Winter Soldier Creator Ed Brubaker Reveals Why THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER Promos Sicken Him

Winter Soldier Creator Ed Brubaker Reveals Why THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER Promos Sicken Him

Captain America comic book writer Ed Brubaker created The Winter Soldier alongside Steve Epting, but he's now opened up on how little he's been paid since and why the new Disney+ series sickens him!

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By Nighthawk01 - Apr 15, 2021 02:04 AM EST
Source: Fatman Beyond Podcast

Comic book writer Ed Brubaker resurrected Bucky during his Captain America run in 2005 alongside artist Steve Epting. Transforming Steve Rogers' one-time sidekick into an assassin called The Winter Soldier, that status quo change has influenced several Marvel Studios films, and the character is now the co-lead in Disney+ series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. 

Brubaker, however, remains unhappy with how he's been treated from a financial standpoint over his most famous creation. Talking on the Fatman Beyond podcast, Brubaker expressed his happiness with seeing The Winter Soldier on screen but took issue with the lack of compensation he's received. 

"I'm really happy for Sebastian Stan, who I think is both a great guy and the perfect Bucky/Winter Soldier, and I'm glad to see him getting more screen time finally. Also, Anthony Mackie is amazing as the Falcon, and everyone at Marvel Studios that I've ever met (all the way up to Kevin Feige) have been nothing but kind to me," the prolific writer explained. "But at the same time, for the most part all Steve Epting and I have gotten for creating the Winter Soldier and his storyline is a 'thanks' here or there, and over the years that's become harder and harder to live with."

This is commonplace in the comic book world; writers and artists are paid for the work they do at the time but do not receive residuals or future payments for characters or concepts they created. That's because they "work-for-hire," and when and if those characters are brought to TV or film, they generally aren't compensated. That's what Brubaker is taking issue with in this interview. 

He explained that he has turned down "Thank You" credits in the past because of the paltry amount of money offered, and actually makes more money from "SAG residuals" for his cameo in Captain America: The Winter Soldier than he has for creating the character for Marvel Comics in the first place.

"I remember sitting in that movie and just remembering this Jack Kirby ulcer growing in my stomach going, ‘This is what it felt like, kid.'" Brubaker added that "When I see ads for [The Falcon and The Winter Soldier], it actually makes me feel sick to my stomach."

Click HERE for more The Falcon and The Winter Soldier news from CBM!

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VicSage
VicSage - 4/15/2021, 2:30 AM
This really sucks.

I feel for all creators who pick up work for hire jobs like this.

The industry really needs to be revolutionized for a number of reasons-- compensation being one of them. There is very little reason that creators aren't compensated for the characters or storylines they create.
Goldboink
Goldboink - 4/15/2021, 8:38 AM
@VicSage -
TV and Film have very strict rules as to who gets writer credits for movies and how royalties are handed out. While those laws were being hammered out the Comics industry was a scrub backwater that nobody in power cared much about. It's only now that these properties are getting made into movies that some of these creators are coming to the fore. WB managed to compensate Simon etc back in the 70's when Donner made Superman but there are now dozens of characters created for the comics page who are in the movies and on D+ and no legal protection for the creators.

Should Brubaker get a cut? How about the woman who created Ms Marvel. Does Claremont get some extra credit for making the old school X-Men a success? It's a sticky wicket for sure but I do think the creative teams on the comics should get some cut of the action, just like TV and Film.
Kurban
Kurban - 4/15/2021, 2:31 AM
Ed Brubaker
Origame
Origame - 4/15/2021, 3:48 AM
@Kurban - yeah how dare creators ask for money for their creations being continuously used.
Zer0squad
Zer0squad - 4/15/2021, 5:22 AM
@Origame - Yeah, I mean it sucks for creators, but at the same time, nobody forced these people to sign these contracts at gunpoint. Can't blame companies for covering their own asses at the expense of the creators if those same creators take the deal. Lack of experience, foresight, or just plain desperation, whatever the case may be, it really is on them. They should know that going into the business. Stan Lee was the exception, definitely not the rule. Just look at Jack Kirby.
Origame
Origame - 4/15/2021, 5:32 AM
@Zer0squad - this is an incredibly competitive field. You don't sign then you don't get work and they go for someone who will sign. Also we can't really compare more modern marvel to marvel back when Lee and Kirby were around.
Zer0squad
Zer0squad - 4/15/2021, 5:39 AM
@Origame - No, today we have these things that are called "paralegals" and the "internet" that makes its relatively easy to tell when you are about to sell your soul for a rat's tail. There's really no excuse except for like you said, desperation. And that is still on the creator for taking a shitty deal. I get it, beggars can't be choosers but at the same time, choosers are never beggars.
Origame
Origame - 4/15/2021, 6:31 AM
@Zer0squad - the point I'm making isn't that they don't have the ability to find out that it's a raw deal now. What I'm saying is that there was less competition so there's more room to negotiate. If Stan Lee turned down a deal then most likely the company simply wouldn't be able to publish the comic. But if this guy turned down the deal marvel would still be printing a cap comic then, it'd just be written by someone actually willing to sign the deal.
BigPhilbowski
BigPhilbowski - 4/15/2021, 7:09 AM
@Origame - he was already paid for it.
Origame
Origame - 4/15/2021, 7:42 AM
@BigPhilbowski - wasn't paid for the continued use of it.
AbidNaga
AbidNaga - 4/15/2021, 8:17 AM
@Zer0squad - I mean he goes on to mention it in the interview. He signed the contract two decades ago, there's no way anyone would predict then what would happen now. They have so much [frick]ing money that not properly compensating creators they lift their work straight out of is just criminal.
BigPhilbowski
BigPhilbowski - 4/15/2021, 8:33 AM
@Origame - just like a painter doesn't get paid for the continued display of their work in a museum once they have already been paid for selling it. Also, he didn't create the character. He just retconned him.
drbong
drbong - 4/15/2021, 8:42 AM
@BigPhilbowski - no but they do get paid for the reprinting of their art on postcards sold in the gift shop, on t-shirts, etc...
Origame
Origame - 4/15/2021, 8:59 AM
@BigPhilbowski - which covers the money he got from the comics. But this isn't the same thing. This would be like many years later the museum decided to start selling the art on t shirts and post cards in the gift shop without telling the artist or paying them. This is why intellectual property is a thing in law.
Origame
Origame - 4/15/2021, 9:00 AM
@BigPhilbowski - also yes it's a retcon of a character that already exists, but the mcu version of bucky has basically nothing in common with the original version and EVERYTHING to do with the retconned version.
BigPhilbowski
BigPhilbowski - 4/15/2021, 11:28 AM
@Origame - no its not like that. He doesn't own the rights to the designs he created while contracted to do so.
99OPTIMISTPRIME
99OPTIMISTPRIME - 4/15/2021, 2:34 AM
I never understood how that creator compensation stuff worked. The KGBeast creator got paid for BvS. With Brubaker though, what he did with Bucky, he basically did with Catwoman. He revamped a character that already existed beforehand. So I can see why he wouldn't have any ownership to the character.
Origame
Origame - 4/15/2021, 3:51 AM
@99OPTIMISTPRIME - he may not have created bucky Barnes no, but he did create the identity of the winter soldier as well as the backstory of a superhero who used to be a brainwashed villain with a metal arm. All these elements heavily influenced the portrayal of bucky in the series, moreso than anything dealing with bucky prior to the winter soldier saga.
JoeInTheBox
JoeInTheBox - 4/15/2021, 4:55 AM
@99OPTIMISTPRIME - As he explains on the podcast, he knows it's work for hire, and he signed a crappy deal. It just sucks seeing his work on the big screen making billions(i.e. the Bucky training the other winter soldiers in CA: Civil War), and the only thanks he gets is an invite to the premiere to sit in the overflow theater and not get into the after party.

Also, at the same token he saw what happened to Dave Chappelle with the Chappelle show, and having everyone have sympathy for him and Comedy Central doing right by him years later but comic creators don't get the same sympathy or residual compensation.
NathanielX
NathanielX - 4/15/2021, 2:39 AM
Even their those thanks should be promoted more, most of the general audience does not even know who the hell is Jack Kirby.
bcom
bcom - 4/15/2021, 2:47 AM
I'm not entirely sure how the comic creator system works but technically, Ed didn't create Bucky. He did bring him back as The Winter Soldier but would that still label him as the "creator" of the character as a whole?

I guess it would be the same situation as the writer who brought back Jason Todd as the Red Hood. He didn't create Jason Todd but he did turn him into the Red Hood. Does that mean he is the creator of that character?
kider2
kider2 - 4/15/2021, 2:55 AM
@bcom - From what I understand Marvel isn't/wasn't as good with paying their creators for that kind of stuff. Its like with Jack Kirby when he was still alive he earned way more money from Darkseid than he ever did his Marvel characters. All thanks to Paul Levitz he changed that over at DC.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 4/15/2021, 2:50 AM
It’s all because of Publishing. They treat these guys like shit. People will ride SnyderCut hashtags and Zemo Dance hashtags but not do it the creators who give us these characters.

This is how you alienate and drive creators away. Sad because Brubaker is one of the BEST TO DO IT.
calino2212
calino2212 - 4/15/2021, 3:06 AM
@BlackBeltJones - Because we are selfish people, we only care about what benefits us, not what benefits others.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 4/15/2021, 3:49 AM
@calino2212 - facts
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 4/15/2021, 4:24 AM
@BlackBeltJones - THIS.
soberchimera
soberchimera - 4/15/2021, 6:37 AM
@BlackBeltJones - Also, choosing Slott to take over Spider-Man instead of the infinitely more talented Rick Remender.
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