Warner Bros., DC Comics Poised to Keep Superman Foreign Rights

DC Comics Inc. and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. are likely to retain the foreign rights to Superman after a Manhattan judge said Thursday one of the heirs of the superhero’s creator gave away the rights permanently.

The nephew of of Superman comics co-creator Joseph Shuster wants the New York County Supreme Court to uphold the estate’s copyright interests in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia. But Justice Robert Reed, throughout nearly 45 minutes of back-and-forth with the estate’s attorney, reiterated that the “rights had been given away” in 1992 by Shuster’s sister.

“In hindsight, we can say it was a poor choice but in exchange for what the Ninth Circuit called a pension for life, she gave away this right,” Reed said, referring to a 2013 US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling that the heirs of both Superman creators had signed away their rights to DC Comics in the 1992 agreement and can’t recapture ownership of the copyright.

DC Comics and Warner Bros. want Reed to dismiss the case. The issues have been litigated by the Ninth Circuit, and the Shuster estate “can’t come to this courtroom and re-litigate,” Matt Kline of O’Melveny & Myers LLP argued on behalf of the publisher and entertainment company.

The Ninth Circuit only addressed the US rights; it didn’t directly address whether Shuster’s sister had authority to sign away the foreign rights to Superman, Marc Toberoff of Toberoff & Associates PC argued on behalf of the Shuster estate.

“These are not identical issues,” he said. Foreign laws interact with the 1992 agreement “in a completely different way than US laws interact with the 1992 agreement,” Toberoff added.

The agreement is explicit that DC Comics promised to give Shuster’s brother and sister “a sum of money annually if you give us every right you possibly have,” and that includes the foreign rights, Reed said.

A Southern District of New York judge in April dismissed Peary’s lawsuit against DC Comics and Warner Bros. and rejected his request to block the movie’s July 11 release, citing lack of jurisdiction over the case.

The case is Peary v. DC Comics Inc., N.Y. Sup. Ct., No. 155397/2025, oral argument 12/11/25.