In 1978, Alan Aronson was a full-time, salaried typesetter employed by Outstanding Comics. As he sat at his desk toiling away at print layout, he dreamed of one day becoming like the "creatives" who made heroes come to life. Every night, Aronson went home after work and created a story and art about his own superhero, "Captain Terrific." Captain Terrific began life as Theodore Thurmond, a bookish assistant at a lab where a team of scientists were developing "power bands" that would absorb light energy and transfer that energy to the wearer. One day while performing a routine check on the bands, the bands latched onto Thurmond's wrists and he was unable to remove them. The bands gave Thurmond superhuman strength, stamina, fortitude, flight, and the ability to emit bursts of blinding light from the bands.

By late autumn, Aronson had made a handmade comic book about Captain Terrific. He wrote " Alan Aronson 1978" on the back of it. On October 1, 1978, Aronson brought his handmade book to the Editor-in-Chief of Outstanding Comics, Bentley Bromwell. Bromwell liked the book but said "it would be better if he were called 'Captain Outstanding.'" Aronson responded that if Outstanding Comics would publish his story, they could call the character whatever they wanted. On October 22, 1978, Aronson and Outstanding Comics signed a contract "acknowledging that Outstanding Comics owns all rights in Theodore Thurmond, Captain Terrific, Captain Outstanding, and all related concepts and stories now existing or created in the future." Outstanding Comics paid Aronson a "bonus" of $10,000.

Captain Outstanding first appeared in a book calledOutstanding Showcase, a compilation of several short comic vignettes about new superheroes, published by Outstanding Comics in 1979. Outstanding Showcase used Aronson's original design and story, but all the drawing, inking, coloring, and lettering was done by new artists. Soon thereafter, Captain Outstanding got his own series.Outstanding Showcaseand each issue ofCaptain Outstandingwere published with a copyright notice naming Outstanding Comics as the copyright owner, and Outstanding registered its copyright in each issue.

Captain Outstanding shares many traits with other comic book superheroes, many of whom begin life as bookish or mild-mannered nobodies, gain powers when some item of technology "chooses" them for greatness, and decide to use those powers to help others. Like many such comic book heroes, Captain Outstanding's costume is skintight and nationalistically colored in red and blue, with an insignia on the chest.

Captain Outstanding became very popular. In addition to comic books, Captain Outstanding has been the main character in two animated TV series, one newspaper comic strip, three live-action feature films, and countless toys and related merchandise. In each of the feature films, he was played by a different blond actor. The following pictures represent three different eras of Captain Outstanding:

Outstanding Comics made Captain Outstanding the leader of the "Outstanding Alliance," a group of five superheroes who saved the world many times. The Outstanding Alliance included a man with the proportional strength and armor of a beetle, a woman with the power to turn invisible, a man with exceptionally good aim, and a computer hacker who stays behind to support the team while they are on missions. Although the configuration of the Outstanding Alliance was new, teams of superheroes are common in the genre, as are insect-themed superheroes, women who turn invisible, men with exceptionally good aim, and computer hackers who stay behind in supporting roles.

After retiring from his typesetting job at Outstanding Comics, Aronson had earned a modest income at comic book conventions ("Come meet the creator of Captain Outstanding!"), but he had never seen any direct income from Captain Outstanding after his initial "bonus" payment. Aronson died in 1992, survived by his only daughter, Cheryl. (Aronson's wife had died before him.) Cheryl inherited Aronson's entire estate, such as it wasat the time of his death, Aronson had as many debts as he did assets. On January 10, 2011, Cheryl served a procedurally proper "Notice of Termination" on Outstanding Comics, stating that on October 23, 2014, Cheryl would terminate Aronson's transfer of copyright ownership regarding Captain Outstanding and everything related to him. Outstanding Comics wrote back, stating that because Captain Outstanding was a Work Made for Hire, Cheryl was ineligible to terminate any transfer.

In 2015, Vision Comics created and launched a gritty series calledThe Wonder.The Wonderexplored what it would be like if superheroes appeared in the real world. How would people actually react? What sorts of people would decide to hide their identities, wear outlandish costumes, and run toward danger on a vigilante basis? The series implied that vigilante superheroes would likely be narcissistic sociopaths and would cause more harm than good to society at large. The main character ofThe Wonderwas Captain Wonder. Captain Wonder was the alter ego of Edward Edwards, a bookish assistant at a lab where a team of scientists were developing "super bands" that would absorb cosmic rays and transfer that energy to the wearer. One day while performing a routine check on the bands, the bands latched onto Edwards' wrists, and he was unable to remove them. The bands gave Edwards superhuman strength, stamina, fortitude, flight, and the ability to emit bursts of stunning energy from the bands. Captain Wonder was the leader of a superhero team called The Wonder, who have saved the world numerous times and, in exchange, encourage people to worship them as gods. The Wonder included a man with the proportional strength of a centipede and many arms, a woman with the power to turn invisible, a man with exceptionally good aim, and a computer hacker who stays behind to support the team while they're on missions.The Wonderwas hailed by critics as "a masterwork of skepticism for our time" and developed a very large following. A "The Wonder" feature film is currently in production as a major summer tentpole movie.

On January 15, 2016, independent filmmaker Darya Dilshad started a crowdfunding campaign on the popular crowdfunding site FilmFunder to raise money for a "professional quality, independently produced, non-commercial Captain Outstanding fan film" called "Captain Outstanding: Distant Ties." Dilshad's proposed film would use professional crew and actors, but would be funded entirely by FilmFunder donations and would be distributed for free over the Internet. FilmFunder donors would get their names in the credits and would receive high-quality pre-release copies of the film. (Bigger donors would get bigger perks like a "walk-on role" in the film.) Like other crowdfunding sites, FilmFunder charges a "service fee" of 5% of all donations to projects that are successfully funded. The terms of use of FilmFunder include a statement that "FilmFunder can discontinue a campaign at any time for any reason. If we discontinue a campaign, you and your donors will receive full refunds." FilmFunder uses email and social media to promote projects that it thinks are likely to be successfully funded, and it selected Dilshad's as one to promote.

The main character in Dilshad's film would be Captain Outstanding. The story would be based on a storyline in Captain Outstanding issue #84, when Captain Outstanding has to fight off an attack by the first alien species ever to make themselves known on Earththe Kal'tathians. In that issue, the aliens knew Captain Outstanding's alter ego name, but the film never explained why or how. The question of how the Kal'tathians learned Captain Outstanding's name had become a source of great debate among die-hard Captain Outstanding fans. In Captain Outstanding issue #221, in an unrelated context, Captain Outstanding said, "When I was a kid, my mother told me I had a cousin who was abducted by aliens and never came back. She was always telling stories like that." Dilshad's film would combine the two fictional facts into a new story, in which Captain Outstanding discovers that his cousin had indeed been abducted by aliensby the Kal'tathians, in factand has to rescue his cousin from the Kal'tathian home planet. In her FilmFunder page, Dilshad has written: "This film not only tells a story that fans are aching to hear, but by putting Captain Outstanding in contact with an unfamiliar culture and species, it provides opportunities to explore issues of race, cultural stereotypes, and 'otherness' that Outstanding Comics has all too often avoided in its official works."

Dilshad's FilmFunder campaign has raised over $2 million. This is a small fraction of the $180 million budget for the third official Captain Outstanding film, but it is many times more than the usual "fan production" would cost to make, because Dilshad is hiring professionals to make it. (Everyone involved in the film, including some well-known actors, has agreed to work for the minimum amounts permitted by their respective unions.) As part of the FilmFunder campaign, Dilshad has written: "CO: Distant Tiesis not just an independent Captain Outstanding film; it is the beginning of a whole new way that fans can get the content they want, by funding it themselves. Why dump hundreds or thousands of dollars a year on 400 cable channels, when what you really want is a few good sci-fi and adventure shows? Hollywood is changing." A survey of FilmFunder donors to Dilshad's campaign reveals that 91% of them are "very likely" to purchase a movie theater ticket to see a new official Captain Outstanding film, if and when Outstanding Comics makes one.

Outstanding Comics has sued Vision Comics in the Central District of California, claiming thatThe Wonderinfringes Outstanding Comics' copyright in Captain Outstanding, the Outstanding Alliance, and related copyrightable works. What does Outstanding Comics own copyright in, and why?