Wonder Man

Few Golden Age heroes are as famous for a lawsuit as for their exploits. Wonder Man, published by Fox in 1939, was a muscular, super-strong hero — so closely modeled on Superman that DC's corporate predecessor promptly sued Fox for copyright infringement, alleging the character was a direct copy. The court sided with the Superman side, and Wonder Man vanished after just a single appearance, making him one of the shortest-lived heroes of the entire boom. The case became a landmark in the young industry, an early test of how far a publisher could go in imitating a rival's hit before crossing from inspiration into infringement. It is also a revealing snapshot of the gold-rush mentality of the moment: with costumed heroes suddenly selling, publishers raced to field their own, sometimes with little regard for how closely they hewed to the original. Now in the public domain, Wonder Man survives mainly as a legal footnote and a curiosity — the hero who was ruled too much like Superman to exist. He hangs here as a reminder that the superhero boom was shaped not only in the studio but in the courtroom.