Saturday, February 1, 2025

The Upcoming, "Superman," Movie Has Been Hit with a Rights Lawsuit

There is a big, "Superman," flick on the way. Directed by James Gunn, it is meant to kickstart a new DC film universe that Gunn and Peter Safran are overseeing. This movie has been hit by a lawsuit from the family/heirs of Joe Shuster and have Marc Toberoff representing them. The argument is that certain rights have reverted to the family in some countries/territories and they want to block the flick's release in those locations. This case maybe would fail in court, but as soon as a huge company like Marvel or DC gets even a hint there could be an actual problem they usually settle out of court. Toberoff was the attorney who represented the family of Jack Kirby when they sued Marvel and once it became apparent there was even a 1% chance things could go sideways everyone settled out of court for an undisclosed (but presumably large) amount. 

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman decades ago and depending on who you ask were screwed over and tricked or made a bad deal in good faith upon selling the rights regarding Superman for $130 to the company that became the DC we know today. A lot of time has passed and copyright law is always evolving, so new actions are being taken. Whether this is a case of a family wanting what is fair or greedy children trying to get an easy check can be argued, but I've always been on the side of creators and their families as opposed to megacorporations, myself. The owner of DC (Warner Brothers Discovery) could very well try to get a quick dismissal of this case and if that fails quietly settle out of court to avoid bad press as the date of this new, "Superman," nears.

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