Batman has been preparing since the past year to not only go up against Superman in their first ever live-action interaction, but to go up against Marvel's Captain America and Iron Man in a box office battle in 2016.
Now, the most recent news coming out are reporting that Batman has found a new "enemy' to go up against.
This time Batman is squaring off against one of Spain's La Liga "giants' Valencia C. F. on grounds of the soccer team's new logo, which DC Comics claims violates their registered trademark of the bat symbol.
The reports so far have not made clear which logos DC Comics is referring to but the logo that is in question is on the side and it does resemble the one used for the Batman Beyond animated series released by DC in 1999. Valencia C.F attempted to register the logo but it was met with opposition from DC Comics as they argued that it might cause confussion with one of several used to identify Batman.
As recorded in the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), trademark of the European Union, Valencia C.F will be presented to recognize the exclusive rights to use an image of the bat penant crowining it's shield in a position of wings displayed.
"DC Comics has contributed two previously recorded brands which wants to be presented to Valencia CF to justify the resemblance. It seems funny that one of the two images resembles the traditional bat version used by Valencia C.F, whose entry did not recur in his day."
Since it's inception in 1939, Batman's logos have changed plenty of times which span many iterations of the character, be it comics, cartoons, or live action. With it's long and storied history, Batman has seen in recent years the biggest popularity spike since it's inception, with Christopher Nolan's trilogy of the Dark Knight being one of the main reasons behind it. When Zack Snyder announced at San Diego Comic Con in July of 2013 that Batman would play a part in the Man of Steel sequel, the fans excitement spilled over to the general audience as it was taken as a major history making event. As this would mark the first time that Batman and Superman would share the screen on a live-action adaptation. Now, on it's 75th anniversary, DC Comics and parent company Warner Bros. are looking to take Batman into an all time high level in popularity. and are bent on reaping their efforts and taking ownership of their trademark and properties.
However, this lawsuit/appeal might be a bit too out of their grasp.
Valencia C.F was founded in 1919, two decades before The Dark Knight's first publication. And since 1919 the La Liga club has made use of the bat as part of their logo.
The club has so far used six different coats of arms, and some of them happen to resemble ones used by DC Comics.
The bat plays a big part of the Valencia club as the bat is also portrayed in the coat of arms of the city of Valencia and it's history.
Although, when looking at the history of them, it can be seen that the club had those long before the ones being used by DC Comics.
In this small side by side comparision we can see that the variations being used by both companies do resemble each other in certaing ways but what is of note is the big gap of years that the logos created by Valencia C.F preceed the ones used by DC Comics.
If you were to look closely, the original Batman logo(1940) and it's updated version(1973) look like the one used by
Valencia C.F in 1919 with the exception that
Batman's is solid black and was created in 1939/1940, twenty and fifty-four years later. Since the club updated the look of their coat of arms, the symbol has changed only in bits to the overall design.
1921 marked the first time the club would renovate their logo. What they went with, was a bit more detail and rounded/streamlined design that was used on top of the clubs crest and make it more appealing as the logo and crest would make a more cohesive/streamlined coat of arms. DC Comics in turn, created a new logo for Batman in 1965, 1989, and 1992.
The 1941 design is just like the one created in 1921 but with a small thinning of the wings right in the proximity of the bat's body. For Knightfall, one of Batman's most shocking and one of the greatest storylines in the Batman mythos, a new thinner logo was made. The changes? Removing a big chunk of the wing right next to the body.
1992 saw the team going back to the design being used in 1921, the difference this time was an all black body with two white lines running vertically halfway through the wings. The Batman designs for 2003's Batman Gotham Knights, the 2005 film Batman Begins and 2009's Battle of the Cowl highly resemble Valencia C.F's 1992 logo.
Valencia C.F then retooled the logo and went back to the original design but this time they decided to forego the detail and just have a mainly black design with a couple of highlights streaking through the wings. In 2001 they reused the 1921 version except that this time, to give it a modern look, the bat was given a chrome colorization. The bat version being currently used by the club resembles the 1992 iteration with a small triming halfway along the wings.
There is only so many different ways one can portray a bat with it's wings open.
What do you guys think? Could DC Comics really make a case for preventing Valencia C.F's case for using a bat for their new take on their logo? Or could the club take a look back at the history of the logos and make a case for DC Comics using small variations of their previous designs?