Jack Kirby’s Estate Sues to Regain Copyright Control of Characters Like Iron Man, Thor and the X-Men

BleedingCool.com is reporting that The heirs of Jack Kirby, co-creator of Captain America, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, The Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, The Silver Surfer and Thor and have 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 heirs are looking to regain his share of copyright in the characters and their use in comics and other media. the heirs are using the same lawyers as the Siegels, Toberoff & Associates, who have been fairly successful in their case against DC/Warner so far.

Such claims, if found valid, would begin 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, Kirby heirs would enter into negotiation with Marvel over terms to continue publishing comics based on his work.