The 1991 movie is one of two projects Disney ever made with the character. Soon they might not be able to do any more.
Boardwalk Times, a Disney media news site, is reporting that the estate of the comic’s creator is getting ready to call back the rights.
In a major legal development, The Rocketeer Trust, represented by trustee Jennifer Bawcum (sister of the late The Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens), has moved to reclaim the underlying copyright rights to the iconic jetpack-wearing hero from Walt Disney Pictures, potentially putting an end to Disney’s era with the franchise.
Under federal copyright law, original creators or their statutory heirs have the right to terminate past licensing agreements and reclaim their intellectual property after a 35-year window. According to the filing, the Trust served the notice via tracked, high-priority international mail on June 11, 2026—striking almost the exact moment the 35-year eligibility window opened from Dave Stevens’ original 1991 deal with Disney (The Rocketeer was released in theaters on June 21, 1991). The document lists six specific foundational copyright registrations under The Rocketeer title that will revert fully to the estate. The effective date of this termination is set for June 12, 2028.
That means Disney has two years to do anything meaningful with the franchise, and so far they’ve failed to do that. Outside of the movie, which failed at the box office but has developed a small fan following, and a Disney Junior cartoon that just barely acknowledged the hero of the franchise, there have been a few failed attempts at doing another production with The Rocketeer, a character inspired by the old “rocket men” movie serials. With so little movement, the estate wants to farm the rights out to other studios…and given what Disney has and had planned to do, it’s probably a good move.
Moving to different publishers over the years, The Rocketeer begins in 1938, though the comic started in the 1980s. The late Dave Stevens, who passed from hairy cell leukemia in 2008, was inspired by the pulp heroes of the period as well as Republic Serials’ “rocket men” heroes Jeff King and Commando Cody. Cody had a couple of serials under his belt while Jeff King had one too many. I spent a summer going over King Of The Rocket Men for Saturday Night Showcase, and the cliffhangers were terrible. “Gee, how is the guy with a rocket pack going to survive a crashing airplane?” Even when it had a different cliffhanger the resolution was “he just moved out the way and was okay”. Commando Cody had better offerings, and introduced Leonard Nimoy as one of the bad aliens. The rocket men battled mad scientists, criminals, and alien invaders. Stevens opted for the second option.
The story of the Rocketeer is that of Cliff Secord, an air show pilot who finds a jet pack in his plane. It was hidden there by Nazi criminals who had stolen it from Howard Hughes in the movie, but not in the comics I guess. Long story short, Cliff ends up becoming a hero with the rocket pack, his helmet designed by his friend Peevy (based on Jonny Quest creator Doug Wildey according to Wikipedia–question the source), and when World War II happened he even fought Nazis. The movie decided to change the name of Cliff’s love interest from Bettie Page (based on an actual model from the 1950s, who interestingly died the same year as Stevens) to Jenny Blake. Various creators, including Stevens himself, had him fight the usual mad scientists, Nazis, and in at least one comic I’ve read some kind of eldritch horror. It has a small but devoted fan following, and I do enjoy the franchise itself, including the movie, which might have bombed but gained more fan support in later years.
So the flop is probably why they didn’t try for a sequel, as even the later fan base wasn’t that huge. They did, however, make this:
I reviewed it when it first came out, and credit where it’s due, Cliff Secord’s Rocketeer was treated as a hero, unlike replaced heroes recently. The town is named “Hughesville” after Howard Hughes. Peevy is still around, though it’s one of her friends (an actual boy that gets to be smart and inventive) that took over as her gadget guru. It wasn’t necessarily a bad show, but it’s definitely not what fans of the comic or the movie wanted. I’m not going to dump on it for following the Disney Junior formula of making the heroes kids. The Marvel shows deaged the Marvel heroes and villains. PJ Masks was based on a French book series about heroes who fight crime against other kid villains like the night is some other world. (Not counting the other worlds that exist in that series.) Even the Star Wars series has kids flying spaceships and learning to become a Jedi (plus the “not so secret gay agenda with lesbian parents and probably some non-binaries.) Animal heroes aren’t even safe. Instead of dogs and cats we get puppies and kittens. It’s how Disney Junior operates, taking “you look like me” to the dumbest level. I don’t hate the idea, but it’s all they make.
The problem started with Cliff not being the Rocketeer himself, rather an inspiration to his racially diverse granddaughter Kit Secord, who is given the rocket pack on her birthday, where she’s too young to even have a pilot’s license outside of Disney Junior’s worlds, out of nowhere. She redesigns the entire suit (she at least tried to wear the helmet, but of course they needed one that didn’t cover her face while flying faster than the many cars she’s not old enough to drive). While a decent heroine and good for kids there’s no reason she needed to be the Rocketeer other than Disney had the license and knew there’d be comparisons by people who didn’t see the old serials or the Tailspin episode that also homaged the rocket men. Granted none of those people were in the target age group, hadn’t seen the movie, and wouldn’t have cared if she was called Jetgirl, but let’s move on.
It’s not the only attempt Disney made, according to the Boardwalk Times article, but it does showcase that Disney was still in it’s early DEI phase:
Disney has attempted to develop new iterations of The Rocketeer for years due to its cult classic status. In 2016, a film titled The Rocketeers was in development. The reboot sequel would have followed a black female pilot taking on the mantle of The Rocketeer after Cliff Secord goes missing while fighting the Nazis. In 2021, the project evolved into David Oyelowo’s The Return of the Rocketeer, which Oyelowo was going to star in as a former Tuskegee Airman who inherits the mantle. J.D. Dillard (Devotion) was going to direct the film before leaving the project. The film was originally going to be straight to Disney+. Reports emerged in mid-2025 that the project was quietly shelved.
Black female…in 1940s America? Neither of those groups were flying much, and even though there were Tuskegee Airmen and women pilots if memory serves (not in the combat field–the women carried supplies I think), that just seems unnecessary to fans who would just want to see Cliff Secord. If you wanted a “Red Tails” take, which could have been interesting, it didn’t need to be the Rocketeer, a character based on a preexisting hero type. I created a whole team of rocket man type heroes once in present day, and it included racial and gender diversity. None of them replaced Cliff Secord, Jeff King (minimal as that loss would be), or Commando Cody. It’s just more brandfic, ruining what could have been a good solo idea while angering fans of the existing one. Just make new.
Meanwhile, Disney will still own their movie, which I recommend because it came out when the story came first and superhero movies were just starting to get more proper adaptations, and the cartoon, which I recommend for the most part for the kids from what little I saw. This is not how they do things anymore, and that’s the real reason this is kind of a rescue operation. Disney can’t make a white male lead anymore because social agendas are more important to them than storytelling. That’s what get them awards, which is all they care about even if they aren’t activists. Hopefully Steven’s sister can find someone who will just make a Cliff Secord in 1939/1940s movie. Anyone else can create their own rocket man and tell their story in any time period past or present where the tech would make sense. If it’s good I’ll watch it, but not if you try to tell me it’s the Rocketeer. If it isn’t the proper Cliff Secord, it’s not the Rocketeer.
