Saturday, May 28, 2011

Legal troubles threaten to divide Superman franchise...


This is both old and new news to hear about, and it will certainly affect the future of Superman in a big way.

As was reported by Variety, Slash Film, and Screen Rant, the ongoing legal battle between DC Comics and the estates of Superman's creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, may reach a point where both parties may have to split and retain certain rights and key elements to the character. What that basically means is that if things do not work out and both parties do not mutually agree to something, we may see the division of Superman entirely. He won't be wearing the iconic red, blue, and yellow costume everyone knew and grew up with due to copyright issues, and his origins may have to be changed somewhat, at least in the case of DC Universe that is. The phrase "Leaping Tall Buildings In A Single Bound" was coined by the creators, so that will go along with the costume baggage should a separation take place.

In essence, if all of this comes to pass where the respective rights revert back to their creators in 2013 (a year after Zack Snyder's Superman movie "Man of Steel" shows) we may see the birth of two distinctly different versions of "Superman". The Siegel and Shuster's estates own pretty much what makes up the original Superman when he debuted in the pages of Action Comics in 1938. DC still owns international rights, flying, and the villains attached to the character, so there may not be any obvious changes for the modern incarnation at least. However, anything new conjured up will set up grounds for another case again, and it limits both parties from exploring the alter ego of Kal-El/ Clark Kent in many other ways. For more on the story, you can visit Variety, Slash Film, or Screen Rant!

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