Ghost Rider creator sues Marvel, Sony, Hasbro, Take Two, ...

I just read about this lawsuit on Yahoo news. Apparently creator Gary Friedrich alleges that ownership of his characters used in the Nicolas Cage film and ensuing toys, games, etc. reverted back to him in 2001 due to Stan Lee's Magazine Management, now Marvel Entertainment's, failure to register their claim for the copyright. Click here for the full article.

My first thought was that he probably wanted his name removed from the thinly plotted film (I wasn't impressed with the movie and felt that with minor changes it could have been loads better. You can read my review here. Personally, I blame director Mark Steven Johnson, who also directed Daredevil, which came across arguably more cookie cutter flat).

My second thought though is why wait this long to file a grievance? Marvel announced their intent to make the movie way back in May of 2000 at the Cannes Film Festival. I think the answer may be that Friedrich, feeling that his character creations and their comics were intentionally misused resulting in his being under-compensated, let Marvel continue their production and release until the movie had run its course in the theaters, so that he could hit them with this lawsuit now and capitalize on all their hard work to date.

Maybe Friedrich felt that if he waited until after the dvd's hit the shelves it would be a little too "on the nose" for a judge to think it was just another case of slow to act lawyers.