I don't think she should be in the public domain. I think she should belong to DC Comics. And even when they do a lousy job of her comics (they aren't, currently), I still think she should belong to them. I don't think what the girl in this thread is doing is harmful to Supergirl. I think it's cute and lightly campy. I just don't think she should be doing it on a large scale; up to and including making 20 minute movies for download. I don't think she is going to damage the character, but plenty of people online do horrible things to popular characters, but usually just in fanfics, not in online movies that are relatively elaborate.

In Japan, fans routinely make their own manga based on popular characters; they even have underground comics conventions and sell them. While the usage of those copyrighted materials is technically illegal, Japanese comics creators politely ignore it because they feel it's healthy and free publicity for the real deal. But in the U.S. and online--I don't know. I do come across fanfics now and then where your favorite scifi and comics characters are all having wild graphic sex with one another. Those fanfics are ridiculous, but ultimately, little kids may come across them and end up reading something they're not supposed to.

But most of those fanfics are so low-key that the copyright holders either don't notice or don't care. What Supergirl here is doing goes far, far beyond that. She's already been stealing the character, but now she's actually making full-scale webisodes featuring her. That's pretty wild; I've never seen one of these types go that far. She's paying her potential Superboy $4000. That's definitely on the high end of internet movies. If they're spending money on this thing, then they intend to make money. And clearly DC's going to have a problem with that. I'm sure she's due for a nice little "cease and desist" order sooner than later.