Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to generate mass sums of cash for his creator's heirs: Superman—and the goldmine industry he spawned—will again benefit the heirs of co-creator Jerome Siegel.

In 1938, Siegel and his co-creator, Joseph Shuster, sold the copyright to the superhero for just $130—about $1,858.94 in today's dollars. Time Warner has owned those rights. But a federal judge ruled last week that Siegel's heirs—his wife, Joanne, who served as the original sketch model for Lois Lane, and a daughter, Laura—are entitled to share in them.

The Superman business, which is fueled by avid Superman fans of all ages and encompasses movies, comics, books, merchandise, and more, is worth as much as $1 billion, according to Marc Toberoff, the plaintiff's lawyers, who spoke to Condé Nast Portfolio for an October article on the Siegels' lawsuit.

Just how much money the Siegel family will claim from this ruling is unclear, but it's likely to be a windfall. The next phase of the legal proceedings will be to divvy up Time Warner's Superman-related profits and explore whether the family is entitled to even more profits from the corporate siblings of D.C. Comics.

In the meantime, though, Superman fans are up in arms, and the message boards on fan websites are lighting up, some siding with the co-creator's family and others bemoaning the fact that the ruling and impending cost to Time Warner's film unit, Warner Brothers, might threaten the production of future Superman flicks.

"This god-awful display of greed from Jerry Siegel's heirs is downright ludicrous. Enough of this!" wrote a commenter known by the moniker batmansgirl on the fan site Supermanhomepage.com.

Other site members seem to agree.

"For Superman fans, this is not good news. It means that 1) Superman films will become riskier for film companies to produce do (sic) to less profits after paying out the heirs... 2) Superman publications (i.e., comics & books) will either become more expensive...or less numerous," wrote PScottMorgan, another commenter.

At least a few commenters sympathized with the Siegels. "Can we not be so selfish and worry about where our next Superman fix is coming from? That's considerably less important than seeing the S&S families get their due," wrote a commenter called Jeffreak.

Superman's physical appearance has changed over the years, but the Siegels are probably happy with his current incarnation: moneymaker.