PUBLIC DOMAIN SUPER HEROES MISSION STATEMENT
WHAT ARE WE DOING? AND WHY ARE WE DOING IT?
This is the universe you imagined as a kid — only now, it’s real.
At Public Domain Super Heroes, we’re
building a shared world where the legends of the past return to fight
again — but this time, they share the same sky. Flash Gordon and
Hawkman. The Spider and Captain Midnight. John Carter and Wonder
Woman. Heroes who were never meant to meet finally can — because
the law now lets them. Or soon will.
Over then next decade and a half, a
huge swath of well known superhero and adventure titles and
characters will enter the Public Domain, allowing anyone to use them
in their own stories, within certain parameters. Our intention here
is to bring all those characters and their mythologies together in
one place, in one universe.
This is a creative universe built on the foundations of public domain law; that magic moment when old stories become new again, free for all to reinterpret, rebuild, and re-imagine. We carefully track what’s legally usable and respect what isn’t. That means:
- Characters, stories, and visuals
whose copyrights have expired are fair game.
- Trademarks, logos,
and proprietary versions (like modern film depictions) are off-limits and we stay far away from them. We can't use the trademarked
names to sell anything, so they can't be in book or comic book titles
or on T-shirts. They can be used within books, comics or film as
part of the narrative.
We build with original designs, new ideas, and deep respect for the source material.
We don’t parody. We don’t copy. We resurrect, reforge, and reimagine. This project is about honouring the pulp, noir, superhero, and sci-fi roots of 20th-century storytelling, while building something wholly new for the 21st.
We believe:
- The old heroes never
truly die. They just wait for someone to remember them.
- Kids
shouldn’t need a legal degree to see The Flash fight alongside Flash
Gordon.
- Nostalgia is power. But evolution is what keeps it
alive.
We started with a single novella. We’re growing a universe and it has rules:
No multi-verse.
No time travel
ret-cons.
No do-overs.
If you’ve ever dreamed of a world where every story fits together, where the lines between mythologies mesh instead of blur, welcome aboard.
It’s about time.
