Kirby’s Estate Wants Their Rights Back

Jack Kirby, co-creator of such comic book creations like the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Captain America, is coming back for copyright vengeance. Well, at least his estate is. The estate of Jack Kirby is going straight for the jugular, as BleedingCool has more:

[The Kirby Estate] has sent notices terminating copyright to publishers Marvel and Disney, as well as film studios that have made movies and TV shows based on characters he created or co-created, including Sony, Universal, 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. Just as the Jerry Siegel estate has done so with rights to Superman, so Kirby’s estate is looking to regain his share of copyright in the characters and their use in comics and other media.

What does this mean in the world of comics? If the lawsuit is successful, it would hit starting from 2014 and, as always, its worth noting that Marvel/Disney will still own the trademarks of the characters in comics, and the studios in movies. The likelihood is that, if successful, the Kirby estate would enter into negotiation with Marvel over terms to continue publishing comics based on his work.

We’ll keep you updated on the latest of this comic book battle as it progresses on.