Marvel Comic Book Artist's Kids Demand Copyright In Brooklyn Fed

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Heirs of the comic book artist who created superheroes Captain Marvel and Falcon accuse Marvel of holding onto valuable copyrights that should belong to them, court records show.

The son and daughter of artist Gene Colan filed Tuesday a counterclaim against Marvel Characters Inc. challenging the company’s ownership of the iconic characters, Brooklyn Federal Court records show.

“Gene Colan worked hand to mouth, at his own premises, using his own instruments and materials, and he thereby bore the entire financial risk of creating the [characters] in question,” the lawsuit states.

“[Marvel] attempts to rewrite history in asserting that the Colan Material was ‘work made for hire’ owned at inception by … alleged predecessors.”

Patch reached out to attorneys representing Colan’s heirs and Marvel Characters Inc. but did not receive immediate responses.

Nanci Solo and Erik Colan, the children of the late artist, are among a group of artists and estate owners who sought this summer to terminate Marvel’s copyright interest in characters that included Spider-Man and Thor, court records show.

The artists made their claim under the Copyright Act, which allows artists to terminate copyright assignments after 35 years has passed if they provide two years’ notice.

Marvel sued the artists in September, filing claims in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Los Angeles federal courts, and demanding the termination notices be ruled invalid, according to records and reports.

Marvel arguing the creators had been workers-for-hire who had already been paid and therefore were not covered under the Copyright Act, according to legal papers.

But Colan’s heirs argue their father was not a worker-for-hire but a freelance artist who was underpaid for his contributions, which included buying materials and creating storylines, the lawsuit states.

They also dispute contributions and writing credits granted to Stan Lee, whom they say accepted credit but did not contribute to the story, legal papers show.

“Authors commonly agreed to one-sided grants, precluding them from sharing in their works’ success,” the lawsuit argues.

“The results were often supremely unfair, as when a work proved to have enduring commercial value but enriched only the publisher.”

Colan’s characters made, and make, comic book history.

His character Falcon, a Harlem man with the ability to fly and control birds, became the first Black mainstream superhero when he appeared in a Captain America comic book in 1969.

Captain Marvel — portrayed recently by Brie Larson in a 2019 film and upcoming sequel — made headlines by successfully outwitting “sexist trolls” who tried to review-bomb her movie, Vox reported at the time.

According to a report from Polygon, Captain Marvel was created to tap into a burgeoning feminist movement and to establish Marvel’s trademark on the name.