Disney Considering Buyout Of Sony For Spider-Man Characters

[Agema]

Disney is so big and so powerful in the space, I think this could actually happen.

Exclusive: Disney Considering Buyout Of Sony For Spider-Man Characters

We've exclusively learned that Disney is considering a major move to finally get the Spider-Man character rights from Sony.

www.giantfreakinrobot.com

I'm of mixed feelings about this.

If it happens, the danger that our favorite characters will become safe, bland, boring goes way up.

But the space has a lot of room for independence, which gives Invincible, The Boys, Umbrella Academy and more.

So, this may prop up some IPs that need whatever boost they can get.

Possibly. I think the sort of character Spiderman is means the IP is never really going to have particularly difficult angles for Disney to smooth away into blandness.

I think the old Netflix TV stuff (Jessica Jones, Punisher, etc.) are the sorts of things that are likely to fare far less well under Disney's smotheringly wholesome hands.

 

[Agema]

I hope it doesn't happen. I couldn't give a rats ass about MCU at this point, and as far as I'm concerned they already fucked up with Tom Holland's version. It's not very good. Meanwhile, Sony's made the video games that are pretty awesome, as well as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which is better than 90% of the MCU.

I find the Tom Holland Spiderman teenagerishly grating.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Spider-verse is the only thing I'd be worried about, although Sony didn't exactly handle that IP well. I'd be a little concerned with the games as well.

I have no idea how all these film rights or whatever work, but I'd be totally fine if the just bought the MCU version of Spidey. And mabe Venom too I guess...

 

[gorfias]

Spider-verse is the only thing I'd be worried about, although Sony didn't exactly handle that IP well. I'd be a little concerned with the games as well.

I have no idea how all these film rights or whatever work, but I'd be totally fine if the just bought the MCU version of Spidey. And mabe Venom too I guess...

I think they'd get Morbius as well as Venom. I'm surprised Sony did not claim Punisher to be a Spiderman associated property as well.

I enjoyed Spider-Verse mostly except

Spoiler

Gwen Stacey was one of the 1st comic book deaths of a major character of which I can think. Her death was catastrophic to Spiderman. And here was an opportunity for him to see her alive again. Imagine the head trip that would be. I was looking forward to it. But it doesn't happen. I think to make MJ the center of dad-bod Spiderman's romantic concerns. Fair in that dad-bod Spidey is not necessarily our primary continuity Spiderman

 

[BrawlMan]

I think they'd get Morbius as well as Venom. I'm surprised Sony did not claim Punisher to be a Spiderman associated property as well.

I enjoyed Spider-Verse mostly except

Spoiler

Gwen Stacey was one of the 1st comic book deaths of a major character of which I can think. Her death was catastrophic to Spiderman. And here was an opportunity for him to see her alive again. Imagine the head trip that would be. I was looking forward to it. But it doesn't happen. I think to make MJ the center of dad-bod Spiderman's romantic concerns. Fair in that dad-bod Spidey is not necessarily our primary continuity Spiderman

For all we know, Peter B. Parker may have never met Gwen Stacy in his universe, nor does she possibly exist in that particular version. That's nothing new, as the 90s Spider-Man cartoon completely left out Gwen Stacy as a love interest. So I'm kind of glad they didn't bother with it. After Amazing Spider-Man 2, everyone just wanted to move on.

 

[Bedinsis]

In another thread it was argued that Activision has focused a bit too much on Call of Duty to be in a healthy position if the market changes. Is it really a good idea for Disney financially to be pursuing the Spider-man IP? They already have a stable set of superheroes within the Marvel license.

 

[Hawki]

In another thread it was argued that Activision has focused a bit too much on Call of Duty to be in a healthy position if the market changes. Is it really a good idea for Disney financially to be pursuing the Spider-man IP? They already have a stable set of superheroes within the Marvel license.

Not equivalent, IMO.

Activision's at the stage where literally all of its dev teams* are working on Call of Duty. All. Of. Them. In contrast, Disney's already got the MCU, and Spidey's a good fit for that. That, and Disney's got more IPs than I can shake a mouse at at this point. Not all IPs that are explored equally, granted, but, well, look at Disney's film release schedule, and compare it to the list of Activision's games. One of those lists has more variety than the other.

*When I say all the dev teams, I'm referring to those specifically under Activision, not under Activision Blizzard. But even then, from what I understand, even Blizzard itself technically works on CoD since it has to work on B.net integration, so...yeah.

 

[Ezekiel]

Well at least they're not just planning to buy Sony.

They couldn't afford them. Silly thread title.

 

[Agema]

They couldn't afford them. Silly thread title.

Oh yes they could. Disney has a market valuation nearly four times that of Sony, and that allows for a ton of leverage.

They would not want to buy Sony in total, in large part because Disney wouldn't really know what to do with a company that is still primarily an electronics manufacturer. Disney could easily offer Sony enough money to buy out its media operations. That said, I suspect it would end up blocked by monopoly laws if it tried.

 

[MrCalavera]

I'd like to see Spidey and Venom dishing it out on the silver screen as much as the next guy, but not for the price of Disney getting even more bloated.