BOB GARFIELD: Other enduring comic book heroes that have followed Superman onto the silver screen, Spiderman, the X-Men, Daredevil and The Hulk, all created or co-created by comic book legend Stan Lee. Taken together, they've earned hundreds of millions of dollars for Marvel Comics, and not a little resentment from Stanley himself who didn't appreciate being Jerry Siegeled. Lee sued the company he helped build for a piece of the action. And last month the U.S. District Court ruled that Lee is entitled to ten percent of the profits from Marvel's film and TV productions. Marvel plans to appeal. Last Wednesday Lee spoke with Bob Simon of "60 Minutes" about the lawsuit and about his relationship with Marvel where after six long decades with the company he remains Chairman Emeritus.

STAN LEE: Don't forget, I've written about superheroes all my life, and they're the good guys. And they always do the right things. And I always thought our company is the good company, and we always did the right thing. And we always tried to treat the artists and the writers and the editors well. And suddenly I felt I wasn't being treated well. And it really hurt.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: That was Stan Lee last Wednesday. We last spoke to him two years ago in a happier mood after Marvel came up with a new back story for one of his most durable characters, The Thing, one of the fantastic four. As Lee wrote it, The Thing was born Benjamin Jacob Grim, working his way through life in New York City's Lower East Side before the encounter with cosmic rays that transformed him onto an ugly but lovably heroic piece of rock. Though The Thing has been part of the Marvel Comics' universe since 1961, it was not until August 2002 that we learned he was--Jewish, quite a surprise for us. But Lee said it was news to him too.

STAN LEE: I wanted to write four superheroes. One was a girl, one was a handsome guy, one was a teenager, and I wanted the fourth one to be something different. I never thought for a minute what their religions were. [LAUGHS]

BOB GARFIELD: But now that we think about it, it suddenly all makes sense. [SOUND EFFECTS: SHOOTING, MUSIC UP AND UNDER]

ANNOUNCER: The Fantastic Four, starring Reed Richards, Sue Richards, Johnny Storm, Ben Grimm. [MUSIC, SOUND OF SIRENS] Reed Richards with his power to stretch, The Thing with the strength of a thousand men! Johnny, flame on, Torch! And Sue, the invisible girl! The Fantastic Four, united in their fight against interplanetary evil. [SOUND OF BOILING, BUBBLING CAULDRON] Fantastic! [MUSIC UP AND UNDER, SOUND OF EXPLOSIONS]

ANNOUNCER:As Galacticas hatches a plot to enslave the universe, Ben Grimm, The Thing, stirs from his slumber. He can feel the force of evil vibrating in his granite musculature. And he is getting a message, from far away. [TINKLING OF PIANO KEYS UP AND UNDER]

BENJAMIN'S MOTHER: Benny? Benjamin, it's your mother.

BEN GRIMM, THE THING: Impossible, you died when I was a child. I was raised by Uncle Jake and Aunt Petunia.

BENJAMIN'S MOTHER: Excuse me. You took a rocket into deep space and got yourself transformed by cosmic radiation into a fakakta metamorphic mesomorph, and you don't think your own mother can talk to you from beyond? And by the way, you look a little jaundiced. Have you been eating leafy vegetables?

BEN GRIMM, THE THING: Ma, I'm a mutant. I'm orange.

BENJAMIN'S MOTHER: Listen to the bigshot talk to his mother. Mr. Superhero with a shiksa girlfriend. To the Mole Man you wouldn't take this tone, or Dr. Doom who, by the way, has made something of himself. I always told you, podiatry, it's a gold mine!

BEN GRIMM, THE THING: Mmm-Mom, I got to go. Galacticus is just wreaking havoc on the universe, and it's--clobbering time.

BENJAMIN'S MOTHER: All right, doll. Bundle up. [SUPERHERO MUSIC, UP AND UNDER]

BOB GARFIELD: That's it for this week's show. On the Media was produced by Megan Ryan, Tony Field, Jamie York, Mike Vuolo and Anne Kosseff, and edited -- by Brooke. Dylan Keefe is our technical director and Jennifer Munson our engineer. We had help from Arun Rath, Susanna Dilliplane and Nicholas Gilewicz. Our webmaster is Amy Pearl. [MUSIC OUT]

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Katya Rogers is our senior producer and Dean Capello our executive producer. Bassist/composer Ben Allison wrote our theme. This is On the Media, produced by WNYC. I'm Brooke Gladstone.

BOB GARFIELD: And I'm Bob Garfield.