Holy !@#$, Disney buys Marvel Comics???

[nx1701g]

Toon Disney has been playing a lot of Marvel lately, foreshadowing?

Maybe we'll see the big Marvel/Disney vs the DC/Bugs BunnyCartoonNetworkHannaBarbera crossover event.

To be honest I'd had the same thought a while ago that Disney was preparing to go after Marvel.

Just too bad I didn't buy the stock

 

[Data Holmes]

So... Does this mean that Steve Jobs will be the main owner of Marvel as well as Disney and Pixar?

 

[nx1701g]

How long until we have Spider-Mouse?

 

[the Dagman]

I don't know if he would be the main owner Data. But I am sure he is a major stockholder of the whole company. Apple is separate from Disney however, Jobs is CEO and stockholder there.

I see a lot of good things for this.

Marvel Studios was founded using a large line of credit underwritten by Merryl Lynch IIRC. Now that Disney has ownership, that loans can be paid back early. Also, it may free up greater funding to Marvel Studios. We may see a major expansion and closer release dates for future work at the studio.

And we KNOW they won't likely fire Joe Quesada, as much as we haters of Spider-Man from the OMD story and onward would like for that to happen. But this is good for us in another way. Because now he stands a better chance of being promoted out of the job and into Disney corporate or some other arm of the company! There was really no place for him to advance to without leaving the company before today. Now, plenty of room for his advancement and for us to be rid of him. Plus, wishing for someone to get a promotion is better karma.

Maybe Disney could buy Hasbro next. Marvel would get Rom back, Pixar could do a Transformers movie, A Sgt. Fury/G.I.Joe movie?

 

[shivkala]

Apparently, the S&P may downgrade Disney for this decision. Source.

 

[23skidoo]

Hah, I'm waiting for The Incredibles to be integrated into the Marvel Universe in the inevitable sequel.

That actually wouldn't be too bad, since The Incredibles is arguably the best superhero movie of the last decade. And yes I am including Dark Knight.

Alex

 

[msbae]

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=102667

 

[TheBrew]

The House of M in charge can only mean one thing: Scarlet Witch is messing with reality again.

 

[Trek4Ever]

Can this please lead to wiping the slate clean of the recent drek that Marvel has been putting out? One can only hope.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Hah, I'm waiting for The Incredibles to be integrated into the Marvel Universe in the inevitable sequel.

Brad Bird's been fairly noncommital on doing any sequels to The Incredibles (in fact, he's moved into the live-action arena now). Despite it being the Pixar film with the most obvious sequel potential, doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon.

 

[StarTrek1701]

Damn! Most sci fi sites and other comic book sites seem to be on fire regarding this news! Personally I think Marvel has done a huge mistake for its future.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

Well, I didn't see that coming.

No one did, apparently.

Be interested to see how this affects Marvel's operations, if at all (they already have an independent film studio, for example; of course, given the types of movies Marvel Studios makes, they'll probably be fine with continuing a separate brand).

The existing contracts will be honored, from what I hear.

At the very least, this has the potential to lead to better animated productions with Marvel characters.

Four good ones: UA, UA2, Iron Man, and Hulk vsThor/Wolverine

2 Meh ones: Next Avengers and Dr Strange

I'd call that a pretty good track record PRE Disney.

Where I'm HOPING this will make a difference is that Disney will demand a reset of the prime Marvel universe to get rid of all this Civil War crap.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

Joe Q from Twitter:

G' morning, Marvel U! Welcome to this moment in history. Everyone relax, this is incredible news and all is well in the Marvel U.

Translation: "We're very pleased..."

I'm sorry, but I disagree with him. How can he convince me that it's good news??!!!

If it leads to Joey getting the axe and taking Civil War and everything thereafter (and a few things before like Decimation) with him it will be GREAT news!

T

 

[darkwing_duck1]

Well..here's this poster reply in other forum that I went there:

This is disturbing, a lot of the Marvel films were too bloodless as it is, putting Disney in charge is risky. Don't get me wrong, I liked Pirates Of The Caribbean and am looking forward to Prince Of Persia, but with Disney in charge we won't get Punisher movies, we won't get anything above a 12 (UK rating anyway). No Blade sequel/spinoff (there was one planned), nothing. I knew Disney were big, but I had no idea they were big enough to completely buy out Marvel.

I hate to agree with him.

I don't think Disney is stupid enough to try to "Disney-fy" the MU to that extent...

 

[CaptainCanada]

From what they said at the press conference, they're basically planning to have Marvel operate like Pixar and mostly do its own thing. And comics are such a small portion of what Marvel Entertainment does that it's doubtful they'd pay much attention to it. They bought Marvel for the film and TV stuff; the comics would have value to them mostly for generating intellectual property (though one can obviously see an opening for Marvel to reintroduce Disney's characters into comics (Boom Studios really loses out on this deal)).

If Disney could help them get some further distribution assistance, that would also be a big help.

I don't think Disney is stupid enough to try to "Disney-fy" the MU to that extent...

The film rights for both the aforementioned franchises are rented out; even if they weren't, Disney has never objected to R-rated content being released under its corporate umbrella. Just not by Walt Disney Studios, with the Disney brand on it.

The fact that Punisher has flopped twice is a far bigger factor for why there's not going to be a new Punisher movie for a good while. Blade, I don't know.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

Everyone..

I got a another reply that I find it so frighteningly.

SHIT! I guess this means will be seeing the marvel shows pulled off nick! Also it means the end of comics as we know them.

And Disney is not done yet. I heard rumors of them going after DC comics!

That's what he told me from another forum.

Who said this and what are his sources?

^ "The end of comics as we know them." Is your friend's name Hyperbole Jones?

No. My friend from another forum. He got a reliable source. Too many people I'm talking to right now. They're very, very upset right now.

Link us to a forum or post? You can't just drop a bomb like that and walk off...

And who cares if a Marvel show is on Nick or ABC Family or Toon Disney. Same difference.

Different "standards and practices" restrictions". Like how Disney re-edited a lot of the 90s Spider Man shows when they re-aired them to "tame them down", not that they were that violent to begin with (no punching, etc).

Would a show like Wolverine and the X-Men make it in a Disney environment with it's more adult tone and writing? Would the DCAU have made it?

Or would we be back to stuff like the 70s "Superfriends"?

Disney is also looking forward to bringing several Marvel characters to the big screen that remain less known to the general public,

oh God please make an animated Generation X! talk about a neglected Marvel property!

Screw Gen-X (too many X properties as it is), go New Warriors!

I would imagine Marvel will take over the Disney comicbook licenses in a few years when the Boom! Studios contracts expire.

I could see that happening, but Disney may be so frikkin' huge that it may have no problems letting Boom! continue what it's doing alongside the House of M and keep them as separate properties...

Disney, as it turns out DID have the rights to 90s X-Men and never did anything with it despite YEARS of fan interest...

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

I WANT TO SEE PIXAR DO A REAL CG SUPERHERO MOVIE!

Incredibles >>>> Fantastic Four

 

[nx1701g]

I would imagine Marvel will take over the Disney comicbook licenses in a few years when the Boom! Studios contracts expire.

I could see that happening, but Disney may be so frikkin' huge that it may have no problems letting Boom! continue what it's doing alongside the House of M and keep them as separate properties...

Disney, as it turns out DID have the rights to 90s X-Men and never did anything with it despite YEARS of fan interest...

Which is also why there was such a big deal over releasing X-Men the Animated Series from the 1990s on DVD.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

Here's a thread with industry insiders views:

http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22765

Particularly interesting is this guy, whose business is Disney publishing related:

Dan Vado of SLG Publishing, home of Disney properties “Haunted Mansion,” “Tron,” and “Gargoyles,” among others

NOTE: Despite being a Disney licensee, Vado wishes it to be known that he has no inside knowledge of the Marvel acquisition, and that his remarks should be taken strictly as his own opinions based on news reports.

“Marvel is the big winner here. My opinion, Disney overpaid (and Disney never over pays for anything) so it is obvious that Disney sees a huge licensing bonanza from the characters well down the line. Marvel books will, at some point, gain a stronger bookstore distribution partner should they decide to have their books sold through Harper.

“However it is worth pointing out that Disney does very little actual publishing of its own and has made most of its money by licensing characters out to third parties. It could be, again strictly conjecture here, that Marvel will end up being reduced to a licensing company and that its publishing will be scaled back dramatically as emphasis is put on content like movies and video games and less emphasis on things like publishing. Disney published its own line of comics years ago and pulled out. More recently they cut ‘Disney Adventures’ magazine, a publication with sales in the hundreds of thousands. So, seriously, publishing is not a big part of the equation here. I would expect publishing to scale back somewhat.”

Vado continued, “Big loser here are Disney licensees who created original content for their books and the creators who created that content. As is standard with any licensing deal, Disney owns the material that is created under the license and can, if they choose, republish the content once those deals expire without compensating either the companies who paid for the content or the creators who created the original material. Again, this is not a Disney thing, it is fairly standard of all licensing deals. SLG published collections of the Marvel Comics’ ‘Bill & Ted’ comics and did not compensate them for the artwork.

“While I am certain that the licensing deals which are in place will continue to their conclusion I have to wonder how some of the people who have jumped into the Disney Comics business will feel about creating new content for the company knowing that it all could become property of Disney/Marvel Comics at some point. Likewise, all Disney comic book licensees now get to feel dumb knowing that the money they are giving Disney is now also going to their biggest competitor in the field. As I said above, though, publishing is not a big part of the core Disney business so it is possible that even more licensing opportunities might open up.

“I am not certain how much creator-owned material Marvel produces, but those deals will more than likely become a thing of the past.”
Vado continued, “Another big loser could be Diamond and the Direct Market. It's now possible that Disney/Marvel will scale back on production, possibly focusing on cutting the line down to what it can actually manage to put out on time and just doing enough publishing to keep the characters in the public eye. It is also possible that Disney/Marvel might do all of their own distribution. In this regard the deal can be a huge game changer for everyone. Seriously, anything can happen at this point.

“At minimum I would expect that Diamond Book Distribution will lose Marvel from its catalog as they will no doubt move to Harper.”

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

Hopefully with Disney buying Marvel it means perhaps some major retconing of Quesada's deconstructionist, very un-kid friendly rubbish. But I'm not getting my hopes up.

Putting aside any views on Queseda's "deconstructionist" tendencies, this is definately something to watch. The entire direct market comics industry system is not kid-friendly in the least.

Then again Warners owns DC and never really did anything so who knows.