DC Claiming ownership of Marvels Machine Man 0

[Ares]

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/dc-comics-have-told-marvel-that-they-own-machine-man/

Earlier this week, we looked at when DC Comics realised that Warner Bros. owned lots of intellectual property they could turn into comics.

Earlier this week, Bleeding Cool took a look at when DC Comics realised that Warner Bros. owned lots of intellectual property that they could turn into comic books. Even though they didn't do a lot of it. But we got Mad Max, Hanna Barbera, Lost Boys and Django Unchained comic books out of it, Just no Dirty Harry, Goonies or Mortal Kombat.

But I did discover that, as part of the journey, DC Comics decided that they owned Marvel's Machine Man character. All because he began as X-51, a character in the Jack Kirby adaptation and continuation of the Stanley Kubrick movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, published by Marvel in the seventies. And because Warner Bros. owns that movie, they also own the comic book and the continuing series.

I also understand that DC Comics has now informed Marvel that they believe that they own Machine Man, and future publication may entail some elaboration manoeuvers in the copyright indicia on Marvel's part in order to comply with various copyright and trademark requirements. And also DC Comics might just reprint the 2001 adaptation by Jack Kirby if they feel so minded…

Jack Kirby wrote and pencilled both the adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the ten-issue series which followed in 1976, and the project was part of the agreement of Kirby's return to Marvel, after working for DC Comics in the Fourth World titles. Kirby incorporated additional dialogue to the adaptation from the Arthur C Clarke novel and an earlier draft of the screenplay.

In issue #8, Kirby introduces Mister Machine, the robot X-51. who gains sentience and thanks to an encounter with a Monolith, takes the name Aaron Stack and tries to hide amongst humanity. When 2001: A Space Odyssey would soon come to an end, but the character was given his own series shortly after, reportedly renamed Machine Man due to a naming conflict with an Ideal Toys robot named Mr. Machine. Subsequently and the character would then appear in the likes of Thor, Iron Man, Machine Man 2020, Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E, NextWAVE and the Iron Man 2020 event.

 

[BigLeagueCHEW]

Both have a Captain Marvel, can't we all just get along 

[Ken Aldred]

Sounds similar to the way Conan gets bounced around from one publisher to another. 

Copyrights and trademarks and licensing.

It'd be good to have a complete Machine Man Omnibus including the early 2001 stories, regardless of who does it.

Edited January 7 by Ken Aldred

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

Typically, licensing agreements stipulate that the owner of the IP retains the rights to any and all characters created for the stories generated for the IP, so it's entirely possible that WB/DC would have a case.

One notable exception to the typical agreement is the Valiant characters, due to Shooter's reationship with the owners of the original Gold Key characters.

[ThothAmon]

I’ve never kept DCs and Marvels in the same boxes. Think crossing the streams in Ghostbusters. 

[Coverless 9.8]

"Good luck!"    

Edited January 9 by Coverless 9.8

[F For Fake]

Whatever it takes to clear the way for an oversized hc collection of Kirby's 2001 stuff, I'm in. I don't care who owns it, just gimme the book.

[rlextherobot]

My understanding is that the rights to the property and the copyright on the material created under that license are distinct. IE, Warners own 2001, but that doesn't confer ownership of the adaptation or the follow-up series. Like, I think Dark Horse had to license their material to Marvel to reprint it and vice versa. 

[Ken Aldred]

On 1/9/2024 at 4:55 PM, rlextherobot said:

My understanding is that the rights to the property and the copyright on the material created under that license are distinct. IE, Warners own 2001, but that doesn't confer ownership of the adaptation or the follow-up series. Like, I think Dark Horse had to license their material to Marvel to reprint it and vice versa. 

That's a potential problem.  There's already a collected edition of the Machine Man series, and I wondered if the 2001 issues would be kept as a separate and very thin volume.