"Superman" Co-Creator's Heirs Given Man Of Steel's Origin Rights

"Superman" flies away from Warner Bros. and DC Comics' territory. A federal court judge ruled that family of co-creator Jerry Siegel has "successfully recaptured" certain rights to the Man of Steel.

In an ongoing case, Judge Stephen Larson awarded the Siegel camp rights to the first two weeks of the daily Superman newspaper comic strips along with portions of early Action Comics and superman comic books.

According to Variety, the ruling, based on the findings that the works were not "made-for-hire" under the Copyright Act, means that the Siegels now have control over depictions of Superman's origins from planet Krypton, his parents Jor-L and Lora, the superhero as the baby Kal-El, his launching into space by his parents as Krypton exploes and his subsequent landing on Earth in a fiery crash.

DC Comics retains control of other elements, including Superman's flying ability, the term kryptonite, Lex Luthor and Jimmy Olsen, his powers and expanded origins.

Effective 2013, heirs of Siegel and the estate of fellow co-creator Joel Schuster will own the full copyright to Action Comics No. 1, which will allow them to take the superhero to another studio if they wish to do so. If DC and Warner want to do another Man of Steel film or any "Justice League" film featuring Superman, they must go into production by 2011.