Disney’s Copyright Wars – The Fracas for the Franchises
A number of Marvel Comic writers’ estates have filed suit against Disney to remove several superheroes from the company’s control. Who is suing Disney, and which characters might the company lose? Iron Man, Thor, and Ant-Man are the subject of a lawsuit brought against Disney by Lawrence “Larry” Lieber (Stan Lee’s younger brother) and – in Iron Man’s case – Don Heck’s estate. Black Widow is another character they may lose, with the executors for Don Rico’s and Don Heck’s estates filing against Disney for control of the heroine. Hawkeye and Wonder Man, also co-created by Heck, are among the characters that his inheritor wants back. According to JL Mast, the writer who broke the story, Disney may lose the copyright for the Human Torch as well.
Perhaps the most significant case was brought by Patrick J. Ditko, Steve Ditko’s nephew. He has filed for termination of the rights to Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. If Patrick Ditko wins his case, New Disney could no longer use Spider-Man’s webshooters or have his Aunt May (along with his high school cast of characters) appear in any media going forward. They would also have to stop using the Eye of Agamotto, Wong, the Ancient One, and any other characters or aspects of Strange’s story featured in the comic where he first debuted. Since the company has positioned Tom Holland’s Spider-Man as the heir to Tony Stark’s name, losing the rights to Spider-Man would cost the Disney Corporation more than the exit of the Sorcerer Supreme.
Another important ongoing suit is that brought by Gene Colan’s heirs. Colan helped to create Carol Danvers as well as the Falcon, two characters which Disney planned to use in Phase 4 of the MCU. After investing so much in Brie Larson’s portrayal of Captain Marvel, the corporation is reluctant to let her go. Sam Wilson, too, has been hyped as the next Captain America in cinema. If the Colan estate wins their case, this would negatively impact Woke Disney’s notions for Captain America.
Will the claimants achieve their goal? Some forecasters say no, others wisely caution against too much hope. Disney’s copyright shenanigans – the company is famous for lobbying for the amendments to U.S. copyright law which have allowed them to maintain control of Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney’s other creations – cannot continue unchecked. If the Disney Corporation wins this lawsuit, it will have an adverse effect on copyright law, something Bounding into Comics describes effectively. For that reason, authors and creators with no interest in Marvel ought to watch this battle carefully.
But the most intriguing thing about these suits is the timing. None of the people suing Disney saw fit to do so while Stan Lee was alive. Whether or not one believes he stole credit from his co-creators and passed the characters off as his own, the fact remains that the inheritors or co-creators – including his own brother – did not challenge Disney while Stan Lee lived. The window in copyright law that allows the estates to file for termination only opened recently. Therefore, if these successors were interested in gaining vengeance upon Lee they likely would have signaled their intentions not long after his death. Instead, they waited the requisite time period and have said nothing about Stan’s involvement (or lack thereof) with these characters’ origins.
Disney is also dealing with other legal battles or the fallout from them, which suggests that the estates’ “sudden” actions may not be serendipitous or impulsive. Scarlett Johansson recently settled a legal dispute with Disney for violating her contract for the Black Widow movie. The company released 2021’s Black Widow to streaming services and theaters simultaneously, violating the agreement they made with Johansson, which stated that it would appear in cinemas first. Since Johansson helped produce the movie, she could have lost $50 million dollars on her investment due to its poor performance at the box office.
Over nine years after New Disney purchased Lucasfilm, Alan Dean Foster and other authors who wrote for Star Wars before Disney bought the company have settled with Disney after publicly calling on the corporation to continue paying them the royalties for their novels. And in April of 2021 the creators of Predator filed to terminate Disney’s rights to that franchise. Though their first three suits have been contested, Disney has not countered their fourth suit which may mean the writers will regain their copyrights in 2023. The corporation apparently has no issue releasing the copyrights by that time, only at a date prior to it.
Despite these legal battles, Disney appears to have the financial advantage, particularly with the recent settlements. However, that image of strength could very well be fragile. Their sequel to the Star Wars trilogy has all but killed the franchise; merchandise related to the New Disney trilogy has not sold well, and the revelation that the company was not paying authors of Star Wars novels has damaged Disney’s reputation among fans of the franchise. Solo: A Star Wars Story was the first entry in the franchise to flop; it cost Disney more to make it than it returned.
Marvel’s comic book sales are dismal, practically putting it in a death spiral. The corporation’s decisions regarding Marvel have largely accelerated its decline as well. The animated series are not doing much better. The quality of storytelling diminished throughout the MCU’s Phase 3; an issue that has made Phase 4 even less appealing to audiences.
Couple the lavish “live action” remakes of classic Disney films – some of which have also been poorly received – with these other issues and one has to wonder just how much liquidity Disney actually has to work with. The amount of money spent by the company to film streaming series such as Loki is jaw-dropping. Given current forecasts, they may not be earning it back. The same can be said of other series made for Disney+, the company’s streaming service. Many people sign up for the free trial to watch a show they like, then abandon the platform when the season ends. Thus, it appears Disney is losing money faster than it can earn it.
Finally, there is the international component to Disney’s potentially precarious position. All of America’s entertainment media, including New Disney, have invested heavily in China, the largest entertainment market on the planet. That seemingly bottomless consumer market has its own problems. The PRC’s real estate market, representing over one-third of its economy, is circling the drain. In addition, Western nations and companies are pulling out of the People’s Republic due to the events of 2020 and 2021. All this compounds China’s troubles which began in 2020 when natural disasters struck the country repeatedly. It may not be a matter of if China will collapse but when it will fold in on itself.
This coming PRC crash will have an impact on the U.S., particularly the entertainment industry. China has investments in many American businesses, including the NBA, Hollywood, and particularly Disney. The company went out of its way to cut footage of the Uyghur concentration camps from the live action Mulan remake. Shang-Chi, Disney’s latest Marvel movie, was meant to appeal to the Chinese market. That effort may have been wasted since Shang-Chi may not receive a theatrical release date in China.
The PRC has also banned the trailers for The Eternals from being broadcast on television and may not allow the movie to be released in the country either. Hollywood routinely relies on China to make back the money it loses in domestic releases as the PRC is one of the biggest markets for theatrical showings in the world. If Disney loses the Chinese market, it may be a further blow against its balance sheet.
Given these circumstances, it is possible that the Marvel writers’ lawsuits are not a cash-grab but an attempt to regain valuable items in case Disney fails. They have seen the original writers’ legacies denigrated in favor of Woke ideology, the characters and stories their fathers, uncles, and brothers created twisted beyond recognition to serve a political purpose. With China on the brink of collapse and Disney drunkenly spending money it may not have, Larry Lieber and the other heirs might have decided to regain control over these characters which have proven so valuable before it is too late.
Which outcome is most likely? At present, there is no way to be sure. The worst-case scenario is that Disney will win and U.S. copyright law will be further altered in a manner detrimental to creators. The best case would be that the characters are returned to the original owners who may decide to exploit them commercially – perhaps together or separately. If that happens it would open intriguing job opportunities for writers and artists in the future.
Whichever outcome occurs, writers in the U.S. should watch to see where these cases will lead. The repercussions, good or bad, will doubtless be interesting. They may even be “amazing,” “spectacular,” or “uncanny.”
Only time will tell.