Estate of ‘Superman’ co-creator sues DC Comics over foreign copyrights to franchise superhero

MANHATTAN (CN) – The executor of the estate of one of the creators of the original “Superman” comics sued DC Comics and its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, on Friday, claiming the DC Universe lacks the copyrights to release an upcoming summer blockbuster in several foreign markets.

Represented by attorney Mark Warren Peary, the family of Superman co-creator Joseph Shuster sued DC Comics in the Southern District of New York, asserting that the assignment of the rights to the Superman story under copyright law in countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia automatically terminated 25 years after Shuster’s death.

“By operation of law, Shuster’s foreign copyrights automatically reverted to his estate in 2017 in most of these territories (and in 2021 in Canada),” Shuster’s estate argued in the complaint.

The 28-page civil complaint seeks to block DC’s use of the Superman superhero character and story in those four countries, including the upcoming “Superman” movie, directed by DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as the eponymous Man of Steel, scheduled to open July 2025.

Shuster, a graphic artist, conceived Superman in 1934 in collaboration with writer Jerome Siegel while working together in New York City for Detective Comics, a predecessor to DC Comics.

According to the complaint, a revised version of Shuster and Siegel’s first Superman comic that later appeared in “Action Comics No. 1*”* in 1938 contained all the essential elements of Superman, which continue to this day, including: “Superman’s origin from the distant planet, his backstory (sent to Earth as an infant in a spaceship by his scientist father), his core physical and mental traits, his mission as a champion of the oppressed to use his great powers to benefit humankind, his secret identity as newspaper reporter Clark Kent, his relationship with other key characters such as the newspaper editor from whom he takes his assignments, and his romantic interest in Lois Lane, who rebuffs Clark as a coward, while romantically inclined toward Superman.”

Shuster died in California on July 30, 1992, the same year that his estate lost its U.S. copyrights to Superman because of an agreement with the comics publisher to pay lifetime pensions to Shuster’s siblings.

The Ninth Court of Appeals affirmed 2-1 in 2017 that the 1992 agreement, as a matter of New York law, superseded the 1938 assignment of copyrights to DC and therefore operated to revoke that assignment and re-grant the Superman copyrights to DC.

The estate does not challenge the termination of those U.S. copyrights but asserts that it has no extraterritorial application to non-U.S. countries where a copyright that has been granted to a third party automatically reverts to the personal representative of the author’s estate 25 years after the death of the author.

The estate claims that since the summer of 2017, the Superman copyrights have appeared in numerous derivative works without its authorization, including but not limited to the blockbuster superhero movies “Justice League,” “Shazam!,” “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” “DC League of Super-Pets,” “Black Adam,” and “The Flash,” in addition to animated films, such as “Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons,” “Legion of Superheroes,” “Justice League: Warworld,” and “Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earth.”

The estate also points to unauthorized use of the Superman copyrights in DC’s live-action television series, such as “Krypton” (2018-2019), “Supergirl” (2015-2021), and “Superman & Lois” (2021-2024); animated television series, such as “My Adventures with Superman” currently streaming on Adult Swim; and video games, such as “Lego-DC Supervillains” (2018), “Justice League: Cosmic Chaos” (2023), “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League” (2024), and “MultiVersus” (2024), in addition to ubiquitous Superman merchandising.A spokesperson for WBD told Courthouse News on Friday: “We fundamentally disagree with the merits of the lawsuit, and will vigorously defend our rights.”

The upcoming “Superman” is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on July 11, 2025. It is set to be the first film of the DC Universe’s “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters” shared storyline.

The 2013 Superman movie “Man of Steel,” directed by Zac Snyder, inaugurated the DC Extended Universe and ultimately made more than $660 million worldwide and over $120 million in domestic video sales.

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