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ARTICLE · 21 JULY 2025

Up, Up, And Litigated: Superman's 87-Year Copyright War

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Superman has soared back onto the big screen, and unless you've been locked in the Fortress of Solitude, you already know his origin story: Rocketed from the doomed planet Krypton.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Puya Partow-Navid
Puya Partow-Navid
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Superman has soared back onto the big screen, and unless you've been locked in the Fortress of Solitude, you already know his origin story: Rocketed from the doomed planet Krypton. Raised in Kansas. Secretly, a mild-mannered reporter. Publicly, the world's greatest hero.

But behind the scenes, in the real world, Superman has another origin story. One filled not with General Zod or Brainiac, but with contracts, copyright law, and a battle for ownership that has spanned generations.

Writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster created Superman in the 1930s. In 1938, Siegel and Shuster sold the rights to Superman to what would become DC Comics. The price? A one-time payment of $130.

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