[AlternityOrange]

The Superman thing is a totally different animal than Galactica but interesting nonetheless. Jerry Siegal and Joe Schuster created the character and tried for years to get him published. In 1938 they finally suceeded but, as was common practice, sold the character outright National Periodicals (now called DC Comics) They were paid well in comparison to other comic artists during their tenure but by the time of the movie neither had had anything to do with the comic in well over a decade.

The pair sued DC in the 70's claiming they were owed some of the millions that were being made on merchandising, including the movie. This was also a new thing as all work for hire had been considered just that until that point. A settlement was reached in which their names were prominently displayed in every comic or other medium in which Superman appeared. In addition they were each paid a flat sum of $10,000 a year by DC but still had nothing to do with the character or any of its subsequent adaptions. They are both deceased now.

By comparison, Batman creator Bob Kane was hired as a "consultant" to all of the Batman films. He often appeared on talk shows promoting the films which was pretty silly since he hadn't written or drawn the comic in 30 years and had little relationship to the material that was being adapted. It was just a token jesture by the studio to avoid another lawsuit. He is also now deceased

In recent years Jerry Siegel's widow and family have been trying to lay claimn to Superman again. Details of the procedings have been kept under wraps.

The all powerful Disney corporation definitely has a vested interest in maintaining work-for-hire copyrights and has been trying to sway court decisions. In reality, The Walt Disney Corporation only exists today because Walt had been screwed out of the rights to his first cartoon character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and was determined to retain ownership of another similar creation, Mickey something...