Disney to Buy Marvel Comics

[John Funk]

Disney to Buy Marvel Comics

Family-friendly media titan Disney has announced plans to purchase Marvel Comics for a whopping $4 billion.

The House of Magneto will be joining the House of Mouse, reports MarketWatch [http://www.marketwatch.com/story/disney-to-acquire-marvel-entertainment-2009-08-31-9050], in a deal valued at four billion USD - that's about $50 per Marvel share, in case you were curious. With Disney, Marvel gets a parent company exceptionally skilled at the promoting and licensing of its various properties (some might even say too skilled), and Disney picks up a stable of over 5,000 characters - including some of the most iconic in comics.

[blockquote]"This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories," said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. "Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney."[/blockquote]

Now, the first thing that comes to mind is the potential for absolutely hilarious crossovers - we're talking "Archie Meets the Punisher" level here - but, when you dig deeper, there's... okay, really, there's mostly the potential for absolutely hilarious crossovers. Hannah Montana is revealed to actually have mutant genes and joins the X-Men! Dr. Doom and Maleficent fall in love and have a supervillain wedding! Spider-Man is a secret character in Kingdom Hearts III!

Actually, that last one might be kind of cool. I'll reserve judgment for now - or at least until we see Marvel publishing a comic based on Warren Spector's Epic Mickey [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93501-Concept-Art-Surfaces-For-Disney-Steampunk-Epic-Mickey].

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[Spinwhiz]

Well, there goes the Megaverse.

 

[Neonbob]

...no...please, PLEASE, no...
I'm going to my happy corner.
I might be back in a day or two...
This is quite upsetting.

 

[Cap'n Haddock]

nope, not good.

I don't like the news that Marvel was bought; that means that it really isn't doing as well as all we comic book nerds think that it is, the fact that it can't resist being purchased by a giant like Disney bodes ill for anything else popular and sacred to us; If one of these Titans wants it, it can buy it. Say it wants to buy Valve or Bungee; these conglomerates could do it; they have that kind of money to simply make a brute force purchase.

Disney is just trying to compete with Time Warner by getting its own comic book company, but it obviously can't rely on its own flagship cartoon characters anymore (scary thought eh? when was the last time Disney has released an original animated movie? not Lion King 2 or Cindarella 4, but an original? I can only remember The Curse of the Black Cauldron from when i was a kid.)

Disney has to buy ANOTHER company's original ideas and characters to rejuvenate its own dying stock. I expect to see Marvel cartoons put onto the Disney channel, and they will be bad. And what about that Marvel promise to make more games like Wolverine: Origins? they gave it to Raven Software (a really good company, they made Star Trek: Elite Force, The Jedi Knight games and Quake 4, I know a guy who works there as a texture designer, he's a pretty sweet mapmaker.)

Will Disney override Marvel with its own destructive branding?
Disney has a reputation for enforcing its own standard upon its subsidiaries, and that standard isn't even PG, its G

 

[Blackadder51]

Oh god, why is this allowed?

 

[Smudge91]

Nooooooooooo and breath. I swear Disney are trying taking over the world. eekkk

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Oh this isn't that bad, Disney owns lots of companies that produce very non-Disney products. Look at Miramax. No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood were both made by them. Same with Kill Bill.


Here, this is the list of all the companies they already own:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_Disney

 

[hansari]

Family-friendly media titan Disney has announced plans to purchase Marvel Comics for a whopping $4 billion.

So when should we expect Pixar to release the "family-friendly" Marvel universe?

 

[Dale Cooper]

Use the search bar I beat you to the punch... http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.135790

Disney 'should' stay out of the way as Warner does with DC, so in a way it might be a good thing, it means Marvel have a lot of money to back them now.

 

[John Funk]

Use the search bar I beat you to the punch... http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.135790

Disney 'should' stay out of the way as Warner does with DC, so in a way it might be a good thing, it means Marvel have a lot of money to back them now.

News posts =/= forum posts. We have editorial guidelines.

 

[Irridium]

Ugh, this is sad.

Although that picture of Kingdom Hearts reminded me of how badass that part was where you fought 1000 enemies. I'm going to go play that right now, hopefully it will make me feel better.

Use the search bar I beat you to the punch... http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.135790

Disney 'should' stay out of the way as Warner does with DC, so in a way it might be a good thing, it means Marvel have a lot of money to back them now.

Yeah, I could have sworn I posted there like 2 minuts ago.

 

[Dale Cooper]

News posts =/= forum posts. We have editorial guidelines.

Wow, you certainly know how to take a joke.

 

[barguest]

wow so instead of hunting vampires blade is now going to team up with the punisher to go pick daisies in a field with Mickey mouse and goofy

very upsetting indeed

 

[SilverHammerMan]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Of course, this could be good, maybe Marvel comics will go semi-mainstream now and become available OUTSIDE of specialty shops.

 

[FallenRainbows]

In other news the golden era Marvel comics i.e before the news. Have been put on E-bay for ludicrously high prices.

 

[Generic_Dave]

Bile...vomit...ugh...still, it's not like Marvel is upto much anyway. Labourious crossovers and the occasional (oh alright, constant) re-vamp of all major characters...I'm trying to remember the last original comic I read from Marvel that was any good...and I'm just coming up blank... I would have said Supreme Power (but I just checked and that was basically Squadron Supreme... and that was a rip off of JLA)...hhhmmm...the Eternals and 1602 by Neil Gaiman were good, but again re-imagining...eh...yeah... (if anyone wants to point me toward something I missed in the last few years, I'd be glad to find a gem I overlooked)...but as far as I can see, as superhero comics go, it's Wildstorm and to a lesser extent DC that a doing new things.

So while I mourn Wolverine passing into the hands of Disney...is it really going to make any difference that Disney is milking the cash-cow rather than Marvel? And in Disney's defence the first Pirates was alright and they don't seem to interfere with Pixar too much.

Edit: Oh and Marvel movies have made a shed load of money for the last decade or so (both the good and bad ones) and I really can't see Disney killing the golden goose...

 

[hansari]

The House of Magneto will be joining the House of Mouse, reports MarketWatch [http://www.marketwatch.com/story/disney-to-acquire-marvel-entertainment-2009-08-31-9050], in a deal valued at four billion USD - that's about $50 per Marvel share...

Wait...I'm having difficulty understanding this...

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=MVL

What happened to Marvel between Nov. 2008 - May 2009? The economy is enough to make sense of why their stock was low, but that segment of the timeline shows a huge plunge.

(I guess its recovery into $40 per share has to do with news of the eventual buyout)

 

[SachielOne]

WHAT HERESY IS THIS?!

This can only end in tears. I think I'll go down to my local comic shop and pour out a 40 in remembrance.

 

[John Funk]

News posts =/= forum posts. We have editorial guidelines.

Wow, you certainly know how to take a joke.

You'd be sadly surprised how many people express the same sentiment seriously.