Disney/Marvel

You may think of Stan Lee when you hear the word Marvel, but the comic-book giant has also been called "the house that Jack built."



One of history's most influential comic book artists, Jack Kirby had a hand in creating more than 200 characters for both Marvel and DC Comics, including Captain America, the Hulk, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor, and Spider-Man.

Since Disney bought Marvel in 2009, Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man have led hugely successful movie franchises like "The Avengers," which made more than $1.5 billion, while licensed movie properties like 20th Century Fox's X-Men franchise and Sony's Spider-Man franchise are also box-office gold.

Kirby's kids say their dad is the true owner of his characters and they are asking the Supreme Court to hear their case, which seeks to recover the copyrights for characters the now-deceased artist created for Marvel between 1958 and 1963.

"The case deals with a substantial amount of the key character franchises for which Disney paid Marvel $4.2 billion and which may now be worth twice that amount," Marc Toberoff , a lawyer for Lisa, Neal, Susan, and Barbara Kirby recently told Business Insider. Toberoff added, "This is like the mother of all copyright cases because of its implications."

Jack Kirby and the creation of the First Avenger

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AP Photo/Titan Books

Jack Kirby (left) with Captain America co-creator Joe Simon.

In 1940, Kirby created his first character, Captain America, along with writer-editor Joe Simon, for Timely Comics (which became Marvel Comics in the ‘60s).

The first copy, which showed the Captain punching Hitler in the jaw, was a hit with one million sales, according to “Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution.” After its success, Kirby joined Simon at Timely as its art director.

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Marvel

The first issue of "Captain America."

Timely paid Kirby and Simon relatively low salaries, only $75 and $85 a week, respectively, according to "Tales to Astonish."



T he two ended up heading over to DC Comics, where they asked for $250 a week each along with a one-year contract.

When Simon and Kirby left Timely, Stan Lee (who would later become Marvel's chairman and president) took over as top editor and art director after starting out there as an assistant.

Timely, now known as Atlas Comics, tried to revive Captain America with Lee as a writer; however, the comics weren’t as big of a success and the storyline was retired.

The Stan Lee And Jack Kirby Era Of Marvel

Kirby and Simon eventually went their separate ways, with Kirby doing a lot of freelance work for DC and Atlas, which eventually evolved into Marvel Comics. Soon after, Kirby started working primarily with Lee, who was in a far more powerful position this time around.

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