system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Superheroes] How much control does each hero (or villain) have over their own IP?

Can anyone just start selling Spider-man figurines or Superman towels? Since they're anonymous, does that mean they're not able to contact a lawyer to represent them in IP court?
gpt
For Spider-Man, it's been an ongoing problem that there's tons of unauthorized merch that Peter Parker gets no cut of, especially painful when he's having money problems.   


For Superman, he's very politely set up a non-profit charity that has the exclusive license to market his image, so while there are occasional bootlegs, most people recognize that the Superman Charity is worth supporting and buy the licensed T-Shirts or Hats.   


In general, it really depends on that hero's relationship with the law.