Prior to the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the summer of 2008, Iron Man wasn’t a household name on the same level as Batman, Superman or Spider-Man, despite being a regular fixture of the comic book world since his first appearance in a March 1963 issue of Tales of Suspense.
These days, though, Tony Stark is one of the most famous fictional characters on the planet thanks to Robert Downey Jr.’s iconic performance across countless superhero blockbusters, reinventing both the actor’s career and the character’s popularity in the process. Iron Man is known for his signature red and yellow armor, but Marvel are now being sued by another company, which alleges that multiple designs in the Iron Man, Avengers and Ant-Man movies were stolen from Horizon Comics, as you can read below.
“After years of litigation in the U.S. and substantial sums, they continue to copy our characters. It’s causing us significant damage and impacting our ability to make a living as artists. It is clear that we cannot accept this repeated behavior. The only way to make things right was to file these proceedings.”
The lawsuit stems from three-volume series Radix, which was published by Image Comics between December 2001 and April 2002. Allegedly, Marvel’s editor in chief C.B. Cebulski sought to hire Horizon founders Ben and Raymond Lai to work for them, but they turned down the offer before eventually joining Marvel to work on Thor and X-Men, only for their work to be plagiarized.
The suit specifically names the costumes worn by Tony Stark in Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as designs seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp, but the Lai brothers have already seen one legal battle against Marvel be dismissed in 2013, while the comic book company won another courtroom battle in 2019 in regards to an Iron Man 3 poster. It’s hard to imagine the latest legal action gaining much traction against the combined might of Marvel and Disney, especially when previous motions have already turned out to be unsuccessful.
from We Got This Covered https://ift.tt/3uartSu
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