What I’m about to say is bizarre, but the truth. Up until this very day, no one outside of DC or Marvel Comics was allowed to use the words “super hero” to describe a hero that is super. Since the late 60s, the two companies have held a joint trademark on this term, so that no one else could use it or say it.
Not only was this trademark kind of dumb, but it’s also useless. What everyone else did was start saying “superhero” as one word, which was not trademarked. The one-word “superhero” became so ubiquitous that it became the accepted spelling, and now “super hero” looks antiquated, like seeing “teen-ager” or “girl friend” as two words in an old comic. DC and Marvel wound up suffocating their own term and destroyed its value.
But would they still get upset if “super hero” was used? Apparently so. R.J. Richold, author of an independent comic called “Superbabies,” decided to use the two words instead of one. DC found out and got on his case about it. They would regret it…Richold filed to invalidate the trademarks and the US Copyright Office sided with him. “By establishing Super Heroes’ place in the public domain, we safeguard it as a symbol of heroism available to all storytellers,” says Richold’s attorney, Adam Adler.
While this means “super hero” can now be freely used, it’s more likely to be ignored. The public at large is just too used to “superhero” as one word.
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