Death of the Big Red Cheese

In the 1940s, Captain Marvel was the most popular comic book superhero. His book actually outsold Superman’s on a regular basis. So, how come we know the “Man of Steel” better than we know the “Big Red Cheese” (I’m not kidding, that was his nickname)? One year after Captain Marvel came out, DC Comics (then know as National Comics) sued Fawcett Publications (Capt. Marvel’s publishers) for copyright infringement since both characters were strong and could fly. While it took 11 years for the trial and appeal to come to a conclusion, in 1952 Fawcett admitted defeat and settled out of court with DC. Thirty years later, DC bought the licensing to Fawcett’s works and started publishing them again because there’s nothing like adding insult to the injury.