Disney sues Marvel creators for retaining character rights

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Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America romances in Endgame

Over the past 13 years, Disney and Marvel have generated a total of $ 22.93 billion in global box office revenue for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And that doesn’t include merchandise, toys, clothing, theme park tickets, and the myriad ways Disney is enjoying MCU characters. Yet while Disney and Marvel rake in billions of dollars, little (if at all) of that money goes to the creators (or their descendants) who invented lucrative characters like Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, Black Widow. , the Winter Soldier, Spider-Man, Falcon, and many more.

Disney is now suing the families of Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Gene Colan and other creators in a preemptive attempt to challenge the copyright termination notices that have been (or will be) submitted by the estates of these creators. In August, Ditko’s estate filed a termination notice on Spider-Man. According to the termination provisions of copyright law, authors or their assigns may reclaim rights once granted to publishers after a set period of time. The record says Marvel is expected to relinquish all rights to Spider-Man in 2023. Disney and Marvel are now facing termination notices from several creators and their heirs, who are seeking compensation for their characters’ lawsuit.

The Disney lawsuit argues that these characters are not eligible for copyright termination given that they were works rented and not owned by the creators themselves. Dan Petrocelli, the lawyer representing Marvel, said in a statement: “As these were works rented and therefore owned by Marvel, we have filed these lawsuits to confirm that the termination notices are invalid and without legal effect. . ” But that doesn’t change the fundamental fact that these characters (and their benefits) wouldn’t exist without the artists who invented them.

This sets up a David vs. Goliath battle between writers and illustrators trying to extract an ounce of equity or compensation from a multibillion-dollar conglomerate. While Disney has an army of lawyers, the costs of ongoing litigation are too high for most creatives. Unfortunately, the precedent is not on their side: in 2012, the heirs of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the men who created Superman, sought to reclaim the copyright to the iconic hero. The case has spent years in litigation, only for the courts to side with DC Comics.

Lawyer Marc Toberoff, who represented Schuster’s estate, currently represents the heirs to the creators of Marvel. He said in a statement: “At the heart of these cases is an anachronistic and highly criticized interpretation of ‘work done for hire’ under the copyright law of 1909 which needs to be rectified,… We have received considerable support from the artistic community. , the old copyright registry, the former trademark commissioner, all guilds (WGA, SAG, DGA), PEN America and 237 artists, including a dozen Pulitzer laureates. The Kirby case made it all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which showed great interest, at which point Disney has settled in. At the time, I was asked if I regretted not fixing the legal injustice to creators – which I did. I replied that there would be other such cases.

Marvel’s battle for creators’ rights continues, with many writers like Ed Brubaker (who created the Winter Soldier) voicing their grievances at seeing little to no money from their successful characters. “There’s nothing stopping anyone at Marvel from seeing how used the Winter Soldier in all of this and calling me and Steve Epting and saying, ‘You know what, we’re going to try to adjust the standard thing to make you feel good about it, ”Brubaker said during an appearance on Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin’s Fatman Beyond podcast.

Many other creators also struggled to gain compensation and recognition, powerless to see the characters they created earn billions of dollars in revenue. If Disney / Marvel loses their case, that doesn’t mean the end of the MCU. It just means that Disney will have to share some of its huge profits with the creators and their families.

“I was offered a [special character contract] it was really, really terrible, but it was either that or nothing, ”said an anonymous Marvel creator in an interview with The Guardian. “And then instead of honoring her, they send a thank you note and say, ‘Here’s money we don’t owe you!’ And that’s five thousand. And you’re like, “The movie made a billion dollars.”

(via The Hollywood Reporter, image: Marvel)

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