Comic Books, Thanos, and Intellectual Property

So I'm sure we've all seen "The Avengers" by now. If you haven't, that's your problem, I'm going to spoil the very ending anyway and I'm not hiding it behind the jump.

...

They all eat shawarma.

Oh, and Thanos was behind the entire plot.

Thanos the Mad Titan is well-known for trying to get in Death's pants and for bringing the Marvel Universe to its knees with the Infinity Gauntlet, but that's neither here nor there.

Much like Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. showing up in "Iron Man", Thanos' inclusion in the movie 'verse was simultaneously meant to excite comic fans and intrigue those who don't read the comics, who would then ask their excited companions what the fuss was about.

So now Marvel is doing a bit of a Thanos push. He's recently appeared in the heinously bad "Avengers Assemble" comic, which is intended to get the movie-goers into comics (I really doubt it will succeed) and it's implied that he will be heavily involved in the probable "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie that will probably be announced this week, as well as in the inevitable "Avengers 2".

Meanwhile, the creator of Thanos, Jim Starlin, has been a little cheesed off. While he hasn't taken legal action yet, he does seem a little offended that Marvel is doing stuff with his character and not paying him or even inviting him to screenings or press events.

Now, as reported on DigitalSpy, Starlin has posted his earliest drawing of Thanos and is passive-aggressively asking for some sort of compensation.

To quote: "This is the second film that had something I created for Marvel in it - the Infinity Gauntlet in Thor being the other - and both films I had to pay for my own ticket to see them," and also, "Financial compensation to the creators of these characters doesn't appear to be part of the equation."

My heart goes out to Starlin, really. It does suck that he has absolutely no control, creative or otherwise, on the character he created and that he isn't seeing a cent for the new things being done with the character. And if, as this article implies, Marvel has lost their records of whatever agreement they reached with Starlin regarding his work, then he is well within his rights to demand some sort of financial arrangement for Marvel's use of the character that he legitimately proved to create.

HOWEVER, I do not think Starlin has any moral or ethical right to demand financial compensation just because he created the character. It may be within his LEGAL right depending on the circumstances, but I don't think he has any genuine right to be upset about the state of things.