2025 is absolutely going down as the year of the comic related lawsuit. We have Diamond’s chapter 11 along with all of the side suits, then there’s artists suing Cadence Comic Art. Now, Warner Bros. Discovery, along with Hanna-Barbera Productions, Turner Entertainment, DC Comics, and The Cartoon Network are suing AI startup Midjourney claiming the tech company “brazenly dispenses its intellectual property as if it were its own.” The filing was submitted September 4.

In June, Disney and Universal decided to sue Midjourney calling it a “bottomless pit of plagiarism.” In a filing, Warner Bros. Discovery highlighted that case as related.

Warner Bros. Discovery is accusing Midjourney of producing, displaying, and distributing “unauthorized derivatives” of its intellectual property including Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Bugs Bunny, Scooby-Doo, and more.

What’s interesting is that Warner Bros. Discovery claims that Midjourney is infringing even if specific characters aren’t mentioned. Using “classic comic book superhero battle” brings up characters like Superman, Flash, and Batman.

Warner Bros. Discovery further claims Midjourney is aware of its “breathtaking scope of its piracy and copyright infringement” but refuses to protect copyright holders.

It is hard to imagine copyright infringement that is any more willful than what Midjourney is doing here. Midjourney is purposefully exploiting Warner Bros. Discovery’s valuable intellectual property to attract subscribers to Midjourney, and it is profiting by providing subscribers with endless copies and derivatives of Warner Bros. Discovery’s Copyrighted Works.

In the filing there’s numerous examples comparing Warner Bros. Discovery’s original art and output by Midjourney and it goes into depth of representatives of the AI company admitting they don’t seek permission to use work protected by copyright as well as its use by individuals posted to various social media sites like Reddit, Instagram, Discord, and more.

Warner Bros. Discovery is seeking damages as well as the court to block Midjourney from copying, displaying, or distributing its intellectual property. It also wants Midjourney to stop offering AI tools without copyright protection measures.

Check out the initial filings below which are packed with examples from Warner Bros. Discovery: