If you’re a person in the 30 to 40 age range and were into Saturday morning cartoons, you’re likely familiar with one of the best TV theme songs of all-time from “X-Men: The Animated Series.” The ‘90s cartoon has lived on through the years, thanks in no small part to the incredible theme song that people still hum to this day. But, according to a new lawsuit (via TMZ), one of the most iconic superhero themes ever created might actually be a rip-off.
The report says that composer named Gyorgy Vukan, the man who wrote the theme song for the ‘80s Hungarian cop series “Linda,” actually had written a theme that sounds eerily similar to the ‘X-Men’ song. You can hear both versions below to judge for yourself.
A lawsuit against Fox, Marvel, Disney, Amazon, and any other company associated with the series has been brought by Zoltan Krisko, the manager of the Vukan estate, claiming the ‘90s cartoon ripped off the “Linda” theme song (written in 1983). And honestly, listening to the themes, there are differences, for sure, but it’s hard to dispute that the man has a point. Apparently, Krisko was only made aware of the ‘X-Men’ theme song in 2017, which explains why the lawsuit is seemingly twenty years too late.
Even though “Linda” isn’t a household name in the US, Krisko explains that the show was such a hit that it would be likely that the people who composed the ‘X-Men’ theme were aware of the European cop series. Though that’s likely going to be the sticking point to the lawsuit, as it would appear that if anyone else was familiar with “Linda,” then the internet would have blown the roof off this story years ago. But I digress.
Here are the two songs, for comparison’s sake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=36&v=5Wc5BsnnTEU
