The X-Men theme song, composed by Ron Wasserman, is one of the most iconic opening themes for a Saturday morning cartoon show due in no small part to its iconic rock anthem. However, a new lawsuit has argued that the song was stolen.
A man named Zoltan Krisko has filed a lawsuit against Marvel Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, Fox Broadcasting Company, Apple, Amazon and others claiming that the theme song was stolen from a show titled Linda. That series aired from 1984 to 1991 in Hungary. Krisko manages the estate of composer Gyorgy Vukan who created and copyrighted the Linda theme song. He now argues that the songs are exactly alike. The lawsuit argues that Wasserman and the executives behind X-Men "rubbed elbows" with Hungarian film professions in the 1980s and noted that the show Linda was a massive hit at the time. Krisko, who didn't discover the X-Men series and its theme until 2017, alleges that Marvel and the other companies achieved enormous success because of the stolen theme song and wants them to pay for a large portion of the profits that the X-Men franchise has made since the series' debut.