Happy Public Domain Day! I join Duke University in celebrating all the works that our current copyright has stolen out of the public domain.
But no offense, Dukey, nobody gets angry they can't remake Gone with the Wind and shit. I don't know about you, but they didn't show that on TV when I was growing up. People need to know which pop culture artifacts of the today would have been everyone's soon.
This first year's list includes some of the more popular sidekicks and villains in the world, including some who are just now getting on TV and Movies!
I'm dividing this list into two parts.
After the first extension:
Copyright has been lengthened for 40 years. First they gave it 20 in the 70s, then 20 more the 90s. The following are what would have happened if the second extension had not come to pass.
Luthor and Superman go together like nail and flesh. While there's not a lot about him that's trademarkable (bald, mad scientist, villain) it'd be pretty neat to just up and use him without going all Superman 3 on him.
Cat puns ahoy! While we're not short on cat themed femme fatales, this would be a total boon on those presumably working on Batman since last year.Catwoman is one of those characters who's just a part of modern Batman. She won't be alone, though since we'd also see...
Batman's worst enemy for 75 years straight, the Joker would be a welcome addition to ANY heroes universe. Or anything, really. Carebears vs Joker? Why nawt?
While not covering the current space cop Green Lanterns, I doubt the opportunity to reinvent Alan Scott, who fought crime with a literal Green Lantern, would be considered a great loss.
Batman is all the rage on this list, huh? Hugo Strange is a psychologist, but is also somewhat of a supervillain that wants to kill Batman or maybe fuck him, I don't know.
The original Flash, Jay Garick, could be racing with Quicksilver today.
Okay, I don't really know who loves Hawkman. He's just all...well you could use him, anyway.
Robin is..we all know about Robin. You could go to remote islands with no electricity and find people who know about Robin. What I'm saying is, it's a bit bullshit that he's not public domain.
But hold on! When those works were created, copyright lasted 56 years. The above all should have lapsed years ago, and we should be already be getting works from 1959, according to those Commie Pinkos THE FOUNDING FATHERS.
So what stuff from 1959 would lapse today?
Hey, unlike the other list, this one includes most of the core elements of today's GL. Carrol Ferris. Guardians.
In this timeline, Superman has lapsed years ago. But until this year, Supergirl remains locked up.
With our current fascination with hig concepts, I imagine the villainous, talkig gorilla would be a welcome addition.
Okay, this one's a bit stupid. Okay, a lot stupid. Batmite is a magic being from another dimension that was around during Batman's "stupid as fuck" phase. Hey, Batman's public domain now, you can do whatever you want with him.
Bizarro am not....Bizarro is one of Superman's most celebrated characters. An endearingly backward version of Superman, Bizarro's just one of those characters you can always find an angle to.
Ironman! The guy from the movies! We're not quite talking gold and red demon in a bottle Iron Man yet.
Groot wasn't always Groot. Well not the Groot he is today. He was once a megalomaniacal tree man from space. I'm guessing that could have it's own uses.
Okay,like Luthor, there's not a lot that Natasha Romanov has that's visually important. But hey, she's bound to have fans.
If you liked chilling with the villains, Mr
Freeze would be right up your street. While his mega tragic backstory
would remain offlimits for 3 decades more, you'd need fear no lawsuis
for including the bubbleheaded icemaster.
I want to make it perfectly clear that when these works were copyrighted, the makers and owners of these characters knew full well that their work was supposed to lapse in 56 years, okay? It was supposed to be an incentive for them to create, and it worked, and now it's not fair to back down and say WE'RE wrong for wanting them to uphold their part of the deal. There's no serious reason why making a Supergirl movie should be a crime at this point. But it IS.
That's just my opinion, though. What do you think?
But no offense, Dukey, nobody gets angry they can't remake Gone with the Wind and shit. I don't know about you, but they didn't show that on TV when I was growing up. People need to know which pop culture artifacts of the today would have been everyone's soon.
This first year's list includes some of the more popular sidekicks and villains in the world, including some who are just now getting on TV and Movies!
I'm dividing this list into two parts.
After the first extension:
Copyright has been lengthened for 40 years. First they gave it 20 in the 70s, then 20 more the 90s. The following are what would have happened if the second extension had not come to pass.
Lex Luthor
Luthor and Superman go together like nail and flesh. While there's not a lot about him that's trademarkable (bald, mad scientist, villain) it'd be pretty neat to just up and use him without going all Superman 3 on him.
Cat Woman
The Joker
Batman's worst enemy for 75 years straight, the Joker would be a welcome addition to ANY heroes universe. Or anything, really. Carebears vs Joker? Why nawt?
Green Lantern
While not covering the current space cop Green Lanterns, I doubt the opportunity to reinvent Alan Scott, who fought crime with a literal Green Lantern, would be considered a great loss.
Hugo Strange
Batman is all the rage on this list, huh? Hugo Strange is a psychologist, but is also somewhat of a supervillain that wants to kill Batman or maybe fuck him, I don't know.
Flash
Hawkman
Okay, I don't really know who loves Hawkman. He's just all...well you could use him, anyway.
Robin
Robin is..we all know about Robin. You could go to remote islands with no electricity and find people who know about Robin. What I'm saying is, it's a bit bullshit that he's not public domain.
But hold on! When those works were created, copyright lasted 56 years. The above all should have lapsed years ago, and we should be already be getting works from 1959, according to those Commie Pinkos THE FOUNDING FATHERS.
So what stuff from 1959 would lapse today?
Hal Jordan Green Lantern
Supergirl
Gorilla Grodd
Batmite
Bizarro
Ironman
Groot
Black Widow
Mr Freeze
I want to make it perfectly clear that when these works were copyrighted, the makers and owners of these characters knew full well that their work was supposed to lapse in 56 years, okay? It was supposed to be an incentive for them to create, and it worked, and now it's not fair to back down and say WE'RE wrong for wanting them to uphold their part of the deal. There's no serious reason why making a Supergirl movie should be a crime at this point. But it IS.
That's just my opinion, though. What do you think?
