Superheroes in comics and on screen can have immense powers. But there seems to be one thing even stronger from which they cannot break free: the law of intellectual property. These characters are big business, and among the most valu- able commercial assets in the world.
For a genre dominated by extraordi- nary exploits, vivid illustrations and spe- cial effects, the mundane reality is that superhero worlds are often defined not by the imagination of writers, artists and filmmakers, but by copyright and trade marks. The Marvel cinematic universe—a success- ful sequence of films and now television programmes—has been shaped largely by which characters the producers have access to, and which they do not.