A new Superman lawsuit in 2025 is threatening the release of the upcoming James Gunn film in multiple territories. If an injunction by the New York Supreme Court goes through, the movie starring David Corenswet that is slated to arrive on July 11 could be temporarily barred in the UK, Canada, Australia, and Ireland, major international markets that would greatly impact its box office numbers. The copyright case is a bit difficult to follow, though, as the lawsuit against Warner Bros. was seemingly settled and dismissed, only for a similar lawsuit to be filed again under different circumstances. Here’s a breakdown of what’s going on with the Superman copyright case between the Shuster estate and Warner Bros. Discovery in 2025.
Has the 2025 Superman lawsuit been settled or dismissed?
As of May 27, while the 2025 Superman lawsuit over copyright claims was effectively dismissed in federal court in April, a new lawsuit in New York state court filed on Shuster’s behalf requests an injunction to block Warner Bros. from releasing the film in many countries overseas.
According to Puck Newsletter, per ScreenRant, Eriq Gardner reports that Shuster’s attorney Marc Toberoff filed the lawsuit in an attempt to prevent Warner Bros. from “exploiting Superman” in foreign territories. As a result, the New York Supreme Court demanded that Warner Bros. Discovery “submit opposition papers by Friday” (May 23) to explain why the request for an injunction should be denied. The parties will then need to convene in court on June 4. Since the injunction would impact the international release of the movie, it is expected that Warner Bros. will fight this vigorously.
The new court case is more or less the same lawsuit filed by the Shuster estate in January 2025, except this time it’s been done in state court since their federal case was dismissed. It argues that Mark Warren Peary, as Shuster’s heir, had the right to terminate the Superman rights from Warner Bros. and DC Comics in countries with a British legal tradition. In these countries, copyright assignments would automatically terminate 25 years following the death of the authors. Shuster passed away in 1992 and Superman co-creator Jerome Siegel passed away in 1996, so it argues that the rights to Superman would have gone back to Peary in 2017 (this would be 2021 in Canada).
It might seem odd that the lawsuit was filed in the United States, considering that this concerns copyright law in other countries. To this point, Toberoff argued that U.S. courts do have the ability to ensure that an author’s rights are protected in other countries under the Berne Convention, an international treaty signed in 1886 (and ratified by 181 member countries in 2022) that gives various artists control on how their works are used.
However, the federal court case was dismissed in April 2025 by U.S. District Court judge Jesse Furman for multiple reasons. The judge disagreed with Toberoff’s argument, stating in his ruling that the “infringement claims are brought explicitly under the laws of foreign countries, not the laws of the United States.” He also notes that US intellectual property law allows authors to reclaim ownership of their works, but “[Shuster’s] sister and brother reached a deal with DC in 1992 that terminated that right in exchange for $25,000 per year.” Warner Bros. essentially won the case, and a federal injunction on the film was denied.
It’s unclear how the outcome of this Superman copyright case will be different in state court given what already happened on the federal level. However, the threat of the new injunction, which looks like will be determined during the June 4 court date, could delay the release of the film. We’ll update this article after a ruling is made on this new lawsuit.
