Even the immobilizing power of kryptonite can’t compare to the power of endless lawsuits that have been dogging the Man of Steel for decades. Who owns Superman, truly? In 1933, writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster created Superman. They would infamously go on to sell the character to DC comics in 1938 for $130. Adjusting for inflation, that is about $3,000 today.
That was not the end of the story. Siegel and Shuster fought to get the rights back to Superman and proper credit until their deaths. It cannot be denied that DC Comics made continual financial arrangements with the pair later on. However, those payments were obscenely miniscule in comparison to the billions the Superman IP has made since its creation.
