In May 2018, Lee filed a $1 billion lawsuit with the Los Angeles Superior Court against POW! Entertainment for “stealing” the rights to his name and likeness, among other complaints. The lawsuit named CEO Shane Duffy, as well as the other co-founder of the company, Gill Champion, stating that both parties “conspired and agreed to broker a sham deal to sell POW! to a company in China and fraudulently steal Stan Lee's identity, name, image, and likeness as part of a nefarious scheme to benefit financially at Lee's expense.” In addition, the lawsuit claimed that the defendants had obtained Lee’s signature illegally in order to obtain “the exclusive right to use Lee's name, identity, image and likeness on a worldwide basis in perpetuity,” against the wishes of Lee, among several other complaints detailed in the suit. In July, 2018, Lee dropped the lawsuit against POW!