For 33 Years We Believed the X-Men Theme Was Original, But It Was Actually a Violation of a Hungarian 80s Kung Fu Series' Song
October 31, 1992, on the FOX Kids network marked a new step in the conquest of the collective imagination of millennial children with the launch of the animated series 'X-Men'. And yes, immediately that iconic introduction with a sequence of notes that have become synonymous with mutants in Marvel came to your mind. Its creator, Ron Wasserman (also the author of the opening theme of 'Power Rangers', who wrote it in just two and a half hours), took two weeks to do it... or at least, that's what he claims.
Unveiling the Claws
We go back eight years earlier, to November 2, 1984, far from FOX Kids and the United States. More specifically to Hungary and the Magyar Televizió network, where the series 'Linda' premiered, a kung fu series starring a female detective that lasted six years and a total of 22 episodes that made Nóra Görbe a star in the country. In fact, she even had a revival in 2002, and still enjoys good health in the European country. Not only for its proposal and its retro feel, but because its main theme music hooks you from the first listen.
As you can already guess, the theme of 'Linda' and the theme of 'X-Men' are, in essence, the same, but with different intentions, rhythms, and instruments. However, the main riff, that one we all think of and that has been repeated not only in 'X-Men 97', but also in 'Ms. Marvel' or 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' (and, as expected, it will sound again in 'Avengers: Doomsday'), is exactly the same as the Hungarian series' theme. And it's too much, that in 2019 Zoltán Krisko, who was the manager of György Vukán, the author of the theme, filed a lawsuit against Marvel, Disney, Wasserman, and even Shuky Levy and Haim Saban, who had signed as false co-composers of the theme.
Wasserman defends that the theme he wrote it himself without help from anyone: "I work alone. My brain is so full of ideas that having the distraction of a person or a phone breaks my rhythm. When I was writing 'X-Men', I had learned to play or emulate any instrument so I could do any part. Just me, a MIDI keyboard and a computer "". It seems there was no case, but in 2020 the judge in the New York District, Gregory H. Woods, asked that Wasserman be removed from the list of defendants (not because he was not guilty, but because New York has no jurisdiction over a song composed in California), but the trial would proceed as usual. And it's clear that he had a hard time writing the legal text.
A Settlement Signed in Adamantium
The Professor Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters was built to defend the different. Mutants travel (or teleport) from all over the world to find refuge within the walls of the institute and learn to cultivate their abilities to protect what makes them unique. For those of us who unfortunately lack the X gene, copyright law offers something similar: safeguarding the rights of the unique and gifted to protect their original creations.
It was not, then, a mad rush or the conjecture of a fool seeking quick money: there was a case (except in Japan, where the theme was replaced in its day by 'Rising', by Ambience). Indeed, in January 2021, to avoid worse outcomes, the defendants and the plaintiff reached an out-of-court settlement, the details of which are not known, but it must have been firm enough to allow 'X-Men 97' to be launched without fear of the lawsuit resurfacing or new allegations.
On the other hand, 'Linda', despite the constant rumors of a remake or even a movie, remained in the memory and nostalgia of a Hungary that was beginning to take its first steps toward democracy. That said, if you ask about the theme to anyone in Budapest, it is possible that they won't recognize the mutants from Professor Xavier, but a police officer expert in kung fu who, without knowing it, revolutionized an entire country... and shook up Disney itself.
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-The article For 33 Years We Believed That the X-Men Theme Was Completely Original, But It Was Actually the Violation of a Hungarian 80s Kung Fu Series' Song was originally published on Espinof by Randy Meeks .
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