As Michael explained in a telephone interview, the focus on his brother has encouraged the studio to reconsider its obligations to him. “The more often Bill’s name gets mentioned, and the more often he is given public credit for something that he did, the easier it is for me to go to Marvel and say, ‘You might want to consider raising your offer.’ ”

While movies like “Guardians of the Galaxy” represent a certain triumph of multimedia synergy, they are also a reminder that as comic-book characters increasingly provide the basis for lucrative film franchises, these characters’ creators must take their own measures to prevent their rights from being crushed in Hollywood’s engines.

At certain publishing companies, writers and artists are given at least some ownership of the properties they help generate. But very often, these creations are regarded as works for hire, owned by corporations that have little or no further need to reward the people who dreamed them up.

With the biggest comics publishers supplying content to two major studios — Marvel is owned by Walt Disney, and DC is a unit of Warner Bros. — writers and artists accept that credit and compensation for their contributions to films come only with the expenditure of their blood, sweat and tears, if at all.

“My attorney is very good,” Michael said. “I’m not going to say Marvel came to me and opened up their hearts and their purse strings.”