Fan Art Drama

Okay lately I've been reading a lot about how several companies are supporting legal boundaries on fan art and painting it as an infringement of copyright law (if sold as a commission or for commercial use). While it sounds sensical in writing, that means that if the companies do decide to prosecute, individual artists can be brought to court for drawing  commissions or selling prints/originals of characters e.g. DC Universe characters, Marvel, Video Games etc. So no more :Lara Croft, Super Girl, Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, Power Girl, Catwoman, Joker etc etc on our galleries?

I'm sorry, wasn't art supposed to be about freedom? If I draw a sketch that is completely from my imagination i.e. pose, background, setting, color, style but I only use the name and outfit of the original character...is that tantamount to theft? Am I insane? Or does this not make sense?? Even artists working on actual comics and games sell convention sketches and make a hefty side income from characters that they themselves didn't create? Why the exception? Somebody enlighten me!