Who owns the rights to “Hulkamania” “Hulk Hogan” and “Hulkster”?
Marvel Comics. When Hulk Hogan first wrestled under the “Hulk” name he was known at “The Incredible Hulk Hogan”. Marvel Comics had a television show and comic book at the time called “The Incredible Hulk”. Marvel thought the WWF was copying their “Hulk” character and warned WWF to stop. Instead of stopping the “Hulkamania” character the WWF made a deal with Marvel to recognize Marvel as the owner of all the “Hulk” names and in return Marvel gave the WWF a license to merchandise the Hulk name. When Hulk Hogan went to WCW they signed a similar deal with Marvel. It should be noted that when Hulk Hogan became Hollywood Hogan he tried to cancel the Marvel deal but it didn’t work out well and the deal is still alive.
Marvel Comics. Marvel came out with their Incredible Hulk comic book character long before Vince McMahon dreamed up Hulk Hogan. When the Hulk Hogan character was created, McMahon gave Hogan the title “The Incredible Hulk Hogan”. Marvel objected to the use of their intellectual property. Specifically, Marvel objected to the use of all words derived from their “Incredible Hulk” comic book character. So, Titan Sports and Marvel Comics worked out a deal: Titan recognized Marvel as the owner of the Hulk-derived words and Marvel gave Titan an exclusive license to merchandise the Hulk-derived words. When Hogan joined WCW in 1994, WCW obtained a license to produce Hulk Hogan merchandise. Presumably the details were similar to the license the WWF had.
