'Superman' faces an 'attempt' to clip its wings

James Gunn's Superman may find turbulence while flying as a lawsuit called to halt its release in scores of countries.

The co-creator of the Man of Steel's character, Joseph Schuster's estate executor, Joseph Schuster, has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery/DC Studios/DC Comics in Federal Court in the Southern District of New York.

He claimed that the studio lacks the rights to release the DCU reboot in territories, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia.

Deadline reported that the estate is seeking "damages and injunctive relief for Defendants' ongoing infringement."

It stated that Superman's character and story's makers had given the rights to DC's predecessor in 1938, and the copyright laws of countries with the British legal tradition contain "provisions automatically terminating such assignments 25 years after an author's death, vesting in the Shuster Estate the co-author's undivided copyright interest in such countries."

"Shuster died in 1992 and Siegel in 1996. By operation of law, Shuster's foreign copyrights automatically reverted to his estate in 2017 in most of these territories (and in 2021 in Canada)," the lawsuit continued.

"Yet Defendants continue to exploit Superman across these jurisdictions without the Shuster Estate's authorization—including in motion pictures, television series, and merchandise—in direct contravention of these countries' copyright laws, which require the consent of all joint copyright owners to do so," it noted.

"As a direct and proximate result of Defendants' infringement of the Work's copyrights and exclusive rights, Plaintiff has been injured in an amount to be determined at trial, inclusive of Plaintiff's actual damages and Defendants' profits," it concluded by asking a jury trial.

"We fundamentally disagree with the merits of the lawsuit and will vigorously defend our rights," WBD responded.

In the meantime, Superman will fly in theatres on July 11.