History ExiledFromContinuity / LegalReasons

* For many years, there was an embargo of ''Franchise/WonderWoman''-related characters due to an obscure clause in the licensing agreements that forbade their use in any project wherein they were not featured in a "starring" role. This has meant that the second ComicBook/WonderGirl, Donna Troy, was initially not able to appear in DC's ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010''. Prior to this, Donna had been barred from appearing in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' and Wonder Woman was the only ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' cast member not to appear on ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock''. The Wonder Woman (and, by extension, Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark) embargo was eventually cleared up. Since then, Wonder Woman has appeared in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', the Cassie Sandsmark version of Wonder Girl joined ''Young Justice'' in Season 2 (though Donna did not but did eventually appear in Season 3), Donna Troy was featured in the ''WesternAnimation/SuperBestFriendsForever'' shorts, and has a cameo in the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' miniseries "Super Summer Hero Camp".

* For many years, there was an embargo of ''Franchise/WonderWoman''-related characters due to an obscure clause in the licensing agreements that forbade their use in any project wherein they were not featured in a "starring" role. This has meant that the second ComicBook/WonderGirl, Donna Troy, was initially not able to appear in DC's ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010''. Prior to this, Donna had been barred from appearing in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' and Wonder Woman was the only ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' cast member not to appear on ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock''. The Wonder Woman (and, by extension, Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark) embargo was eventually cleared up. Since then, Wonder Woman has appeared in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', the Cassie Sandsmark version of Wonder Girl joined ''Young Justice'' in Season 2 (though Donna did not but did eventually appear in Season 3), and Donna Troy was featured in the ''WesternAnimation/SuperBestFriendsForever'' shorts.

* Due to the way the TV rights for the ''Franchise/HannibalLecter'' franchise have been split between several different parties (including [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]] and the Dino De Laurentiis Company), the characters from ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', most notably Clarice Starling and Buffalo Bill, were barred from appearing in ''Series/{{Hannibal}}''. Likewise, ''Series/{{Clarice}}'' could use characters created for ''Silence of the Lambs'', but not Hannibal or anyone else from the other novels.

* When ''Franchise/FelixTheCat'' series got acquired by Creator/DreamWorksAnimation in 2014, [[https://www.newswire.com/news/exclusive-felix-the-cat-fine-artwork-from-don-oriolo-coming rights to the character of Poindexter stayed with Don Oriolo]]. Because of this, Poindexter has disappeared from the franchise with ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCatSavesChristmas'' being his last appearance. He doesn't appear in 2023 graphic novel and he has been replaced by his uncle, The Professor in 2024 re-release of [[VideoGame/FelixTheCat NES and Game Boy versions]].

* When ''Franchise/FelixTheCat'' series got acquired by Creator/DreamWorksAnimation in 2014, [[https://www.newswire.com/news/exclusive-felix-the-cat-fine-artwork-from-don-oriolo-coming rights to the character of Poindexter stayed with Don Oriolo]]. Because of this, Poindexter has disappeared from the franchise with ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCatSavesChristmas'' being his last appearance. He doesn't appear in 2023 graphic novel and he has been replaced by his uncle, The Professor in 2024 re-release of [[VideoGame/FelixTheCat NES game and Game Boy]].

* When ''Franchise/FelixTheCat'' series got acquired by Creator/DreamWorksAnimation in 2014, [[https://www.newswire.com/news/exclusive-felix-the-cat-fine-artwork-from-don-oriolo-coming rights to the character of Poindexter stayed with Don Oriolo]]. Because of this, Poindexter has disappeared from the franchise with ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCatSavesChristmas'' being his last appearance. He doesn't appear in 2023 graphic novel and he has been replaced by his uncle The Professor in 2024 re-release of [[VideoGame/FelixTheCat NES game and Game Boy]].

When ''Franchise/FelixTheCat'' series got acquired by Creator/DreamWorksAnimation in 2014, [[https://www.newswire.com/news/exclusive-felix-the-cat-fine-artwork-from-don-oriolo-coming rights to the character of Poindexter stayed with Don Oriolo]]. Because of this, Poindexter has disappeared from the franchise with ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCatSavesChristmas'' being his last appearance. He doesn't appear in 2023 graphic novel and he has been replaced by his uncle The Professor in 2024 re-release of [[VideoGame/FelixTheCat NES game and Game Boy]].

* Creator/LaurenFaust ran into this problem during the creation of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. Turns out Hasbro lost the rights to nearly all of the 1980's ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' character names (save for Applejack, Spike, and a few ponies whose names were reused for G3), so most of the main cast of the current cartoon ended up being {{Suspiciously Similar Substitute}}s of the originals with the G3 ponies' names. This seems to have improved as Tirek and Scorpan appear in the series, as has The Smooze and Grogar. Additionally, a girl who bears a very strong resemblance to Megan appears in the Equestria Girls special Rollercoaster of Friendship.

*** It is generally believed that ''VideoGame/SonicChroniclesTheDarkBrotherhood'' being rarely acknowledged by Sega nowadays is a result of this, as many of its plot elements were seemingly inspired by the Archie Comics, which was not lost on Penders. While Sega does own everything within ''Chronicles'', the legal lawsuit that Ken filed for stealing concepts in the game (but Sega ended up winning the lawsuit), plus the game being poorly received and developer Creator/{{BioWare}} being bought by Creator/ElectronicArts make it an easy choice for them to just ignore.

* The estates of Creator/JerrySiegelAndJoeShuster, original creators of Franchise/{{Superman}}, won a court ruling that the concept of ComicBook/{{Superboy}} belonged to them. This is believed to have led to the death of one character, UsefulNotes/{{the Modern Age|OfComicBooks}} clone ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}}, and the renaming of another. Even the ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes2006'' cartoon, which was ''based on'' the concept of Superboy, instead has a teenage "young Superman" as its star. And the DVD of the '60s Filmation Superman cartoons had the Superboy shorts deleted. A later ruling determined that Kon-El (the '90s clone Superboy) is different enough from the original Superboy ("our" Superman as a teenager) to be used with impunity. Even more, it's since been ruled that Superboy is now owned by DC Comics instead. However, there was the problem of ''Superman'', which started this mess and what many people think is the main reason for the ComicBook/New52. Since then, it's been ruled that DC owns Superman and his concepts flat out.

* When Creator/{{Rare}} was working with Nintendo, originally they planned on making the ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'', ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'', and ''[[VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay Conker]]'' [=IPs=] take place in the same universe. This is most apparent with ''VideoGame/DiddyKongRacing'', where Diddy Kong, Banjo, and Conker appeared together, and [[AllThereInTheManual the manual]] alluding to off-screen adventures explaining how they knew each other. However when Rare was bought out by [[Creator/XboxGameStudios Microsoft]], they were forced to drop this idea, resulting in the Donkey Kong and other Nintendo series no longer referencing any other Rare series. This notably impacted the aforementioned ''Diddy Kong Racing''; when it was remade for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, Banjo and Conker were replaced with Tiny Kong and Dixie Kong respectively, while the original Platform/Nintendo64 version never got a re-release. The only exception is when Banjo & Kazooie became playable characters in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' in 2019, but even then that game has characters from all different companies.

* Disney was unable to reuse Bowser from the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' franchise in the ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' sequel ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'', whilst once again omitting Mario from the feature after having previously cut him from ''Wreck-it Ralph'', after the ''Super Mario Bros.'' franchise's movie rights were acquired by Creator/{{Universal}} Studios almost a year before its release. To make up for their absence, an EasterEgg was added to where the background of Spamley's shack has yellow question mark blocks hidden in a stash full of game items. It should be noted that Creator/{{Nintendo}} ''did'' give Disney permission to use Mario in ''Wreck-it Ralph'', but the filmmakers didn't know where to fit him without turning the whole movie into a full-blown ''Mario'' adaptation. On the flip side, [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic and Dr. Eggman]], both of whom appeared in the previous film and whose [[Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020 movie rights]] were tied up with Creator/{{Paramount}}, were allowed to appear in ''Ralph Breaks the Internet'' at Paramount's blessing.

* When Creator/{{Rare}} was working with Nintendo, originally they planned on making the ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'', ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'', and ''[[VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay Conker]]'' [=IPs=] take place in the same universe. This is most apparent with ''VideoGame/DiddyKongRacing'', where Diddy Kong, Banjo, and Conker appeared together, and [[AllThereInTheManual the manual]] alluding to off-screen adventures explaining how they knew each other. However when Rare was bought out by [[Creator/XboxGameStudios Microsoft]], they were forced to drop this idea, resulting in the Donkey Kong and other Nintendo series no longer referencing any other Rare series. This notably impacted the aforementioned ''Diddy Kong Racing''; when it was remade for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, Banjo and Conker were replaced with Tiny Kong and Dixie Kong respectively, while the original UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 version never got a re-release. The only exception is when Banjo & Kazooie became playable characters in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' in 2019, but even then that game has characters from all different companies.

*** It is generally believed that ''VideoGame/SonicChroniclesTheDarkBrotherhood'' being rarely acknowledged by Sega nowadays is a result of this, as many of its plot elements were seemingly inspired by the Archie Comics, which was not lost on Penders. While Sega does own everything within ''Chronicles'', the aforementioned legal mess plus the game being poorly received and developer Creator/{{Bioware}}'s departure to Creator/ElectronicArts make it an easy choice for them to just ignore.

*** It is generally believed that ''VideoGame/SonicChroniclesTheDarkBrotherhood'' being rarely acknowledged by Sega nowadays is a result of this, as many of its plot elements were seemingly inspired by the Archie Comics, which was not lost on Penders. While Sega does own everything within ''Chronicles'', the aforementioned legal mess plus the game being a general sales failure and developer Creator/{{Bioware}}'s departure to Creator/ElectronicArts make it an easy choice for them to just ignore.

*** It is generally believed that ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'' being rarely acknowledged by Sega nowadays is a result of this, as many of its plot elements were seemingly inspired by the Archie Comics, which was not lost on Penders. While Sega does own everything within ''Chronicles'', the aforementioned legal mess plus the game being a general sales failure and developer Creator/{{Bioware}}'s departure to Creator/ElectronicArts make it an easy choice for them to just ignore.

*** It is generally believed that ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'' being rarely acknowledged by Sega nowadays is a result of this, as many of its plot elements were seemingly inspired by the Archie Comics, which was not lost on Penders. While Sega does own everything within ''Chronicles'', the aforementioned legal mess plus developer Creator/Bioware's departure to Creator/ElectronicArts make it an easy choice for them to just ignore.

*** It is generally believed that ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'' being rarely acknowledged by Sega nowadays is a result of this, as many of its plot elements were seemingly inspired by the Archie Comics, which was not lost on Penders.