the Superboy lawsuit

[jadegiant77]

Ok if anyone in their right mind thinks that Warner Bros. and their army of lawyers is going to loose the rights to Superboy to the Siegels, think again! I hope they just settle this crap outta court and give them some royalty checks or something. If the Siegels do win, will they have sole ownership of the character?

[DonC]

The Siegel and Shuster familes have won. The case is on appeal.

And yes, to the best of my knowledge, they would have sole ownership of the character. They would, I'm sure license or sell the rights to a comic company, though.

[Beast]

Which is why Superboy in the upcoming 'Legion of Super-Heroes' Animated series is being called Young Superman instead. It's likely also why Superboy was killed at the end of Infinite Crisis.

[Ontir]

The question is, would they license "Superboy" to DC, or to someone else?

[Beast]

Originally Posted by Ontir

The question is, would they license "Superboy" to DC, or to someone else?

It would be amusing if Marvel licensed it. :D

[Buried Alien]

I hope Siegel and Shuster's estates decide to license Superboy back to DC. The idea of a DCU without a Superboy...or Superboy published by a different comics company...just seems *wrong* somehow.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[shaxper]

If they sold Superboy to another company, wouldn't they pretty much have to change everything except the name? Otherwise, the costume, identity, supporting cast, and backstory would steal from the Superman property (still owned by DC).

[chrismileslord]

if they sold superboy...they would have to change everything..like shaxper said, so even if he had the name, would it matter anyway? It would be a completely different character..

[elheffe]

Originally Posted by jadegiant77

I hope they just settle this crap outta court and give them some royalty checks or something.

Well let's see: creating a character that's reaped millions maybe billions of dollars for a huge corporation; yeah, a few royalty checks should cover it.

[Ronnigon]

Which is why Superboy in the upcoming 'Legion of Super-Heroes' Animated series is being called Young Superman instead. It's likely also why Superboy was killed at the end of Infinite Crisis.

How utterly hilarious.

The entire ridiculous bowel movement that was Infinite Crisis, was nothing more than a financing dodge, to avoid having to pay the Siegels for use of their own character.

:D How appropriately nauseating.

[dancj]

Originally Posted by Beast

Which is why Superboy in the upcoming 'Legion of Super-Heroes' Animated series is being called Young Superman instead. It's likely also why Superboy was killed at the end of Infinite Crisis.

I was under the impression that the judge had rules that Clark in Smallville was actually Superboy (though he never uses the name or wears a costume) and that he was therefore covered by this too. If that's the case I can't imagine calling him Young Superman will get him out of it

[MythicBrawn]

I saw the ad for the Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon and thought it odd that he was being called Superman. Now, I know why. They should just call him Kal. It certainly sounds better than Young Superman.

[aukevin]

I wonder what ramifications will arise for characters like Lana Lang who was first introduced in a Superboy comic?

[Effect]

Originally Posted by aukevin

I wonder what ramifications will arise for characters like Lana Lang who was first introduced in a Superboy comic?

I hadn't even considered that. If their claim on Superboy (which is rightfully theirs I feel) gives them control of ther Superboy name, does this extend to other characters created by Siegel and Shuster when Superboy was created?

Also why would everything but the name Superboy have to be changed? I figured when designing and creating a character that the the foundation of the character (who he is and where he comes from) is covered in the creation and there fore apart of it. If that's the case, then there really is nothing stopping whoever they licenese the rights out to from using the whole Krypton, etc material is there as long as it's directly related to the Superboy character. It's part of the character.

[Captain Jim]

Originally Posted by DonC

The Siegel and Shuster familes have won. The case is on appeal.

This may be unpopular to say, and I don't wish the Siegals any ill will, and I certainly do agree that Jerry got shafted... but I find the court's determination that Superboy is an entirely different character than Superman to be ludicrous.

The version of the character that Siegal created was Superman when he was a boy, Clark Kent, rocketed from the doomed planet Krypton. How on earth can you possibly say it's not the same character?