Hollywood Horror Stories

After his death, the world learned that Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee was the victim of horrendous abuse – and he was not alone. As William Langley reveals, elder abuse is rife in Hollywood.

- William Langley

Like the superheroes who sprang from his blotter, Stan Lee, the maestro of Marvel Comics, seemed blessed with special powers. Among them was a phenomenal energy that kept him working into his 90s, an irresistible charm that could disarm the toughest of critics, and a laser-like business brain that helped revolutionise Hollywood.

By the time he died last November, aged 95, Stan’s creations – Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men, Black Panther, and The Avengers – had come to dominate the modern cinema box office, and the one-time New York sandwich slicer was a global cult figure.

There was, though, one bunch of not-so-comic adversaries that Stan couldn’t defeat. Shockingly, it included some of the people closest to him. In the months since his death, a wave of allegations of mistreatment, cruelty, and exploitation has washed through Hollywood, appalling his fans and highlighting the perils of growing old in a celebrity culture focused on youth, beauty, and easy money.

“I saw all the vultures, snakes, leeches, jackals and coyotes circle around Stan to grab a piece of his flesh,” says his flamboyant former manager, Keya Morgan. “When you’re at your weakest somebody kicks you, especially when you’re a 95-year-old man.”

But now Morgan, a bowler-hatted former antiques dealer who claims friendship with some of Hollywood’s biggest names, is himself under arrest, accused of falsely imprisoning Stan and embezzling $5 million from his estate. Another close business associate has been charged – grotesquely – with stealing Stan’s blood to sell to souvenir hunters in Las Vegas. Even Stan’s actress daughter, Joan Celia, has been accused of abusing him.