Disney buys Marvel Entertainment

Richard White · Aug 31, 2009

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125172509349072393.html

This could be rather interesting. More details as it develops

Art_Sempai · Aug 31, 2009

I think I just died a little reading that.

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http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22747

Bartholomew · Aug 31, 2009

Ecchi 69 Designs said:
I think I just died a little reading that.

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More News
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22747

Why? Disney is a very competent entertainment company. I'm sure they'll do their best to preserve the style that Marvel readers have come to appreciate. If they planned on making massive changes, how could they have ever justified a purchase where they stood to lose the reader base from which they hoped to profit?

MattW · Aug 31, 2009

Shit - I was going to buy Marvel stock earlier this year...

Art_Sempai · Aug 31, 2009

I'm sure they'll do their best to make money off the 5,000 Marvel characters they now own.

I wonder how this will effect the artist staff.

ZOMG! Big Bird, Lara Croft, Raziel , Sephiroth, and Wolverine could appear in a game together.

Bartholomew said:
Why? Disney is a very competent entertainment company. I'm sure they'll do their best to preserve the style that Marvel readers have come to appreciate. If they planned on making massive changes, how could they have ever justified a purchase where they stood to lose the reader base from which they hoped to profit?

BigWords · Aug 31, 2009

"Mickey Mouse Adventures guest starring Spider-Man"

Does anyone have the urge to see what they would do with that?

There might be a way to make the purchase bring in new readers to Marvel, because the junior titles (Star Comics) Marvel published back in the eighties fits in perfectly with Disney's public face. If Spider-Ham doesn't get his own cartoon series I will be very surprised.

Kathleen42 · Aug 31, 2009

Ecchi 69 Designs said:
ZOMG! Big Bird, Lara Croft, Raziel , Sephiroth, and Wolverine could appear in a game together.

Kingdom Hearts III?

jst5150 · Aug 31, 2009

"The Uncanny Jonas Brothers"

Kathleen42 · Aug 31, 2009

Steamboat Spidey?

BigWords · Aug 31, 2009

Kathleen42 said:
Steamboat Spidey?

Nothing could be as bad as the Spidey toon set in another dimension from a couple of years back.

Kathleen42 · Aug 31, 2009

BigWords said:
Nothing could be as bad as the Spidey toon set in another dimension from a couple of years back.

I feel compelled to direct your attention here. (and yes, that is the Japanese Spidey fighting a giant mecha)

BigWords · Aug 31, 2009

I stand corrected.

ETA: Wired has a fun page on the subject of possible films. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

DavidZahir · Aug 31, 2009

I was just having a convo with my roommate about this. Sadly, we both doubt Disney realizes what a potential source of income She-Hulk and Squirrel Girl might be.

On the other hand, maybe we'll see Namor and/or The Invaders!

myrmidon · Aug 31, 2009

Ecchi 69 Designs said:
I think I just died a little reading that.

Co-signed. This is the most depressing thing I've heard in a while...and it's been a depressing summer for news.

Williebee · Aug 31, 2009

I'm thinking the Wolverine meets Hannah Montana movie can only end in blood.

It'll be great!

Aristocrazy · Aug 31, 2009

I'm just gonna say it

disney is evil.

Art_Sempai · Sep 1, 2009

I hope I'm wrong, but I think this could be the end of Marvel as a comic company.
Disney wants the hot movie/tv properties.

It's all about profit...comic books aren't that profitable nowadays.

There might be a slow disappearance of titles leaving just a few movie tie-ins.
Sure they will put out issues...the ones in Walmart etc. to maintain characters, but not much more.

And Disney isn't known for the nice way it treats it's artists and studios.
Generally in big mergers there will be job cuts somewhere.
I think a lot folks will run to DC or go indi.

katiemac · Sep 1, 2009

I'm failing to see how Disney acquiring Marvel will really affect Marvel as a comic book publisher. What I'm seeing instead is Disney becoming the automatic distributor for Marvel's films, where only a few years ago the distributor was Sony before Marvel decided to become its own distributor.

It seems like Disney is opting to go the TimeWarner/Warner Bros. Entertainment model with DC Comics. They have licensing now to the characters, and can use them in branding, promotions, and of course film. Novelizations and other books via Hyperion Bay. Video games. They even have potential to produce some television series a la Smallville for ABC or ABC Family.

But meddling with the actual comics or output of those comics? I find that extremely unlikely, nor would Marvel agreed to a buyout if that were the case.

erin_michelle · Sep 1, 2009

So...I shouldn't be shocked if I see a billboard that says, "Miley Cyrus is the Black Cat in Black Cat: The Movie" in my local theater? Great....

Kaiser-Kun · Sep 1, 2009

That's a pretty ass.

jmascia · Sep 7, 2009

Yeah. I was going to buy stock in Marvel too... just never got around to it.

Anyway... here's an interesting tidbit, for those of you who don't know... Marvel, co-owned (along with DC) the trademark to the word "Superhero"... so, that means that Disney owns the trademark now. What you need to realize is that Disney is very heavy handed when it comes to their copyrights and trademarks. So, it may not be long before we are no longer allowed to use that word without throwing a couple bucks at the Mouse.

That being said, I think that Disney buying Marvel is a genius move on their part and I can see some good things coming from it.

myrmidon · Sep 7, 2009

jmascia said:
Yeah. I was going to buy stock in Marvel too... just never got around to it.

Anyway... here's an interesting tidbit, for those of you who don't know... Marvel, co-owned (along with DC) the trademark to the word "Superhero"... so, that means that Disney owns the trademark now. What you need to realize is that Disney is very heavy handed when it comes to their copyrights and trademarks. So, it may not be long before we are no longer allowed to use that word without throwing a couple bucks at the Mouse.

That being said, I think that Disney buying Marvel is a genius move on their part and I can see some good things coming from it.

Oh man. That is potentially really really bad news for my 'superhero' prose novel.

BigWords · Sep 7, 2009

'Superhero' may be a difficult word to enforce trademark status on considering how often it is used aside from Marvel and DC, but we can still choose from Augments, Parahumans, Metahumans, Ultrahumans... One word does not define or encompass the entire subgenre.

katiemac · Sep 7, 2009

myrmidon said:
Oh man. That is potentially really really bad news for my 'superhero' prose novel.

No, you should be okay. The way you can use superhero doesn't change from when Marvel and DC co-owned the trademark. (And really, I think Marvel still "owns" the trademark... I don't know what kind of cross-over this has now with Disney.) Before the Disney buyout you still couldn't use "superhero" to sell something. The rules still apply. Here:

Q: Does this affect our ability to use the word superhero?

A: Only if you want to make a product that fits into those categories and sell it. So if you want to sell (you can make it for your own personal pleasure) a comic book called "Star Spangled Superhero Stories," you would not be able to. But if you want to refer to your characters as superheroes WITHIN the comic, you can do so. This is what allows DC to refer to their character as Captain Marvel WITHIN the comic, but they cannot use the name Captain Marvel in advertising or as the name of the comic, because Marvel has a registered trademark on that name.

Bolding mine. From this link. Note that it's not updated since the buyout.

But the same should apply for books. It has more to do with the sale of/advertising/product name than the actual content.

wordmonkey · Sep 7, 2009

Disney has the kiddy market, and it has the tween/teen GIRL market. What they don't have is the tween/teen BOY market. It has been a major hole for them.

Now they do.

What would be the point of buying Marvel and changing it? They want access to the characters and that's it. The more recent Hulk movie and Iron-man, plus the hype around Iron-man 2, Captain America, Thor and the Avengers movie are the root of this - not the comics themselves. In theory we could see more books and a wider variety of characters kicking back into play. It secures Marvel (who weren't hurting, but still, they have had some very down-times) and boosts the comic business as a whole.

Disney linked to Pixar, then tried to do what Pixar does (and failed). They bought Pixar and let Pixar do what Pixar does. Same will happen here. DIsney want Marvel CONTENT. They want what Marvel Zombies like because they Disney makes money off Marvel Zombies.

Disney buys Marvel Entertainment

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