signed an agreement that allowed Anderson to use Lee’s name and likeness infinitely for a dollar, per reports.

In J.C.’s suit, she shared one example of Anderson pocketing nearly all of Lee’s earnings at 2017’s New York Comic-Con, which came out to $800,000 in revenue. From the six-figure payment, she said Anderson kept more than $700,000 despite only being granted a management fee of 10 to 25% as part of his contractual agreement.

“Anyone who loved my father and respected his work should see Max Anderson as we do,” Joan previously told Page Six in a statement. “We believe he is a crook who lied to my father and stole from, and manipulated, him every chance he could. We intend to prove this in court.”

Anderson, who previously denied any mishandling of the creator’s money, left Lee’s team in 2017. Lee died of heart failure in 2018 at the age of 95.

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