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For a little bit of background since I don't expect you to watch the show:

  • The necessary feature of the show is that lucifer leaves hell and then runs a nightclub

  • The personalities and features of the majority of the characters are different to the source material; they only share a name.

So if the characters did not share their comic book name (besides Lucifer himself since that's not copyrighted), would the show avoid a copyright strike from DC?

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  • According to Wikipedia the show is based on a character from The Sandman who later became "the protagonist of a spin-off comic book series, published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint." – Laconic Droid Jul 20 '20 at 14:29
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The Lucifer TV show is an adaptation of the comic series of the same name, but with a lot of creative license applied to make the show more viewer friendly/dramatic. In that case, they need the copyright license from DC because, even though there are a lot of differences, there are also a lot of similarities in the story, making it at least a derivative work.

Lucifer: Similarities and Differences describes how the show and the comic are similar and where they diverge. You can see that the underlying concept/story is at the very least the same as the comic.

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  • So is do the similarities count as original enough to be the basis of a copyright strike had they not gotten the permission to use the characters? – yolo Jul 20 '20 at 15:54
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    Since the show is specifically based on the comic, then yes, this would be the basis for a copyright claim by DC as a derivative work. – Ron Beyer Jul 20 '20 at 16:33

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