This summer’s big blockbuster, Superman, marks the latest installment of the Man of Steel — a character whose identity has ...

But as we saw with the litigation around the character Sherlock Holmes in the mid-2010s, just because a first instance of a work enters the public domain does not mean a character is free game.

In 2025, the works unbound from copyright cap off the 1920s with literature, characters and more from 1929 entering the public domain.

Here are the books and characters newly joining the list of works in the public domain in 2025.

Characters such as 'Popeye,' 'Buck Rogers,' and 'Tintin' are among the list of works falling into the public domain as of 2025. This as the copyright expires on works produced in 1929.

Works entering the public domain in 2025 include the first appearances of Tintin and Popeye, films in which Mickey Mouse talks, and books by Hemingway, Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, and more.

The Belgian cub reporter is among the characters and works entering the public domain in 2025. Jan. 1 marks the dawn of a new era for Popeye and Tintin.

Popeye the Sailor and the Belgian boy reporter Tintin lead the class of characters and works of art becoming public domain in 2025.