Marvel sues to block heirs from reclaiming Spider-Man, Doctor Strange copyrights

In the lawsuits, Marvel argues that the characters were created under "work for hire" arrangements, and that the heirs have no valid claim to the copyrights. Photo: Marvel

Marvel filed five lawsuits recently seeking to block the heirs of comic book creators from reclaiming copyrights to many of its most popular characters, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Ant-Man and Doctor Strange.

The move comes after heirs of five Marvel authors filed dozens of termination notices with the US Copyright Office. If the notices were to succeed, they would not prevent Marvel from using the disputed characters, which were created by multiple collaborators. But they would require the studio to make payments to the heirs.