JC Lee, Stan Lee’s Daughter, Sides with Sony in Spidey Feud

Stan Lee’s daughter, JC Lee, seems to be siding with Sony in the Disney/Sony Spider-man feud.  It’s getting messier with each passing day.

On Tuesday we reported that Spider-Man was out of the MCU. It felt final and really depressing. Then by Wednesday, we learned that maybe news broke too soon and negotiations were ongoing. Now here we are on Thursday, and Stan Lee’s daughter, JC Lee, has entered the fray. And she’s siding firmly with Sony with some rather harsh criticism of Disney thrown in.

TMZ was the outlet to break the most recent development, quoting JC Lee as stating the following:

When my father died, no one from Marvel or Disney reached out to me. From day one, they have commoditized my father’s work and never shown him or his legacy any respect or decency.

In the end, no one could have treated my father worse than Marvel and Disney’s executives.

JC Lee is no stranger to negative media attention. Back in April of 2018, she was accused of elder abuse. Things were generally murky in Stan Lee’s final years with accusations of abuse flying all over the place. It’s painful to try to dig through all the stories to determine which are accurate and which may have been made up by one side to tarnish the image of the other, and the accusations aimed at her are particularly hard to read. While I certainly have my own opinion on who did what, it’s complicated so read the reports yourself (if you can put yourself through that) and form your own opinion.

Regardless of her murky past with controversy surrounding her father, these harsh words are certain to have an impact one way or another in the public eye. People who have been siding with Sony will use it to strengthen their argument, while those who side with Disney will likely push back against her narrative. I’m not sure if Disney themselves will make an official comment or ignore it, but the fans who are taking an active part in the current discourse about the whole thing will likely have a lot to say.

However, in Disney’s corner, we have a friend of Stan Lee and notable celebrity geek, Kevin Smith. Smith famously reached out to Stan Lee during the final months of his life as a lifeline during the elder abuse controversy, offering to let him come live with him and to get out of the increasingly bad environment.  No doubt Kevin Smith cares a great deal about Stan Lee, Marvel, and the fate of the characters that have had an impact on so many fans. His opinion carries a lot of weight in this debate as well and, like JC Lee, will likely be used by fans as proof that their side of the argument is the correct one.

In his podcast Fatman Beyond he said the following:

Some people are like, ‘You’re just rooting for one *** corporate Death Star to beat another corporate Death Star,’ and I’m like, look, they’re gonna play funny board room games regardless and shit, big business, I just wanna *** benefit a little bit. I got a little skin in the game. I like these *** movies an awful lot, perhaps an unsafe amount, we’ll see one day, you know what I’m saying? I just like them too much.

I loved what they were doing. They had a great thing *** going on, and some people are like, ‘Disney is being greedy and shit.’ I don’t see it that way. I see it as, they did all the work, they made those movies earn a f**-ton of dough, they got 5% and the toys. They’re coming back to the table, they’re asking for something more.

Of course, many MCU actors have come out against Sony as well but, well, they’re employed by Disney, so what else can truly be expected there?  You can’t bite the hand that feeds you. However, Tom Holland also unfollowed Sony on Instagram and was then promptly unfollowed by the official Spider-man account in return, so there’s that. That could get potentially awkward for him if Sony gets their way and he’s forced into the next couple films separated from the MCU at large due to his contract.

Lines are being drawn in the sand in this debate. Like Kevin Smith, I understand that taking a side in a corporate feud is a bit complicated, but I too have enjoyed what they’ve been producing and have been increasingly slanting toward Disney’s side of the argument.

Which side are you on? Comment below.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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