Stan Lee's former manager has pleaded not guilty to charges of elder abuse against the Marvel Comics legend.

Keya Morgan is accused of stealing more than $100,000 in goods and property from the superhero creator, whose estate was worth an estimated $50m (£39m).

The New York-based memorabilia collector also faces five counts of elder abuse, including false imprisonment, fraud and forgery. He denies all of the charges.

Lee, the co-creator of Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Hulk and dozens of other Marvel superheroes, died last November at age 95.

Mr Morgan, who was also Lee's caregiver, began working for him in February 2018 following the death a few months earlier of his wife of 70 years, Joan.

Stan Lee: The life and times of the most legendary man in comics Show all 11 1 /11 Stan Lee: The life and times of the most legendary man in comics Stan Lee: The life and times of the most legendary man in comics 1930 Stan’s humble bicycle was, in his mind, a “twowheeled spaceship” that flew him across the universe that was New York City Courtesy Stan Lee Stan Lee: The life and times of the most legendary man in comics 1942 One of the strangest of Stan’s early creations was “The Imp,” running five installments in mid-1942 issues of Captain America Comics . Speaking completely in rhyme, the Imp was a tiny crime fighter inhabiting a fantasy world beautifully illustrated by Chad Grothkopf Marvel Entertainment Stan Lee: The life and times of the most legendary man in comics 1936 Stan lounging on the hood of his 1936 Plymouth sedan, his first car. After enlisting in the US Army in 1942, Stan was tasked with writing instructional manuals, slogans, and scripts for training films as a member of the Signal Corps Courtesy Stan Lee Stan Lee: The life and times of the most legendary man in comics 1950s In the early 1950s, Stan penned a poem to his secretary, Bonnie Hano, to keep up her morale in the face of the formidable Atlas Comics onslaught — the company would later become Marvel Comics. “Some months we were doing 40, 50 books . . . My Romance, Her Romance, Their Romance . . . Two-Gun Kid, Texas Kid, Rawhide Kid, every other kind of ‘Kid.’ In those days I was just grinding out stuff.” — Stan Lee Courtesy Stan Lee Stan Lee: The life and times of the most legendary man in comics 1962 Very few pages of original art from the early Marvel era have been uncovered. In 2008, an anonymous donor contributed the original artwork to Amazing Fantasy No. 15 (where Spider-Man made his iconic debut) to the Library of Congress. A close study of these pages offers clues to the important collaboration between Stan and Steve Ditko as seen here in Stan's production notes to the artist Marvel Entertainment Stan Lee: The life and times of the most legendary man in comics Stan and Joan take a joyride with the top down. Things at Marvel were looking ever more secure and the future looked inviting out on the horizon Courtesy Stan Lee and 1821 Media Stan Lee: The life and times of the most legendary man in comics 1963 The first issue of The X-Men (September 1963), with a cover by Jack Kirby and Sol Brodsky. The initial title for the series, The Mutants, was rejected by publisher Martin Goodman, so Stan went back to the drawing board saying: "...an extra power, extra ability, some extra facet or quality denied a normal man. The word extra was the key. Mutants are, in a sense, people with something extra." Thus The X-Men were born Marvel Entertainment Stan Lee: The life and times of the most legendary man in comics 1968 Stan surrounded by some of the most popular Marvel comics. The first half of 1968 saw the company expand to an astonishing 19 ongoing titles. Marvel was no longer a comics publisher “on the move”...it had arrived Marvel Entertainment Stan Lee: The life and times of the most legendary man in comics Stan was a man in demand, appearing on TV shows (Tomorrow with Tom Snyder, The Dick Cavett Show, and To Tell the Truth, among others), college campuses, and many radio programs. He had achieved celebrity alongside his creations Courtesy Stan Lee and 1821 Media/Paris Kasidokostas Latsis and Terry Dougas Stan Lee: The life and times of the most legendary man in comics 2006 Stan Lee Meets the Amazing Spider-Man No. 1, November 2006. Back when Stan wrote Amazing Fantasy No. 15 and Fantastic Four No. 1, little could he have realised that these books would commit him to the field for life — and the images would become two of the most famous in all of popular culture. Tributes to the immense contribution of both men are legion, but few express it graphically like the array of homages those covers have inspired Marvel Entertainment Stan Lee: The life and times of the most legendary man in comics The Stan Lee Story is a Collector’s Edition of 1,000 numbered copies, each signed by Stan Lee, printed on archival paper and presented in an acrylic slipcase. The cover features John Romita Sr.'s 1977 homage to the co-creator of Spider-Man. The Stan Lee Story Edition of 1,000 Stan Lee, Roy Thomas Hardcover in acrylic slipcase, 31.5 x 47 cm, 444 pages Courtesy Taschen

The 43-year-old was arrested in Arizona last month and is bail was set at $300,000 (£236,000).

Los Angeles police said in a statement last month that in June 2018, Mr Morgan removed Lee from his Hollywood Hills home late at night and took him to an apartment in Beverly Hills in a bid to convince the comic book creator that he was in danger.

Lee's family obtained a restraining order against Mr Morgan after the incident.

The court documents filed in support said Lee's sight and hearing was failing, his judgment was impaired and he was unable to resist "undue influence."

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Police also accused Mr Morgan of pocketing more than $262,000 (£206,000) from autograph signing sessions Lee did in May 2018.

After his arrest Mr Morgan's attorney Alex Kessel said he had never abused or taken advantage of Lee.