'Spider-Man' Creator in Sticky Legal Situation

Stan Lee -- who created some of the most popular comic book characters in history -- has just been drawn into a nasty lawsuit ... and now he's gonna have to suit up against some of the most powerful lawyers on Planet Earth.

Lee is being sued by lawyers from the firm of Lavely & Singer -- who claim since 2007, the "Spider-Man" and "X-Men" creator has been refusing to pay them for a bunch of legal work they were doing for him.

The lawsuit, penned by the imaginative layers from L & S, starts off like this: "Similar to the flawed comic book super-heros he created, Stan Lee has demonstrated his own flaws by his failure to honor his agreements."