- Image by thewhitestdogalive via Flickr
Everyone in the geek world is abuzz with the news that Marvel, home to some of the most iconic superheroes of all time (Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Wolverine to name a few), was acquired by Disney for $4 billion dollars yesterday. Cue Dr. Evil sound byte here.
Putting aside the numerous joke posts that have come up around the Internet regarding the acquisition (Wolverine breaking into song after he destroys and slices up Disney villains? C’mon now, that’d be awesome), this is a unification of potentially great things. Even though Disney re-acquired a studio like Pixar, you can tell that the autonomy given to Pixar has produced many a great film with a bit of the Disney cashola to back it up. This promises to be no different, as the Disney empire does outstrip Marvel’s by leaps and bounds. If Marvel is left alone, it’ll have the ability to put out more of the work it’s famous for while not having to worry about pursestrings.
On the media front, Marvel can really only hope to benefit from Disney. With the exception of the films, Marvel hasn’t really tested the waters in terms of other presentations. What if Marvel could open a theme park with Disney’s new influence and cash? How about Marvel moving more into TV, with Disney-owned ABC helping light the way? These are just two places where Marvel can stand to really expand their fanbase as well as bring to life entities that only exist in ink and coloring.
I mean, yes, there are horrified fanboys out there who fear that this is more of a hostile, Borg-like takeover of the edgier Marvel universe, that G-rated comics and terribly bland entertainment is on the horizon. Disney, however, is I think much smarter than that, and they have to know that Marvel’s ability to be successful has rested, for years, on characters that are flawed, hurt, or otherwise broken. The appeal is in the humanity of Marvel’s characters, not necessarily in their superpowers.
Put aside your fear, folks – Marney, or Disvel, or whatever you want to cal it is here to stay – and I think that you’ll be seeing much more good from both companies because of it.
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Still on the fence with this one. I don't see how it'll help the Marvel games (can anything though?). I think it's best if Disney just stays away from the comics. I'm mostly worried about the movies. Could be good for them, could be bad for them. Who knows.
I didn't even consider the television spectrum though. Wonder if we'll see all the current Marvel TV stuff pulled (like the Iron Man cartoon) and put on the Disney Channel.
I have to watch that damn channel because of my kids anyways…so maybe its a good thing for me!!
I sincerely hope you're right man, its scary thinking of some of the possibilities.
Speaking of themeparks … what exactly will Universal Studios in Orlando have to do with their currently themed Marvel rides? The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Spider-Man The Ride, Dr. Doom's Tower of Terror. Do they become null and void? Should be interesting.
The best comment by far was on EW.com's coverage of the story, in which one joker postulated that it would be "Coming soon: Kermit, Mike Waszowski and the Incredible Hulk singing “It’s Not Easy Being Green”" I lol'd, hard.
Like I said in my post, Disney doesn't typically touch what they buy. It'd be different if they purchased something that was a comparable analog to them, like an anime studio.
"Disney doesn’t typically touch what they buy"
Yeah, but in this case they have material's within the product line that are very close to what they currently control, and it's being profited on by competitors…so I think we'll see some touching….bad touch!
Disney isn't all wubbly widdle wabbits, either. The "Disney" empire covers a lot of media, and some of their TV and film offerings are far from G rated. It's just fashionable for whiners to hate on Disney to show their geek cred or some such foolish "put down the kiddies to make myself feel grown up" mentality.
This was a business move, pure and simple. "Disney" doesn't create much any more, they just operate as the parent company.