Back in 2009, the heirs of the late Jack Kirby decided that they deserved a bigger piece of the Marvel pie, since Jack had created or co-created many of the "Silver Age" characters that Marvel is still raking in boatloads of money from today. Kirby's estate issued cease-and-desist orders to studios including Walt Disney Pictures (which owns Marvel Studios), 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures, each of which (and more) had licensed or owned film rights to properties from Marvel's extensive catalog.
This was not long after Disney had announced its intentions to purchase Marvel, and well after the cinematic successes of Fox's X-Men and Sony's Spider-Man franchises. Heck, even the Blade movies had turned a profit for New Line Cinema. Suffice it to say, Marvel is at its peak, making exponentially more money than it ever has. So it was inevitable that one of the men largely responsible for the creation of Marvel's best-loved characters would want his piece of the pie. Even posthumously.
Were Kirby's heirs to win their case, Marvel (and Disney) could lose the rights to some of its most lucrative franchises. Kirby worked with Stan Lee to create many of Marvel's biggest names, including all of the core Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Nick Fury, Guardians of the Galaxy's MVP Groot, Silver Surfer, most of the X-Men and so many more.
Losing all of those characters would put Mickey Mouse on suicide watch.
Fortunately, on the eve of the case heading to a special Supreme Court conference, the two parties today announced that they've settled their dispute out of court. They released the following brief statement:
"Marvel and the family of Jack Kirby have amicably resolved their legal disputes, and are looking forward to advancing their shared goal of honoring Mr. Kirby's significant role in Marvel's history."
Needless to say, the terms of the deal were not disclosed. But that sound you hear is Disney's investors doing the Baby Groot happy dance.
