Yeah, just let that headline soak in for a second. I'm not making this up. This was the first news item I read as I got to work this morning, and it's still messing with my head. The Walt Disney Company are now the owners of the entire Marvel Comics Universe. Your friendly neighborhood Spider-man is now owned lock, stock and barrell by Mickey Mouse. Don't believe me? Check this out from the New York Times article about the sale:
Walt Disney Company said Monday it had agreed to buy Marvel Entertainment, the company that owns the rights to such popular characters as Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, in a cash and stock deal it valued at $4 billion. The deal, which boards of directors at both companies have approved, comes more than 10 years after Marvel was at the center of a bitter takeover battle between two feisty financiers.
“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said in a statement announcing the deal.
Wow, the Marvel Universe was worth $4 Billion? Who knew?
Whether this sale is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen in my opinion. On the one hand it could be no big deal if Disney stays hands off with Marvel and lets them operate as an independent company under their umbrella. On the other hand, we could be in for some serious and scary changes. We could start seeing Marvel merchandise popping up all over disneyland (ugh) and we could start seeing some rather scary Marvel/Disney crossovers like Punisher/Goofy or Mickey Mouse and the Avengers.
Not all of these crossovers would be horrible though. A Howard The Duck/Donald Duck comic featuring the two ducks drinking and floozing around would be hilarious. I'm all for that!
In all seriousness though, my biggest concern isn't so much about what will happen to Marvel's comics, it's more about what will happen to Marvel's movie franchises. One of the things that has made Marvel's movies so successful has been their ability to run their own show and produce films on their own. DC Comics, on the other hand, is owned by Warner Brothers and has such a huge glut of corporate B.S. that it has to go through when trying to make a film that the end products either come out horrible or don't come out at all (like the Justice League film).
With Disney now owning Marvel, will they possibly step in and start causing problems on what is otherwise a smooth running movie making machine? Will there be too many corporate cooks in the kitchen? I sure hope not, but only time will tell.
One last major possible plus side though, the combining of Marvel and another Disney owned company . . . Pixar. Just think how cool some Pixar animated films could be starring Marvel characters. John Lasseter, the guy who runs Pixar, is an incredibly talented storyteller. I would love to see what he could do with characters from the Marvel Universe if given the chance.
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