Could you mention Superman in a Spiderman comic?

[Kaftan Barlast]

I was sitting here, enjoying myself with an issue of "Deadpool & Cable" and he frequently likes to break the fourth wall in various ways.. and that got me thinking about wether characters in one comicbook can mention others from other books? Like could for instance, Spiderman make a comment on how something reminds him of something he read in a superman comic? Could Yorrick and 355 talk about how much the Fantastic Four films suck?

 

 

And what about brands and company names and stuff? Can you write a book where someone goes and eats a QP at McDonalds? Or uses an IBM computer?

[Tale]

The short answer to all of these questions is yes.

 

The long answer depends on if it's being simply referenced or if its actually of importance to the product.

[Enoch]

This is all part of the very murkily-defined concept of "fair use" in copyright law.

[Tale]

This is all part of the very murkily-defined concept of "fair use" in copyright law.

This would actually fall under trademark. Works are copyrighted. Names are trademarked.

Saying "Superman" in a Spider-Man comic would be using a trademark. Having Superman actually appear would be using something that is copyrighted.

 

If someone where to use a building (to use from the example, a McDonald's), then the building itself can be copyrighted. However, depending upon the purpose, amount used, and whether it dimenishes the value of the original work it would fall under Fair Use.

 

Trademark is a lot harder to infringe upon than copyright because it exists for a completely different purpose. Trademark is used to identify something as belonging to a company or otherwise seperate for other things. DC Trademarked Superman so that other companies can't go around naming other things Superman and tricking DC Superman fans from buying items that have no real relation.

 

Maybe if you argued that Spider-Man referencing Superman confused readers into thinking that Marvel owned Superman there could be an issue, but I think that's unreasonable.

Edited June 26, 2007 by Tale

[Enoch]

This is all part of the very murkily-defined concept of "fair use" in copyright law.

This would actually fall under trademark. Works are copyrighted. Names are trademarked.

Saying "Superman" in a Spider-Man comic would be using a trademark. Having Superman actually appear would be using something that is copyrighted.

 

If someone where to use a building (to use from the example, a McDonald's), then the building itself can be copyrighted. However, depending upon the purpose, amount used, and whether it dimenishes the value of the original work it would fall under Fair Use.

 

Trademark is a lot harder to infringe upon than copyright because it exists for a completely different purpose. Trademark is used to identify something as belonging to a company or otherwise seperate for other things. DC Trademarked Superman so that other companies can't go around naming other things Superman and tricking DC Superman fans from buying items that have no real relation.

 

Maybe if you argued that Spider-Man referencing Superman confused readers into thinking that Marvel owned Superman there could be an issue, but I think that's unreasonable.

I was thinking more along the lines of a Spidey comic wherein a character drew an analogy to the exploits of Superman. At some point, the description of that copyrighted Superman comic would become part of the appeal of the Spidey comic, thus creating an actionable copyright violation. But a simple mention of Superman and maybe a very limited character description probably wouldn't reach that point. (e.g., "Sometimes I wish I were like Superman and could look through girls' blouses.") I didn't think to consider tm law, which wouldn't be an issue with a simple mention of the tm'ed entity in dialogue. (If they mentioned it on the cover, though, it'd be an entirely different ball game.)

[Blarghagh]

You mean like how in the movie "Spider-man" Aunt May says "you're not superman, you know!"?

 

I was thinking this myself when I was wondering if the webcomic Dr. McNinja may become an industry comic. He frequently mentions that he was trained by Batman.

 

But then I realized that he actually uses the character Ronald McDonald so...

Edited June 26, 2007 by TrueNeutral

[Calax]

No, they wouldn't sue each other over mentioning the others character in a comic.

 

They will sue anyone else though. (besides, I don't think marvel could win in a fight against Aol-Time-Warner)

[Tale]

I'm pretty sure Marvel and DC are on good terms, anyway.

Edited June 26, 2007 by Tale

[Sand]

Besides, didn't Spiderman met Superman in one of their many crossovers?

[Tale]

Certainly. DC and Marvel even did a series of joint one shots under Amalgam following the Marvel vs DC crossover series.

 

 

Still dislike that Superman beat the Hulk. But since it was done by fan vote, I can't contest it.

[Sand]

There is very few who can beat Superman. If you are going to go just purely physical not even the Hulk can stop him. However, if you can get through Superman's weaknesses, particularly magic, then he is very easy to beat, moreso than any other DC hero. So Hulk would have a very hard time beating Superman, while Doctor Strange would have it pretty easy.

[Calax]

There is very few who can beat Superman. If you are going to go just purely physical not even the Hulk can stop him. However, if you can get through Superman's weaknesses, particularly magic, then he is very easy to beat, moreso than any other DC hero. So Hulk would have a very hard time beating Superman, while Doctor Strange would have it pretty easy.

[mr insomniac]

[Gfted1]

I dont get it.

 

 

EDIT: Why wouldnt the Hulk beat Superman. IIRC, even Superman has a finite strength while the Hulk has no know limit as he continuously grows stronger the longer he fights, right? So, at some point Hulk is going to get the upper hand short of killing him (has Hulk ever died?).

Edited June 26, 2007 by Gfted1

[Calax]

I dont get it.

 

 

EDIT: Why wouldnt the Hulk beat Superman. IIRC, even Superman has a finite strength while the Hulk has no know limit as he continuously grows stronger the longer he fights, right? So, at some point Hulk is going to get the upper hand short of killing him (has Hulk ever died?).

technically, both the hulk and superman's limits are endless... Hulk gets his power depending on how out of his mind with rage he is (and at the time of the story, he was essentially bruce with a giant green body...) and Superman soakes up energy like a plant. So Hulk gets angry, superman flies into the sun... both become powerful enough to be made into dragon ball z characters.

[Surreptishus]

Yeah but Superman isn't stupid and he could just sing a Super Lullaby or go and get some Super Knockout gas and make Hulk go back to being puny Banner. Also he could throw his S-shield at Hulk and it would turn in to a giant piece of cellophane enveloping Hulk

Edited June 26, 2007 by Surreptishus

[Kaftan Barlast]

Superman is so ridiculously powerful that it's really no fun. An interesting hero must have weakneses and kryptonite-allergy just doesnt cut it... although I still dig that thing where the little green guy hypnotized him into doing 80

[Tale]

It's perfectly okay. They limit it because they don't want to seem to be endorsing anything. It could upset competing advertisers.

[Calax]

Superman is so ridiculously powerful that it's really no fun. An interesting hero must have weakneses and kryptonite-allergy just doesnt cut it... although I still dig that thing where the little green guy hypnotized him into doing 80

[Laozi]

What is it about magic that makes Superman especially vulnerable to it? Wouldn't he have some sort of superwisdom modifier that made all his saves super high?

[Aram]

I dont get it.

 

 

EDIT: Why wouldnt the Hulk beat Superman. IIRC, even Superman has a finite strength while the Hulk has no know limit as he continuously grows stronger the longer he fights, right? So, at some point Hulk is going to get the upper hand short of killing him (has Hulk ever died?).

 

If I remember, Supes used his pew-pew laservision and that was pretty much the whole fight.

[Aram]

What is it about magic that makes Superman especially vulnerable to it? Wouldn't he have some sort of superwisdom modifier that made all his saves super high?

 

That would be Batman.

 

At least according to Frank Miller, Superman is semi-retarded.

[Calax]

What is it about magic that makes Superman especially vulnerable to it? Wouldn't he have some sort of superwisdom modifier that made all his saves super high?

 

That would be Batman.

 

At least according to Frank Miller, Superman is semi-retarded.

Magic is a superman vulnerability because he's from a scientific race... kinda...

 

actually they gave him the magic vulnerability because they couldn't keep having everyone have a rock from a dead planet.

[Sand]

The vulnerability to magic stems from the fact tha the kryptonian physiology has been genetically altered so much that it lost its natural resistances to the supernatural. Also the mental capacity for grasping idealogy of the spiritual realms need to also exist, which the kryptonian mindset is lacking compared to the human.

[Tale]

Also, it's FRELLING MAGIC. Magic does what it wants. It doesn't obey rules, that's why it's MAGIC.