Under 1978 copyright law, Spider-Man would have entered the public domain in 2019.
I just saw someone arguing that public domain Spider-Man would be a nightmare, cause then people could make him trans/gay/bi/etc.
Copyright law right now is on the side of evil and fascism.
Remember, copyright law isn’t protecting the PERSON who created Spider-Man. It’s protecting the robber baron inhuman corporation who hoards Spider-Man.
We live in a society where corporations take things from us — fictional characters, recipes for life-saving medicine — and then they tell us that we have to follow their rules in order to have those things doled back out to us on their terms.
As someone who’s become an expert at writing completely original fiction informed by a deep desire to play with copyrighted characters, I’d like to say:
Yes, it’s possible. But damn, life would be much more fun if our communally shared heroes weren’t locked in a corporate vault.