DC Has Notes And Sketches For A Replacement SUPERMAN In Case They Lose The Rights

DC Has Notes And Sketches For A Replacement SUPERMAN In Case They Lose The Rights

While the courts are seemingly ruling in favour of Warner Bros. and DC Comics in their recent legal wrangling's with the heirs of the creators of Superman and more, a reliable source reveals that the publisher has plans in place for a replacement Man of Steel should things go wrong for them.

By JoshWilding - Jan 31, 2013 08:01 AM EST
Filed Under: DC Comics
Source: Bleeding Cool

Unless you've kept up with every stage of DC Comics' ongoing legal battle with the heirs of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster over the last couple of years (or have a law degree), it's not difficult to become confused over what the future has in store for the Man of Steel. A worst case scenario would be that the heirs get everything that makes Superman, well, Superman, while DC would be left only with the name. Now, a recent victory for the latter means that this more than likely is NOT going to ever happen. However, the ever reliable folks over at Bleeding Cool reveal that they have learned that there is indeed a plan in mind should this come to pass.


Superman does seem to be in the courts a lot this month, ahead of the upcoming movie. Are Warner Bros lawyers getting all their ducks in a row? I also heard that, in preparation for a possible loss of rights to Superman, that DC Comics had prepared notes ad sketches on a new Superman – using the trademarked name but with a completely different back story and even appearance...


It's interesting to wonder what this would ultimately involve. Would we get a proper send off for Superman or would he simply vanish from comic book store shelves? What we would be left with is a Superman who has a totally different origin story and appearance, while the fate of the character we all know and love - who would no longer have a name - would surely be up for grabs by comic and film companies! Be sure to sound off with your thoughts on this in the usual place.


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superotherside
superotherside - 1/31/2013, 9:20 AM
WITW! Hope they don't loose the rights!
blvdnoise
blvdnoise - 1/31/2013, 9:20 AM
It would never fly.. (pun intended)
superotherside
superotherside - 1/31/2013, 9:20 AM
That shadow of the "replacement" Superman is terrible BTW! Does he have long wispy hair? WITW?
INFO
INFO - 1/31/2013, 9:26 AM
NOOOO I swear if DC looses the rights im gonna boycott this new superman title till DC gets the rights back,naww im just bluffing but DC if you loose everybody's gonna be mad at you and sales on superman will probably drop.
GhostZillaRider
GhostZillaRider - 1/31/2013, 9:26 AM
@superotherside- That shadow is of Doomsdsay, not the potential replacement.
REDSTORM
REDSTORM - 1/31/2013, 9:27 AM
I'd imagine they'd just use Superboy.
UltimateHunt
UltimateHunt - 1/31/2013, 9:33 AM
DC can't live without SuperMan and Batman (they are the ONLY "cool" characters) you can tell by how many films both have and if they loose the rights of Superman well when that happens then DC has my permission to die, wait, what about JLA? the movie they are rushing to keep up with marvel, will Superman be there?
it will suck if he is not. DAMN than hopefully DC wont loose him
thalidomide
thalidomide - 1/31/2013, 9:35 AM
lmao @ gusto!!


It'll NEVER happen.
CASH
CASH - 1/31/2013, 9:37 AM
There is no such thing as a "Replacement" for Superman. It's NOT Superman. Period.
Supershadowbat
Supershadowbat - 1/31/2013, 9:39 AM
I cannot imagine comics without Superman. The Superman we know and love, let's hope it doesn't go there.
PC04
PC04 - 1/31/2013, 9:39 AM
@superotherside

Thats Doomsday's shadow....

Get glasses

Supershadowbat
Supershadowbat - 1/31/2013, 9:40 AM
Nice to have you back Gusto.
SupermanP33v3
SupermanP33v3 - 1/31/2013, 9:40 AM
Guys, The replacement Superman could not be anything related to the current Superman since that is what DC would be losing the rights to. They would lose the rights to Krypton, and Lois Lane, and Clark Kent and Lex Luthor. They would be able to keep the Superman Shield but they would lose the Blue and Red color scheme. All this stuff was listed a while ago. And why, may I ask, would people be angry with DC if they lost. The way I see it is that it is the heirs who are fighting to rip Superman apart. They already have a huge settlement that is an ongoing payment that WB has offered a long time back after the courts ruled that WB owns the rights... for all those people saying WB is the bad guy here, it simply is not true, they have been very kind to the heirs but the lawyers keep coming to them saying "I can get you more." This is not about WB steeling Superman from the creators, WB has been paying (Or had been paying until the heirs took them to court again.) We would not just lose Superman but the whole Super family.
FennecPilot
FennecPilot - 1/31/2013, 9:41 AM
[frick]ing lawyers and greed. Sickening that this is now the norm. And who suffers? The fans and public.

Shameful.
JohnnyKrypton
JohnnyKrypton - 1/31/2013, 9:41 AM
"DC Comics had prepared notes ad sketches on a new Superman – using the trademarked name but with a completely different back story and even appearance..."

Er...BESIDES the New52?

MatchesMalone
MatchesMalone - 1/31/2013, 9:44 AM

"That shadow of the "replacement" Superman is terrible BTW! Does he have long wispy hair? WITW?"

Wow, dude. Really?

SKetCH
SKetCH - 1/31/2013, 9:44 AM
At least us Marvelites will still have Hyperion... wait, is that a good thing?
ahhmynuts
ahhmynuts - 1/31/2013, 9:44 AM
f*ck those guys man. superman belongs to the people!
Natetrix79
Natetrix79 - 1/31/2013, 9:44 AM
No drawings to go with the story???? Come on Bleeding Cool....That's just not cool!
rbfn04
rbfn04 - 1/31/2013, 9:45 AM
The "replacement" Superman is DCnU's Superman.
SupermanP33v3
SupermanP33v3 - 1/31/2013, 9:45 AM
Oh, and, I am glad this will most likely not be happening but am I the only one who is curious to see these sketches and to know what the plan was going to be?
BlackPhillip
BlackPhillip - 1/31/2013, 9:46 AM
I'd rather have Mr. Majestic be Superman. Clark Kent/Kal-El bores me.
SupermanP33v3
SupermanP33v3 - 1/31/2013, 9:47 AM
The New 52 had NOTHING to do with the court case... if WB loses then the New 52 Superman and all other incarnations are gone... he wouldn't even be called "Superman"
ahhmynuts
ahhmynuts - 1/31/2013, 9:51 AM
just saying but those drawings of the replacement superman are probably be worth some dough in the future
SuperSpidey
SuperSpidey - 1/31/2013, 9:53 AM
I for one am quite curious what this new origin and appearence are.
Nevermender
Nevermender - 1/31/2013, 9:53 AM
I like the fact DC has a prepared contingency just in case. Even though it probably won't happen, at least there would be a nice transition rather than a forced and abrupt story arc. I'd likely buy every issue involving it.
Azrael725
Azrael725 - 1/31/2013, 9:53 AM
I don't understand what the family is trying to accomplish by get rights to Superman. Making the fans suffer for their own selfish reasons? I'm assuming they must get royalties as it is so I just don't get it.
SageMode
SageMode - 1/31/2013, 9:56 AM
I thought the case was already settled in favor of WB
FightmasterNoel
FightmasterNoel - 1/31/2013, 9:59 AM
[frick] THAT! Why would THEY get the rights? The creators made him FOR Action comics which is now DC comics. But besides they got NO LEGAL RIGHt! If this happens i not only lose faith in the US Governmant but in humanity itself....seriously.
Minato
Minato - 1/31/2013, 10:03 AM
That would suck if they lost and had this "epic" movie shelved because of it.
Greenlantern1417
Greenlantern1417 - 1/31/2013, 10:11 AM
Well, first I thought this case had already been settled, and second, didn't they already change him to the point he's no longer the same character? I mean, he's not into Lois, he doesn't work for the daily planet. He really has no substance that I can since when reading. He's kinda cold and he doesn't even really look like Superman anymore. He's either wearing jeans or pajamas with a belt. Also they're just gonna call him The Man Of Steel, like in the up coming movie. Where his suit looks even less like Superman. Jimmy Olsen is a girl, and not to be completely bigoted, but is Perry White, gonna be Perry Black? I've said it before, this movie looks great, but it's not Superman. And neither is the guy in the comics.
darkspark
darkspark - 1/31/2013, 10:11 AM
They already own Majestic using him would be way easier than coming up with someone new. Just tweak a few things like costume and origin and you have a new Superman.
SchoolieD
SchoolieD - 1/31/2013, 10:14 AM
The only reason to get the rights would be to license Superman to WB/DC, so that the family still gets paid, and Sups is still in print. There'd be no reason to get the rights, and never make any more money off of him. If WB/DC decided to not buy the license to publish Superman, someone else would, and we might end up with something even better than the poor bastard they've been running into the ground since forever.
6of13
6of13 - 1/31/2013, 10:15 AM
Gusto caved!

pud333
pud333 - 1/31/2013, 10:18 AM
I thought both cases were won by WB/DC. So all this is pointless. However, that said, I am sure WB would still want to use the existing version of Superman even if they lost the rights; they would just have to pay for it. The problem though would be if WB lost the bidding, and all of a Sudden Superman shows up on the Avengers or something like that. How nutty woud that be?
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