{"id":289260,"date":"2024-09-30T16:24:28","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T14:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/es\/?p=341330"},"modified":"2025-07-01T15:54:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T22:54:34","slug":"marvel-and-dc-are-no-longer-the-only-ones-who-can-use-the-word-superhero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/marvel-and-dc-are-no-longer-the-only-ones-who-can-use-the-word-superhero\/","title":{"rendered":"Marvel and DC are no longer the only ones who can use the word “superhero”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Superman did not invent the word “superhero,” just as Captain America did not. The origin of the term dates back to 1899, and some of its earliest examples were characters like The Scarlet Pimpernel, Buck Rogers, or Zorro, all of whom were created years before DC Comics was established in 1934 (under the name National Comics Publications). However, in 1977, Marvel and\u00a0the publisher<\/strong>\u00a0jointly registered the term “superhero”<\/strong> so that only they could use it. Surprisingly, almost five decades later, the registration was still in effect… until now.<\/p>\n\n\n

\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n

Subscribe to the Softonic newsletter and get the latest in tech, gaming, entertainment and deals right in your inbox.<\/p>\r\n Subscribe (it's FREE) \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I’m not Superman<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The request from Superbabies Ltd, creators of a collection of books and dolls titled, obviously, Superbabies, indicates that\u00a0“DC and\u00a0Marvel\u00a0are mistaken.<\/strong>\u00a0The law does not allow companies to claim ownership of an entire genre<\/em>.”<\/span> This does not mean that the two companies cannot use the term, but they will not have exclusivity over it because others can use it as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This result is not only a victory for our client, but a victory for creativity and innovation<\/strong><\/em>.”<\/span> Basically, now anyone can create a superhero and call it as such because it is in the public domain. It was about time, in 2024, for the two publishers to realize that the publishing world is becoming exciting… and they are starting to smell, whether they like it or not, like mothballs.<\/p>\n\n\n

\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n \"Comics++\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Comics++<\/span>\r\n DOWNLOAD<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path><\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/span>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Superman did not invent the word “superhero,” nor did Captain America. The origin of the term dates back to 1899, and some of its earliest examples were characters like The Scarlet Pimpernel, Buck Rogers, or Zorro, all of whom were created years before DC Comics was established in 1934 (under the name National Comics Publications). However, in 1977, this publisher and Marvel jointly trademarked the term “superhero” so that only they could use it. Surprisingly, nearly five decades later, the trademark was still in effect… until now. I’m not Superman The company’s request […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9263,"featured_media":289262,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[1015],"tags":[4408,1876,1345,4021],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-289260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-app-subdomain-redirectioncomics","tag-dc","tag-marvel","tag-superheroe"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":311350,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289260\/revisions\/311350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289260"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=289260"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=289260"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=289260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}