Disney will install a plaque honoring Jack Kirby at Avengers Campus in Disney California Adventure — a cheap piece of brass for the man who co-created the characters that built a multi-billion-dollar empire he was never properly paid for.
Kirby co-created the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men, and more — the entire foundation of Marvel's cinematic and theme-park gold mine. For decades, he fought Marvel for credit and for the return of his original artwork while the corporation raked in fortunes off his imagination. Now Disney, which acquired Marvel in 2009 for $4 billion, is putting his name on a wall. Stan Lee already has a plaque in the park, according to WDWNT — Lee, the guy who got the fame, the fortune, and the executive title while Kirby did the heavy lifting in the studio.
The plaque bears a quote: "The person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt a real superhero." A nice sentiment. Also a convenient one for a corporation that wants you focused on heroism and not on who actually got compensated.
Meanwhile, Disney is busy wringing every last dollar out of Kirby's creations. At D23, the company announced the Avengers Infinity Defense attraction opening in 2028, featuring Robert Downey Jr. returning as Iron Man alongside Anthony Mackie, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, and Iman Vellani, according to Vulture. Downey — who recently made headlines by being cast as Dr. Doom — is back in the suit that made him one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood. The ride sends guests through Asgard, Wakanda, and New York City to fight King Thanos. Every world in that attraction was born from Kirby's pencil.
WDWNT framed the plaque as straightforward good news — "are you excited?" — without a word about the decades-long fight over Kirby's legacy. Vulture didn't mention Kirby at all, focusing instead on the star-studded ride announcement and Downey's return. Neither outlet touched the obvious tension: Disney is honoring a man it marginalized only after his creations became too profitable to ignore.
Kirby was born Jacob Kurtzberg, the son of Jewish immigrants, and grew up on the Lower East Side — the kind of working-class American story the company now wraps in corporate DEI language while the actual creators and their families spent years in court just to get their names attached to their own work.
A plaque is not justice. It's a receipt — and the price was awfully low.
