Superhero Inc.

A Corporate Entity formed in the aftermath of a settlement between the US Government and Shotties. It created a Public-Private organization similar to Amtrak or the USPO. This organization would handle all licensing of heroics in America and pay fees to government bodies.

## History

### Pre Lawsuit

The Precursor to Superhero Inc. was founded by the Department of Meta Affairs in 1971 by Director Hellion after disputes between the Department and Congress over funding for the organization. Nixon white house wanting to cut funding from the department some suspect because of its historic ties to political enemies.

Building off the success of small gift shops in the Iconic Cube and other teams, the idea was to supplement funding for the organization and build up its presence in the mind of regular Americans.

This lead to a growth of selling toys, comics, and eventually Video games using the Superheros of the Department. Starting in 1984 and affirmed after a contentious 1993 lawsuit (Estate of Doctor Fire vs DMA 1993) citing laws forbidding profiting from criminal activities they began using the likeness of Super-Villains and other criminals paying a percentage to funds to help those harmed by those activities. Starting in 2003 the DMA after a conflict with some of its Super Heros began paying royalties to the heroes whose likenesses were used.

in 2015 Allen Vitters was appointed head of the Marketing department, having previously worked for Toy Company Flightful Toys as head of product development. He began more aggressively pursuing new marketing and merchandising options, including aggressive expansion overseas, rumor this was resisted by Director Hellion.

The Vitters era saw a growth in the revenue of the Merchandising department for the DMA allowing a more aggressive and rapid rebuilding after the 08-12 scale back.

### Shotties Lawsuit

The well known Super Hero Themed Breastaurant Shotties had been using waitresses dressed as a sexual version of well-known superheroes (some without much if any change to the costumes, see controversies below) had been growing and making a hefty profit from these works. This was brought to the Attention of Vitters who saw this as blatant and aggressive copyright infringement, that had been ignored for decades. Also complaints had been filled with the DMA by parents group who saw official government superhero costumes being sold in same pop-up stores that in back would sell sexualized versions branded by Shotties.

This came to a head when standard copyright cease and desist letter was sent to Shottiesdemanding an end to all infringing practices. As these practices were the primary profit driver of Shotties it was rejected. This lead to a formal filing of legal proceedings against Shotties by the Government in DMA VS. HotShot Holdings (Shotties parent company)

The Government claim was that the copyrights of various Super Heroins were being infringed by the Shotties Waitresses and related merchandise. This claim was contested with a counter lawsuit that sighted under the 1974 copyright act that the DMA was not legally allowed to hold copyright in the United States, only abroud, so any Shotties products sold in the United States and Territories (representing 100% of Shotties Revaeue) thus could not infringe.

This counter Claim eventually proved successful and the original lawsuit was thrown out as it was ruled the DMA had no claim of damages. This lead to a reorganizing of copyright holdings and financial compensation to HotShot Holdings.

#### Accusations of Punitive Retaliation

After the counter claim was fille,d Dan "Big D" Danielson was arrested in front of his home in Las Vegas Nevada. He was charged with Violating the *Mutant Safty, Education, and Registration Act* by not registering his potentially dangerous or criminal mutant abilities. While Dan Danielson is a mutant, his ability is the change the color of his Hair or Eyes to other naturally occurring colors. As his ability can easily be replicated by cheap costume supplies he had felt, and many people agreed, that it fell under the exception that relatively benign abilities did not need to be registered.

He claimed and many of his supporters agreed that he was being arrested and harassed in retaliation for the lawsuit.

Eventually, the case against him was dropped, but no official word on why was ever made.

### Post Lawsuit/Founding

After the humiliation of the lawsuit had passed, the DMA requested of congress and was granted to create a new public private corporation to hold the copyrights of all heroes, as allowed under the 1974 law.

This was a rapid and panicked creation overseen by Allen Vitters who was also fighting for his career. Many saw the failed lawsuit as a direct result of his expansion and leadership. The rushed and heated political infighting lead to the creation of a board that would be politically appointed that would oversee the new SuperHero Inc. but that the direct day to day leadership would not be political appointies, and that Allen Vitters would be the first CEO of the new company. They were transferred a budget to start operation as well as assets were transferred over. They then were made the owner of licenses for Heros and other related IP.

Also in this they were forced to stop counter suits from Shotties agree to a very generous licensing terms for the breasturant to continue to operate.

## Activities

The main focus of SuperHero Inc. is of course the mass merchandising of the wide number of heroes who work for the DMA as well as the IPs of villains. They partner with a wide range of partners to license the images to reputable partners.

### Non-Merchandising Activities

Beyond the handling of licensing SuperHero Inc. has taken handling a lot of PR for heroes who want to increase their royalties from sales. This includes public appearances, media blitz, and convention appearances.

## Divisions

The organization quickly ramped up, to become a media licensing behemoth.

### Physical Merchandise

The main division and largest they handle the licensing of physical media except children's toys, who were spun to a new division. This is the division that handles the licensing of the collectible action figures, high end figurines, cards and more. This division works with heroes as well to encourage changes to help maximize revenue.

### Children's Engagement

This division is a hodge podge focusing on youth engagement. Putting focus on making sure children look up to the heroes that defend America and the world.This includes a wide range of properties as well as the popular TV Show "Friend Force" that shows a collection of heroes teaching morals and educational material.

### Media

handles movies and tv made with the licenses.Video Gameshandles the range of officially licensed video games.

### Personal Appearances

Handling conventions and other functions. This is finding times to try and establish when a hero can make an appearance and try to minimize poor appearances at potentially controversial locations.

## Controversies

The history of the DMA's merchandising and Super Hero inc itself has faced a wide range of controversies, here are some of the biggest themes.

### Profiting from Criminals

Some people have pointed out that by selling figures and other things containing the likeness of well known supervillains that the company profits sometimes greatly from the actions of these supervillains. This leads some to claim that the supervillains are in fact backed by SuperHero Inc., the company dismisses these as outrageous conspiracies. Per Super Hero Inc President Allen Vitters "These claims are as credible as the one that the Denver Airport was built by Yetis".

### Sexualization of Female Heroes

While many female, and male, heroes have displayed and expressed their own sexuality many claim it has increased especially among the woman since Superhero inc. Dating back to When Vitter took over merchandising a push to counter the growing bootleg and alternative markets for images of well known female heroes, he started encouraging the woman to take control over their own images. While the organization has always insisted that they never forced anyone it is not hard to notice the growth in Figurines, posters, prints, and other merchandise highlighting female heroes' beauty. Others have pointed out that many of the costumes have become more suggestive.

This controversy has not at all impact on the success of the lines, including a series called Vixens that features heroes in suggestive poses for collectors to hide on their shelves. The line has been a very high seller despite the often high prices they are pegged at.