I'm already in line to take over Wahoo Comics when The Wahoo's copyright expires. Think of all the great matchups we can make happen: Superman vs. The Wahoo, Steamboat Willie vs. The Wahoo, and, of course, Yoo-hoo vs. The Wahoo where we see how much chocolate milk The Wahoo can drink in under three minutes.
Superman, batman and wonder woman's copyrights are expiring. But, Their trademark isn't. So, no Symbols. No Batmobile. No Bat gadgets. No Lex Luther. Those are also trademarked. You probably couldn't even name them batman and superman. So, pretty much the only thing going into the public domain is the art.
From what I understand, trademarks cannot be used to claim exclusive rights to the underlying public domain material. But, trademarks can be used to keep certain aspects of characters from being used until they also enter the public domain and can also keep someone from trying to pass off their own work as if it is from DC: gizmodo.com/dc-comics-public-domain-batman-superman-wonder-woman-wb-1851177451
Copyrights and trademarks are two different things. None of your predictions are likely. WB may be a poorly run company, but the bat-lawyers will keep the Dark Knight locked down forever.
Certainly the bat-lawyers are going to be out in full force, but if Disney could not keep Mickey Mouse locked down, then it's hard for me to imagine that WB will have much more success. And, although trademarks can keep certain aspects of a character under control until they come into the public domain and can keep a company from presenting their take on a character as if it came from DC, they cannot be used to claim exclusive rights over characters in the public domain. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Fun speculation, I love your ideas. I'll go with strange route for a 1,000 Alec. DAILY DOUBLE! Question, after all these years, what happens after superheroes fall into the public domain? Answer: What is they receive an extremely woke refresh and are now referred to as Super-they, Bat-nonbinary and Wonder-Transgender? Good Collecting 👍👍💗💗
I'm sure lawyers for DC are hard at work. lol Great topic and thoughts on the topic. I think it could lend to some fresh content and takes on these characters.
DC is definitely is a more precarious spot than Marvel because all their characters are so much older, and for the most part, DC doesnt have many good characters out of the golden age. Ive been saying this for a long time, DC has desperately been needing to create new characters that people care about. Half of their catalogue is Batman. Where Marvel has so many more titles and plenty of newer characters (Miles, America, Kamala, etc) that they can later on shift focus to when that time ultimate comes for the silver age. It will be interesting to see what Marvel does with Batman. Wouldn't it be wild to have Batman as part of the Avengers? But I think Im ultimately more interested in what indie creators will do with Batman. And I think that is what DC should really be scared of. With so many people bringing new unfiltered ideas to the character, how long will it take for someone to come up with a interesting new life on the character that people really enjoy? I think the big issue is what is seen as the "true Batman" in the eyes of the public. If DC can keep it, which I think they have a good shot of considering so many of his associated characters will take a bit longer to go into public domain, then that will be good for them. But What happens when everyone's favorite Batman is from an indie author?
I wholeheartedly agree with all of this. If Homelander and Omin-Man were "Superman", would they be the "true Superman" in the eyes of the public? If so, and I think there is a good chance the could be, then the "true Batman" could definitely come from an Indie creator.
Same here, looking forward to see what indie creators do. Although I think DC will find ways to make it hard for them. If they are clever, they should embrace it, and explore some avenues for collaboration and profit-sharing. They would still have a lot of leverage in terms of relationships with distributors, and of course in adapting stories for the screen.
This is insane! I'd like to see Iron Man and Batman go at it. I really feel updates will be made and DC will protect themselves as much as possible. Great speculation! 👊
Thanks! And, a Batman and Iron Man battle would be sweet. It's going to be interesting to see how much DC is able to protect themselves. Thanks for watching and commenting!
The Batman that would enter the public domain would be very different from the one of today: his name would be “Bat-Man”, he would use guns, and there would be no Alfred. Same with Superman: his name would be Kal-L instead of Kal-El, he would work at the Daily Star, and his powers would be innate instead of solar based but he wouldn’t be able to fly! I guess Wonder Woman would remain largely the same. At least no daughter of Zeus origin this time around.
Yep, it will be very limited versions of the characters at first (until the updated versions come into public domain). At least Superman will still be faster than a locomotive!
DC will be just fine. We have 10 batman's now and 10 superman's and 12 wonder woman's. The only ones effected are the originals. They just really kill those off and boom. Problem solved.
Good point. It'll be interesting to see if DC moves further away from (or kills off!) Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent and Diana Prince in order to further embrace other holders of their mantles who are still under copyright.
kill off bruce wayne and clark kent. Problem solved? really? that’s it? what’s next just change peter parker tomorrow to sally williams. You think people would be ok with this lol no way.
Yep, great point. So, the public domain will certainly hurt Marvel as well. Personally, I don't think they'll get as dinged as DC until at least 20+ years later when their biggest characters like Spider-man start entering it, but who knows for sure? Only time will tell!
You can bet, that the estates of Seigal and Shuster, either separately or together, will put out a supes comic, that at the least, has some genuine linkage to the character. All they need is to also have someone from each family, handle the writing and art.
Yep, great point. So, the public domain will certainly hurt Marvel as well. Personally, I don't think they'll get as dinged as DC until at least 20+ years later when their biggest characters like Spider-man start entering it, but who knows for sure? Only time will tell! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great video. The Wahoo brings up another interesting topic! I didn’t realize Superman was coming up soon. I think it would be very bad for DC if independent writers or even Marvel make really good Superman stories. It’s definitely a different version that most are familiar with that will be in the public domain. It’s an interesting dilemma. I wouldn’t want to see Marvel do anything with the character though. You know what maybe they could do a Brightburn sequel using Superman 🤔. Interesting stuff to think about. Thanks for bringing it up. Great job as always. Thanks for sharing. Have a great weekend. Be well. -Dave 🤙
Thanks man, and you make some great points! I think a Brightburn sequal would be cool. I almost mentioned that in the video, because that is indeed another "Superman" story. Even though it didn't get a lot of love, I really enjoyed that movie.
Yep, I agree. *Maybe* it has limited impact...but *maybe* it has a massive one. Definitely not good news for DC at all. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Interesting topic and awesome video!! I don’t think it will impact much at first. Only because we have had Pooh and Steamboat Willy enter public domain and Warner Bros hasn’t ransacked those yet. What I do think it will bring out are awesome new writers and artist. For anyone to be able to publish essentially a golden age superman story and get paid could bring fresh new talent to comics and video.
Thanks and great points! I've also thought that Pooh and Steamboat Willie give us a preview of what DC could look like (which would be minimal impact at first). The one caveat I would add is that no one could make a billion dollar Pooh movie, but they could certainly make a billion dollar Batman one. So, will the higher potential profit off DC characters incentivize companies to do more with them? Time will tell! And, I do think this is going to bring us some great stories from new writers and artists. It will be an exciting time for us fans!
@@wahoocomics @donaldvonglitchenberger4108 Yeah, I get that Steamboat and Pooh don't have the same potential as a Superman or Batman right now. We also can't act like these characters aren't the mascots of Disney either. In fact people have even referenced Batman and Spiderman as being the Mickey Mouse of their respected companies. There may come a day where steamboat and pooh are a bigger deal it's just not today. I feel like there are just so many questions; how much of a nightmare would it be to make a superman movie or tv show for Disney? They have to stick to everything that time period Superman could do. So no Ma and Pa Kent, no Lex Luthor, no Brainiac, no Jimmy Olsen. These characters will eventually become available but you won't get the traditional bald Lex for a bit. As you stated he couldn't fly. Are people really going to want to watch a Superman that can't fly? Who knows? I could see other characters before direct competition: The Phantom, Dick Tracy and Popeye. These characters have had big screen time before (some better than others) but we haven't seen them in a long time. I could also see them doing some of the crossovers with characters like these as well. Dick Tracy and Golden Age Batman could be a cool team up LOL
@@Twenty2Comics There are definitely a lot of questions and a lot of potential cool crossovers! Throw Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot into the Dick Tracy/Batman mix to have the greatest detective story ever told, haha.
I wonder if these companies won't try and change the copyright laws for intellectual property characters to extend the years they have solo rights. It makes no sense that copyright for mechanics and copyright for characters is the same 100 years.
Yeah, Disney has been in court for years trying to change things, and I'm sure DC and others are going to join them in the battle as their own characters inch closer to the public domain. It's going to be interesting to see if they have any success!
Oh Superman ain’t going to be the only one getting nerfed!!! Batman’s ass is going to be right there getting nerfed beside him!!! Imagine Captain America beating the brakes off Batman in hand to hand combat!!! Imagine Iron Man outsmarting Batman since he’s supposed to be so smart!!! Suddenly Batman isn’t looking like such a badass either. So don’t think Superman is the only one that’s going to get screwed!!! He’s going to have PLENTY of company!!!!
Hopefully this will force DC to focus on publishing amazing comics, ans maybe also at more competitive prices
I hope so too! Competition can be a really good thing for the customer.
Marvel thought they would lose spiderman, so they invented miles morales...
Making "new versions" of characters is definitely a way to limit the impact of a copyright expiring. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Just buy action figures and make up all the stories you want.😂🤣
Oh, man, that brings me back to my childhood...I had so many action figure crossovers, lol
I'm already in line to take over Wahoo Comics when The Wahoo's copyright expires. Think of all the great matchups we can make happen: Superman vs. The Wahoo, Steamboat Willie vs. The Wahoo, and, of course, Yoo-hoo vs. The Wahoo where we see how much chocolate milk The Wahoo can drink in under three minutes.
🤣🤣🤣 If you smell what The Wahoo is drinking! Lol
Superman, batman and wonder woman's copyrights are expiring. But, Their trademark isn't. So, no Symbols. No Batmobile. No Bat gadgets. No Lex Luther. Those are also trademarked. You probably couldn't even name them batman and superman. So, pretty much the only thing going into the public domain is the art.
From what I understand, trademarks cannot be used to claim exclusive rights to the underlying public domain material. But, trademarks can be used to keep certain aspects of characters from being used until they also enter the public domain and can also keep someone from trying to pass off their own work as if it is from DC: gizmodo.com/dc-comics-public-domain-batman-superman-wonder-woman-wb-1851177451
Ahh good point
Copyrights and trademarks are two different things.
None of your predictions are likely. WB may be a poorly run company, but the bat-lawyers will keep the Dark Knight locked down forever.
Certainly the bat-lawyers are going to be out in full force, but if Disney could not keep Mickey Mouse locked down, then it's hard for me to imagine that WB will have much more success. And, although trademarks can keep certain aspects of a character under control until they come into the public domain and can keep a company from presenting their take on a character as if it came from DC, they cannot be used to claim exclusive rights over characters in the public domain. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Fun speculation, I love your ideas. I'll go with strange route for a 1,000 Alec. DAILY DOUBLE! Question, after all these years, what happens after superheroes fall into the public domain? Answer: What is they receive an extremely woke refresh and are now referred to as Super-they, Bat-nonbinary and Wonder-Transgender? Good Collecting 👍👍💗💗
Thanks man! And, that would be something if your prediction comes to pass, haha. As always, I appreciate your support!
I'm sure lawyers for DC are hard at work. lol Great topic and thoughts on the topic. I think it could lend to some fresh content and takes on these characters.
I'm sure they are as well, lol. I agree with your thoughts and look forward to (hopefully!) seeing some interesting new takes.
DC is definitely is a more precarious spot than Marvel because all their characters are so much older, and for the most part, DC doesnt have many good characters out of the golden age. Ive been saying this for a long time, DC has desperately been needing to create new characters that people care about. Half of their catalogue is Batman. Where Marvel has so many more titles and plenty of newer characters (Miles, America, Kamala, etc) that they can later on shift focus to when that time ultimate comes for the silver age.
It will be interesting to see what Marvel does with Batman. Wouldn't it be wild to have Batman as part of the Avengers? But I think Im ultimately more interested in what indie creators will do with Batman. And I think that is what DC should really be scared of. With so many people bringing new unfiltered ideas to the character, how long will it take for someone to come up with a interesting new life on the character that people really enjoy? I think the big issue is what is seen as the "true Batman" in the eyes of the public. If DC can keep it, which I think they have a good shot of considering so many of his associated characters will take a bit longer to go into public domain, then that will be good for them. But What happens when everyone's favorite Batman is from an indie author?
I wholeheartedly agree with all of this. If Homelander and Omin-Man were "Superman", would they be the "true Superman" in the eyes of the public? If so, and I think there is a good chance the could be, then the "true Batman" could definitely come from an Indie creator.
Same here, looking forward to see what indie creators do.
Although I think DC will find ways to make it hard for them.
If they are clever, they should embrace it, and explore some avenues for collaboration and profit-sharing. They would still have a lot of leverage in terms of relationships with distributors, and of course in adapting stories for the screen.
@@hankscorpion9939 Good point about how they could leverage their relationships with distributors, etc. for potential collaborations
This is insane! I'd like to see Iron Man and Batman go at it. I really feel updates will be made and DC will protect themselves as much as possible. Great speculation! 👊
Thanks! And, a Batman and Iron Man battle would be sweet. It's going to be interesting to see how much DC is able to protect themselves. Thanks for watching and commenting!
This is already happening with Winnie the Pooh and Steamboat Willie. Disney will just buy DC ultimately and meld the universes together.
I wouldn't be surprised to see something like that happen. All kinds of crossovers could be on the horizon, haha. Thanks for watching and commenting!
The Batman that would enter the public domain would be very different from the one of today: his name would be “Bat-Man”, he would use guns, and there would be no Alfred. Same with Superman: his name would be Kal-L instead of Kal-El, he would work at the Daily Star, and his powers would be innate instead of solar based but he wouldn’t be able to fly!
I guess Wonder Woman would remain largely the same. At least no daughter of Zeus origin this time around.
Yep, it will be very limited versions of the characters at first (until the updated versions come into public domain). At least Superman will still be faster than a locomotive!
DC will be just fine. We have 10 batman's now and 10 superman's and 12 wonder woman's. The only ones effected are the originals. They just really kill those off and boom. Problem solved.
Good point. It'll be interesting to see if DC moves further away from (or kills off!) Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent and Diana Prince in order to further embrace other holders of their mantles who are still under copyright.
kill off bruce wayne and clark kent. Problem solved? really? that’s it? what’s next just change peter parker tomorrow to sally williams. You think people would be ok with this lol no way.
@@donaldvonglitchenberger4108 Awe...do you need a blanket? Apparently you should get an education in Intellectual Property law.
Captain America enters the public domain in 1936...so, DC could play just as dirty if Marvel does that.
Yep, great point. So, the public domain will certainly hurt Marvel as well. Personally, I don't think they'll get as dinged as DC until at least 20+ years later when their biggest characters like Spider-man start entering it, but who knows for sure? Only time will tell!
You can bet, that the estates of Seigal and Shuster, either separately or together, will put out a supes comic, that at the least, has some genuine linkage to the character. All they need is to also have someone from each family, handle the writing and art.
Boy, that would be so great and cool! Their families could have the last laugh, haha
Captain America becomes public domain in 2036, Sub-Mariner & Human Torch 2033
Yep, great point. So, the public domain will certainly hurt Marvel as well. Personally, I don't think they'll get as dinged as DC until at least 20+ years later when their biggest characters like Spider-man start entering it, but who knows for sure? Only time will tell! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great video. The Wahoo brings up another interesting topic! I didn’t realize Superman was coming up soon. I think it would be very bad for DC if independent writers or even Marvel make really good Superman stories. It’s definitely a different version that most are familiar with that will be in the public domain. It’s an interesting dilemma. I wouldn’t want to see Marvel do anything with the character though. You know what maybe they could do a Brightburn sequel using Superman 🤔. Interesting stuff to think about. Thanks for bringing it up. Great job as always. Thanks for sharing. Have a great weekend. Be well. -Dave 🤙
Thanks man, and you make some great points! I think a Brightburn sequal would be cool. I almost mentioned that in the video, because that is indeed another "Superman" story. Even though it didn't get a lot of love, I really enjoyed that movie.
@@wahoocomics It was def a cool idea for a film. I would love a sequel if done right. 🤙
People can slice this any way they want too, but this is definitely not good news for dc. Not sure if it’s bad yet. But it’s definitely not good
Yep, I agree. *Maybe* it has limited impact...but *maybe* it has a massive one. Definitely not good news for DC at all. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Interesting topic and awesome video!! I don’t think it will impact much at first. Only because we have had Pooh and Steamboat Willy enter public domain and Warner Bros hasn’t ransacked those yet. What I do think it will bring out are awesome new writers and artist. For anyone to be able to publish essentially a golden age superman story and get paid could bring fresh new talent to comics and video.
Thanks and great points! I've also thought that Pooh and Steamboat Willie give us a preview of what DC could look like (which would be minimal impact at first). The one caveat I would add is that no one could make a billion dollar Pooh movie, but they could certainly make a billion dollar Batman one. So, will the higher potential profit off DC characters incentivize companies to do more with them? Time will tell! And, I do think this is going to bring us some great stories from new writers and artists. It will be an exciting time for us fans!
Pooh and steamboat aren’t pulling in potentially billions of dollars from movies comics and merchandise
@@wahoocomics @donaldvonglitchenberger4108
Yeah, I get that Steamboat and Pooh don't have the same potential as a Superman or Batman right now. We also can't act like these characters aren't the mascots of Disney either. In fact people have even referenced Batman and Spiderman as being the Mickey Mouse of their respected companies. There may come a day where steamboat and pooh are a bigger deal it's just not today. I feel like there are just so many questions; how much of a nightmare would it be to make a superman movie or tv show for Disney? They have to stick to everything that time period Superman could do. So no Ma and Pa Kent, no Lex Luthor, no Brainiac, no Jimmy Olsen. These characters will eventually become available but you won't get the traditional bald Lex for a bit. As you stated he couldn't fly. Are people really going to want to watch a Superman that can't fly? Who knows? I could see other characters before direct competition: The Phantom, Dick Tracy and Popeye. These characters have had big screen time before (some better than others) but we haven't seen them in a long time. I could also see them doing some of the crossovers with characters like these as well. Dick Tracy and Golden Age Batman could be a cool team up LOL
@@Twenty2Comics There are definitely a lot of questions and a lot of potential cool crossovers! Throw Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot into the Dick Tracy/Batman mix to have the greatest detective story ever told, haha.
I wonder if these companies won't try and change the copyright laws for intellectual property characters to extend the years they have solo rights. It makes no sense that copyright for mechanics and copyright for characters is the same 100 years.
Yeah, Disney has been in court for years trying to change things, and I'm sure DC and others are going to join them in the battle as their own characters inch closer to the public domain. It's going to be interesting to see if they have any success!
Oh Superman ain’t going to be the only one getting nerfed!!! Batman’s ass is going to be right there getting nerfed beside him!!! Imagine Captain America beating the brakes off Batman in hand to hand combat!!! Imagine Iron Man outsmarting Batman since he’s supposed to be so smart!!! Suddenly Batman isn’t looking like such a badass either. So don’t think Superman is the only one that’s going to get screwed!!! He’s going to have PLENTY of company!!!!
I totally agree! Heck, the whole Justice League could get defeated by some mid level Marvel superhero group, haha. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@wahoocomics You’re welcome dude!!