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Thursday
13Aug2009

DC Comics to Lose Superman Movie Rights in 2013

DateThursday, August 13, 2009 at 11:09PM
And that could be it for Superman for the time being, and I can't say it bothers me one bit. Because of lingering legal issues between Warner Bros. and DC Comics and the estate of Superman creator Jerry Siegel, the rights to the world's most famous comic book character have been up in the air for several months. Now, though, a federal judge has ruled in favor of Siegel, thereby silencing whatever the hell DC wants to do with the character for the time being.

It's one of those really significant rulings that wouldn't appear that way at first. The Siegels have "successfully recaptured" rights to a lot of very old Superman materials, including the first two weeks of comic strips and the earliest Atomic Comics stories.

What difference does that make? Well, by owning those rights, the Siegels control the entire Superman origin story, and that's pretty significant. Last year's ruling indicated that the Siegels had actually been in legal possession of the rights to the logo, the costume, Clark Kent, and other parts of Metropolis since 1999. That decision forced DC and Warner (sister companies in the Time-Warner corporation) to pay the Siegels retroactively to a decade ago.

Here's where it gets tricky, though: DC owns the rights to such things as Superman's ability to fly, Kryptonite, Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olsen, and a few other things that developed after Siegel had passed on the character to other owners.

If you're DC, you can still make a movie based on the Man of Steel through 2011. As of 2013, though, the rights to the Superman origin story and Clark Kent and the cape will revert back to the Siegels and co-author Joe Schuster. After that? Who knows. So if there's no movie now, there won't be one for a long time.

Of course, I don't believe that's a bad thing. Superman doesn't seem to have the kind of impact in down times, when audiences feel more kinship with darker heroes like Batman. That cycle is always fluid, though, and Superman will be back. Someday.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment2 Comments |

Reader Comments (2)

I'm rather surprised and perhaps I shouldn't be but this seems like something that could've been easily squared away. One would think that DC would want to have Superman lock, stock and barrel. After so much money that they've made from the character how could they not secure the rights and give the Siegels their just due? The obvious answer is probably greed but with so much money generated there's little point in being stingy with it. Had things been done fairly from the start this wouldn't even be an issue but I guess that's too much to ask.

Friday, August 14, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAsana

I'm sad that there won't be a new Superman movie soon. That last one was such a disapointment, that they need to make a new to make up for "Superman Returns". He was too much of a stalker in that. I mean seriously, following Lois home and x-raying her to to watch and eavesdrop on her?!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMike

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