The Fantastic Incredibles!

[Shazam]

I always wondered why Marvel never went after Pixar for the Incredibles. The similarities with the FF are too close.

The family thing
The costumes
The powers


Anybody know why this never wound up in court?

 

[Anubis]

Cuz nobody gave a crap.

 

[Sawyer]

Zing.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

There's so much 'borrowing' among superhero creators that's it hard to draw lines.

Isn't Mr. Fantastic a rip-off of Plasticman?

The only time I've ever heard of anything actually ending up in court was the Captain Marvel / Superman thing. And I've seen other characters that seemed more direct rip-offs than Captain Marvel.

 

[ThePhantasm]

Incredibles is such an amazing movie. Everyone wins because it exists.

 

[bubbadoom]

I always wondered why Marvel never went after Pixar for the Incredibles. The similarities with the FF are too close.

The family thing
The costumes
The powers


Anybody know why this never wound up in court?

Maybe because then Marvel would have to address the similarities between the FF and the Challengers...

The costumes
The origin
etc.

just a thought...

 

[The Question]

Because they weren't similar enough to count as a violation of copyright.

Also because no one cared.

 

[Baramos]

Because they were a parody which is protected under Fair Use. The movie as a whole is a satire of and homage to superhero stories. Thus there is no basis for a lawsuit.

Same reason Batman Beyond had the Terrific Trio.

There's so much 'borrowing' among superhero creators that's it hard to draw lines.

Isn't Mr. Fantastic a rip-off of Plasticman?

The only time I've ever heard of anything actually ending up in court was the Captain Marvel / Superman thing. And I've seen other characters that seemed more direct rip-offs than Captain Marvel.

I've always wondered about that lawsuit--it would probably have never been successful today. At this point a guy who is sort of like Superman (except with massively different origins, powers, accoutrements, etc.) would not cause even the blink of an eye. Clearly there are such massive differences between them that I'm surprised it was even successful at that time--I can only guess because it was a time period when there were only a few dozen of these "superhero" characters in existence by that point.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Because they weren't similar enough to count as a violation of copyright.

Also because no one cared.

This.

/thread

 

[Baramos]

Did anyone else notice the thread-starter is named Shazam, as well? Clearly cases of copyright violation are their thing!

 

[Anubis]

Because they were a parody which is protected under Fair Use. The movie as a whole is a satire of and homage to superhero stories. Thus there is no basis for a lawsuit.

Same reason Batman Beyond had the Terrific Trio.



I've always wondered about that lawsuit--it would probably have never been successful today. At this point a guy who is sort of like Superman (except with massively different origins, powers, accoutrements, etc.) would not cause even the blink of an eye. Clearly there are such massive differences between them that I'm surprised it was even successful at that time--I can only guess because it was a time period when there were only a few dozen of these "superhero" characters in existence by that point.

It wasn't successful. It just went on so long, Fawcitt ran out of money defending themselves.

 

[Baramos]

It wasn't successful. It just went on so long, Fawcitt ran out of money defending themselves.

Ah, I see. Glad to see pointless and destructive litigation is not just a part of the modern US.

 

[Anubis]

When in doubt, sue em till they run out of money. Smarmy, but effective.

 

[Hawkingbird]

Well, the Incredibles was certainly a better movie

 

[YoungPrime]

I'd prefer an Incredibles sequel over FOX"s FF reboot. I'd like it even better if Pixar released one one the same day.

 

[Zarex]

I wouldn't be surprised to see a 3D version of The Incredibles released around the same time as the FF reboot.

 

[YoungPrime]

I wouldn't be surprised to see a 3D version of The Incredibles released around the same time as the FF reboot.

I'd watch it twice!

 

[Hawkingbird]

IncredibleS was one of my faveourite Pixar films. Never been interested in FF...

 

[Godzilla2000]

Since Pixar is part of Disney that would seem kind of silly for them to sue themselves over copyright infringement now would it?

 

[DrCosmic]

I really like the Incredibles take on the FF.

Mr. Incredible: Mr. Fantastic's role with Ben's Powers
Elastigirl: Invisible Woman's role with Mr. Fantastic's Powers
Violet: A new role with Invisible Woman's Powers
Dash: Human Torch's role with new powers, not entirely unlike Human Torch
Jack-Jack: Franklin's role with perhaps the same powers
Syndrome: Dr. Doom, basically, with past enmity with dad included
Underminer: Mole Man, pretty much

What they did so much better than the FF film was: family and action
1) They had an actual recognizable family dynamic, one where it was very easy to understand where every character was.
2) They were professional superheroes and it showed. They knew how to get in and out, they had ways they operated. They did cool things with their powers and when they got together, kicked all sorts of butt, cooperatively too. Awesomeness.

I think if the FF film had a better family storyline and action it would have been beloved and we'd be seeing FF 3 and 4 by this time.

 

[Zarex]

What they did so much better than the FF film was: family and action
1) They had an actual recognizable family dynamic, one where it was very easy to understand where every character was.
2) They were professional superheroes and it showed. They knew how to get in and out, they had ways they operated. They did cool things with their powers and when they got together, kicked all sorts of butt, cooperatively too. Awesomeness.

An enormous failing of the FF films was how weak the team appeared in both of their outings. In the first film the team members struggled to defeat an electric powered Doom when any one of them should have been a match for this watered down version of the character. And the entire team simply sat out the final battle against Cloud Galactus in the sequel.

The Incredibles, and the Avengers this summer showed how thrilling it is to see extraordinarily powerful heroes battling together. I would rather have the Mystery Men defending the earth than the FF from the first two films.

 

[metaphysician]

When in doubt, sue em till they run out of money. Smarmy, but effective.

Which is also why nobody was sued over the Incredibles. Even if Marvel could have put together a prima facie case that would get laughed out of the court room by the judge on preliminary hearings ( which I highly doubt ), Marvel was a comic book company. Pixar, even before Disney bought them, was a much bigger business, and would have won any "try to bankrupt the other guy" contest.