The estate of Jack Kirby, co-creator of Marvel comic book heroes like Captain America, The Fantastic Four, X-Men, The Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, The Silver Surfer and Thor, has sent notices terminating copyright to publishers Marvel and Disney as well as film studios that have made movies and TV shows based on characters he created or co-created including Sony, Universal, Fox and Paramount says Bleeding Cool via Deadline Hollywood Daily.

Notable is that the estate has hired Marc Toberoff to litigate, the man who not that long ago helped “Superman” creator Jerry Seigel regain his share of copyright in the characters and their use in comics and other media from DC Comics and Warner Bros. Pictures. He also successfully won copyright cases for properties like “Get Smart,” “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “The Wild Wild West”.

If successful, the rights reversion wouldn’t come into effect until 2014. However Marvel/Disney would still own the trademarks meaning a negotiation will quite likely be made well before the deadline for Marvel to continue publishing comics based on his work.