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Jack Kirby To Be Made A Disney Legend At D23 Ahead Of What Would Have Been His 100th Birthday

Published Fri, 16 Jun 2017 12:28:59 -0500

This July, Jack Kirby will be honoured for his riole in creating the Marvel Universe as a Disney Legend in a ceremony to be held at D23 Expo: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim, California.

Hosted by Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger, the Disney Legends Award ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 14, in Hall D23 during D23 Expo 2017.

Disney PR states,

JACK KIRBY first grabbed our attention in the spring of 1941 with Captain America, a character he created with Joe Simon. Kirby then followed this debut with a prolific output of comic books in the Western, Romance, and Monster genres–all a prelude to his defining work helping to create the foundations of the Marvel Universe. For the next decade, Kirby and co-creator Stan Lee would introduce a mind-boggling array of new characters and teams — including the Avengers, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Ant-Man, Wasp, Black Panther, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Inhumans. Kirby was inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame's 1987 inaugural class and continued creating comics throughout the '90s before passing away in 1994.

Marvel – and then Disney – spent decades in litigation with the estate of Jack Kirby. Battling for creator rights, Kirby famously never received a penny in royalties from his Marvel work when he was alive. On 2014, Marvel/Disney settled with his family for what was described to Bleeding Cool as a mid-eight figure sum. Since then, Marvel and Disney have been more open to using Jack Kirby name and work for promotional purposes.

Kirby passes away in 1994. This August would have been his 100th birthday.

Other honourees of this year's Legends Award are Carrie Fisher, Clyde "Gerry" Geronimi, Manuel Gonzales, Mark Hamill, Stan Lee, Garry Marshall, Julie Taymor, and Oprah Winfrey.

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