Marvel and DC Lose Trademark for ‘Superhero’

In arguably the most shocking news to jumpstart the week, Marvel and DC Comics will soon lose their joint trademark for the term “Superhero.”

According to Reuters, the US Trademark Office canceled several of Marvel and DC Comics’ set of “Super Hero” trademarks in an order on September 26 at the request of Superbabies comic book artist R.J. Richold. The resulting trademark loss on Marvel and DC Comics’ part came after Disney and Warner Bros. representatives didn’t file a response to Richold. This makes matters all the sillier when you consider that DC Comics accused Richold of infringing on the Super Hero trademark with his series, which, as the name suggests, is about a bunch of super-powered babies, and threatened legal action. While DC and Marvel have yet to comment on the ruling, Richold’s attorney, Adam Adler, has. His reply? The verdict was “a victory for creativity and innovation” for everyone, not just his client.

“By establishing Super Heroes’ place in the public domain, we safeguard it as a symbol of heroism available to all storytellers,” Adler said.

As Reuters notes, despite being institutional rivals, DC Comics and Marvel have jointly trademarked four iterations of the term “Super Hero,” and variations thereupon, the oldest of which dates back to 1967. DC Comics’s big dogging of Superbabies “infringement” of the Super Hero trademark led Richold to file a petition in May to cancel it. In the petition, Richold argued that the pair couldn’t “claim ownership over an entire genre” and that DC and Marvel couldn’t jointly own the trademarks, despite the years of precedence.

https://t.co/EdOt3PcNqZ pic.twitter.com/1WhYb4ojfQ

— THE BOYS (@TheBoysTV) September 30, 2024

Arguably, the best response to this whole kerfuffle came from The Boys‘ official X/Twitter account, which posted a meme of Homelander smirking. If previous seasons of The Boys referencing/predicting modern politics is any indication, there’s a non-zero percent chance the upcoming season of The Boys will likely reference Superbabies‘ successful ruling against DC and Marvel.

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