Same thing happened to "jeep". Soliders in World War II coined the word, and then many years later, a judge let Chrysler privatize it. Corporations first. People last.
When I was a kid in the 1960s, I sometimes read comic books from ACG, which had few superheroes, and specialized in horror and fantasy. When superheroes were referred to in the letter columns, they were usually called "costume heroes". Now, I know why.
@4 - Not exactly. DC first trademarked the word, and claim they invented it (at least in the context of comics/dudes in tights). They moved to the shared arrangement when Marvel stopped doing comics about pirates and started doing things like Spidey.
What I don't understand is that DC understood that it benefit them to let Marvel to use the term "superhero," in a rising-tide-lifts-all-ships sort of way. So why not, at this point, let everybody use it? This action just makes Marvel and DC look like the bullies they should be working hard not to be. Bleargh.
Also, can't the rest of spell it super-hero? It kinda makes more sense in most non-proper noun contexts that way anyhow.
That almost seems like it should qualify as collusion.
What I don't understand is that DC understood that it benefit them to let Marvel to use the term "superhero," in a rising-tide-lifts-all-ships sort of way. So why not, at this point, let everybody use it? This action just makes Marvel and DC look like the bullies they should be working hard not to be. Bleargh.