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Disney Buys Marvel For $4B

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the wolverine-with-mouse-ears dept.

whisper_jeff writes "Disney has announced they will be purchasing Marvel. 'Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.'"

61 of 423 comments (clear)

  1. Bye bye marvel... by CRiMSON · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It was a nice run while you had it, Enjoy doing princess disney stories forever more now.

    --
    oogly boogly!
    1. Re:Bye bye marvel... by SputnikPanic · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I doubt that Disney will interfere much with Marvel's comics, I just hope they give Marvel's movie-production division as much autonomy.

    2. Re:Bye bye marvel... by nomadic · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Marvel used to have a good universe, but it has just been mined and re-mined and used up. It is nothing that Marvel did wrong, just eventually fictional universes run out of steam. When you have to "reboot" or "reimagine" your titles every few years you know you're pretty much done.

    3. Re:Bye bye marvel... by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

      Just wait until Spider Man 4, in which Peter Parker is involved in a love triangle with Hannah Montana and Nick Jonas. Will Nick and Peter be able to work out their differences through song and dance numbers before the big prom? Or will their constant bickering cause Hannah Montana to fall into the arms of the local bad boy, Wolverine? And if she does, will she learn the error of her ways before he tries to kiss her before they're even married at Tony Stark's big alcohol-free party? And will Zac Efron be able to save her and teach her that the only way to true happiness is dating nice boys, abstinence, and wearing knee-length or longer skirts?

      The possibilities are endless!

    4. Re:Bye bye marvel... by j00r0m4nc3r · · Score: 5, Funny

      With great autonomy comes great responsibility

    5. Re:Bye bye marvel... by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Informative

      Disney didn't mess with Pixar too much, when they acquired them.

      Conditions were laid out as part of the deal to ensure that Pixar remained a separate entity.

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    6. Re:Bye bye marvel... by AmigaMMC · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't think anything is going to change on that aspect. I worked for Disney for 5 years and they're not likely to change a winning formula.

    7. Re:Bye bye marvel... by mollog · · Score: 4, Interesting

      These comics came of age in the time of existentialism right after WWII. Many of the original themes, especially for the better comics, were those very adult issues of moral relativism, personal responsibility vis-a-vis society, and other challenges to society.

      We can't expect Disney to extend these adult issues in a format that might appeal to younger audiences. Indeed, we can't really expect Disney to even appreciate the history of comics from that era.

      --
      Best regards.
    8. Re:Bye bye marvel... by evilkasper · · Score: 5, Funny

      That wouldn't be much of a change from Spider Man 3.

    9. Re:Bye bye marvel... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Umm. Disney has earned their reputation for bowdlerized drivel; but they are part of the history of that era(some of their wartime propaganda work, especially the pacific theatre stuff, is "interesting"). They've been around since 1923. Any lack of understanding of that period on their part is simply pandering to tastes that don't like very adult issues, not a product of any historical gap.

    10. Re:Bye bye marvel... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It was even better than that. They promoted Pixar's John Lasseter to Chief Creative Officer of Animation for Disney. So in a sense, it was Pixar that got to mess with Disney after the acquisition. And given Pixar's track record, that's definitely a good thing.

    11. Re:Bye bye marvel... by confused+one · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Disney was around at that time. They've been slaughtering Grimm's Tales since 1923. (Trust me, Grimms Fairy Tales are much better in their original form...)

    12. Re:Bye bye marvel... by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I worked for Disney for 5 years and they're not likely to change a winning formula.

      The beauty of Disney's model is that they sell to six years olds; six year olds with literally no memory and no experience of having seen their product before despite its being over 50 years old. It's as if Disney, as a company, is selling into a market with mass collective amnesia. They never need to innovate.

      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
    13. Re:Bye bye marvel... by Narpak · · Score: 5, Funny

      Which is why Disney-Marvel crossovers, like Phantom Duck teaming up with Wolverine to stop Magneto from stealing Scrooge's money, is going to be such a breath of fresh air.

      --
      The Long Now Foundation
    14. Re:Bye bye marvel... by jean-guy69 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Touchstone Pictures is nothing more than a brand of Disney.
      Under this brand, Disney produced :

      Starship Troopers, Revelations, Ladykillers, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , Apocalypto, The Prestige,The Royal Tenenbaums,Dead Poets Society,The Nightmare Before Christmas ..

      See the complete list.

    15. Re:Bye bye marvel... by gfreeman · · Score: 5, Funny

      Disney was around at that time. They've been slaughtering Grimm's Tales since 1923. (Trust me, Grimms Fairy Tales are much better in their original form...)

      Klingon?

      --
      Ceci n'est pas un sig.
    16. Re:Bye bye marvel... by Tetsujin · · Score: 4, Funny

      Disney was around at that time. They've been slaughtering Grimm's Tales since 1923. (Trust me, Grimms Fairy Tales are much better in their original form...)

      Klingon?

      Nyet, they were a Russian inwention.

      --
      Bow-ties are cool.
    17. Re:Bye bye marvel... by cjpa · · Score: 3, Interesting

      while the Grimm brothers just penned them down from oral tradition. They didn't do 'original' work either..

    18. Re:Bye bye marvel... by mqduck · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Trust me, Grimms Fairy Tales are much better in their original form

      I don't generally care for Disneyfication of classic stories, but in the case of the Grimm's fairy tales, it's difficult to say that the stories are better or worse left in their original hardcore form.

      The original stories weren't so much supposed to be entertainment as moral and cautionary tales. Back in the day, the message to kids of Little Red Riding Hood was very relevant: don't wander around in the woods by yourself or you'll get eaten by a fucking wolf.

      --
      Property is theft.
    19. Re:Bye bye marvel... by mollog · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm not sure but you seem to be agreeing with me. Disney was and is mainstream Amerika; conformist, sanitized, shallow.

      Comics (Graphic Novels) were very non-conformist; sensational, graphic, violent, and celebrating the anti-hero. I have no doubt Disney was aware of Graphic Novels, but their approach to medias was orthogonal to the approach by Marvel, et al, and Disney did not seem to try to compete with the themes of comics.

      For Disney to now take ownership of those very sources of alternative media is to see that alternative media co-opted, and to lose access to those themes.

      --
      Best regards.
    20. Re:Bye bye marvel... by ajs · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is why I typically don't bother posting to Slashdot about this sort of thing... Why would you expect an example of their genre diversity (which is what I said that list was) would be exhaustive?

      Since clearly you mistook that for an exhaustive list, here's the actual list of films from the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group:

  2. great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does this mean that we can expect to see unending series of cash-in sequels, like Spiderman 3, Fantastic Four 3, Iron Man 2, X-Men 4, etc?!? Oh wait...

  3. A good fit by KingSkippus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Marvel... The company that sued NCsoft for making a game in which superheroes could be constructed because some of them could be made to look like Marvel characters? And then it turned out that the most egregious violators were actually Marvel employees?

    Sounds like a good fit to me, I'm sure the companies will be really happy with each other.

  4. Hulk vs Donald Duck by elh_inny · · Score: 5, Funny

    Finally...

    Those clashes between Marvel characters and DC Comics ones got boring so now it's time for:
    Daisy vs Wolverine
    Pinocchio vs Spiderman
    Cinderella vs Juggernaut

    If they film any of those I am soo going to see this..

  5. Now the Biggest Question? by dorkbot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Universal uses Marvel trademarks in one of their Theme Park (Universal's Island of Adventure) in Central Florida. Will Universal continue to pay for these Likeness rights when they are to a rival company?

  6. Translated as: by R2.0 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We've finally given up thinking of our own ideas and as soon as existing licensing deals run out we are going to squeeze the Marvel universe for everything we can get out of it, by giving it the "Disney" treatment".

    Although... Pixar doing Marvel comics? Could be good.

    --
    "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
  7. Re:great! by FooAtWFU · · Score: 4, Informative
    Sounds like it....

    10:32: Disney: Cost savings were not the big driving reason for the deal. What really drives is synergies over time. It will create enhanced growth rate for Disney over time.
    10:33: Iger: Even with DVD sales slowing, movies with strong, brand name characters such as Marvel characters will hold up better than others. "It's not bulletproof"

    -- WSJ coverage of investor call (ongoing) emphasis mine

    --
    The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
  8. can you say "price increase"? by prgrmr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Thought comic books were expensive now? Wait until Disney ups the price to help recover some of that 4 billion.

  9. Universal Orlando by Ken+Hall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wonder how this will affect the licensing for the Comic Book area at Universal Orlando long term. It's ALL Marvel, including the "Hulk" roller coaster.

    I suppose it'll just continue for a while though, the whole thing is pretty incestous.

  10. Batman and Porky Pig by tepples · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Thank god Batman is DC comics.

    DC Comics is part of Time Warner. So is Porky Pig.

    1. Re:Batman and Porky Pig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Gargoyles was produced by Buena Vista Television. A division of Disney.

    2. Re:Batman and Porky Pig by Chelloveck · · Score: 3, Funny

      DC Comics is part of Time Warner. So is Porky Pig.

      And I, for one, am still waiting for the Batman/Porky Pig The Brave And The Bold team-up issue! Come on, Time-Warner, where's the fan service?

      --
      Chelloveck
      I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
    3. Re:Batman and Porky Pig by GyroLC · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's The Brave and the B-B-B... The Brave and the B-B-B... The Brave and the B-B-B-Enterprising

  11. Re:It could be worse... by tepples · · Score: 3, Informative

    They could have bought DC Comics.

    Warner Bros. already bought DC, but that wasn't necessarily "all, folks" for fans.

  12. Meh by Pitr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Marvel has been going downhill for a long time. So much so that I consider this deal to be part of a natural progression. Between poor writing and poor management, I haven't seen anything good from Marvel Comics since the late 90s, or maybe early 00s. Some of their movies have been good, some have been horrid. I know "continuity" is optional at best, but you can only "re-imagine" a plot so many times before it becomes complete drivel.

    This deal will ruin Marvel like old mayonnaise ruins a dog crap sandwich.

    --

    --Not to be worried, Pitr fix.
  13. Re:great! by CodeBuster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, except now Disney-fied and sanitized (look no blood!) to assure parents that little johnny won't be lead astray by those no-good comic books. If you thought that the Comics Code Authority was bad, just wait until Disney sinks their claws into the Marvel brands. I do not see how this can be considered to be good for comics in general and Marvel in particular. In fact, it will probably hasten the decline of American comics in favor of edgier manga and graphic novels coming out of Japan (a trend which was already clearly evident even before this latest deal).

  14. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.... by 8127972 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... But doesn't Universal Pictures own the rights to many Marvel comic book movie properties? How's that going to work?

    --
    This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
  15. Re:The bigger these behemoths become... by mrtommyb · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, it might slow the passing of the Mutant Registration Act.

  16. Finally! A justification for Howard the Duck! by JoshDM · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not the movie, the Marvel character. Now Howard the Duck will finally be able to admit he's from the same universe as Donald. My inner geek is sated!

  17. Re:GREAT! by Philip+K+Dickhead · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The great suckage.

    I buy no Disney. They are cultural programming of the lowest order. You want a rotten child? Let them watch Disney channel 2 hours a day.

    If you could contrive propaganda aimed at undermining basic human values, specifically that of respect, you could do no better than to come up with this garbage. It is particularly detrimental to the child / parent relationship - always portrayed as a way to manipulate or deceive the old buffoons.

    Disney is death.

    --
    "Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
  18. Re:Coming Soon: X-Men, The Broadway Musical by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 3, Funny

    Spider-man, Hulk, and Iron Man appearing on cruise ships is just as likely.

  19. Re:GREAT! by camg188 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't worry about that.
    Disney also owns Touchstone, Miramax, Hollywood Pictures, ABC and ESPN. The original reason Disney bought Touchstone was to release non-G rated movies separate from the Disney label.
    Touchstone, Hollywood and Miramax all release R-rated movies including the likes of Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, No Country for Old Men, Reservoir Dogs, The Crow and Con-Air.

  20. Re:Cinderella vs Juggernaut by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 4, Funny

    How about the trend towards "Young ___" ?

    Young Cindarella: "Juggy, you're ruining my flower garden!"
    Young Juggernaut: "Don't you know who I am? I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!"

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  21. what a Shame by OrangeMonkey11 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm just going to repeat what pretty much everyone is saying; f*ck Disney and RIP Marvel

  22. And they all lived FOREVER... by Uteck · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now we can rest assured that the Marvel characters will never fall into the public domain and live as part of the Disney brand for the rest of time.

    --
    no .sig found Please restart your browser.
  23. As foretold by the Beautiful South by wickerprints · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "Like the toupee on a fading fame
    The final whistle in a losing game
    Thick lipstick on a five year old girl
    It makes you think it's a plastic world

    A plastic world and we're all plastic too
    Just a couple of different faces in a dead man's queue
    The world is turning Disney and there's nothing you can do
    You're trying to walk like giants
    but you're wearing Pluto's shoes

    And the answers fall easier from the barrel of a gun
    Than it does from the lips of the beautiful and the dumb
    The world won't end in darkness, it'll end in family fun
    With Coca Cola clouds behind a Big Mac sun "

    Surely this must be a sign of the Apocalypse...?

  24. Maybe Marvel will change Disney by kenp2002 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Perhaps Marvel will help Disney with their "anti-two parent home" rage. Disney has always HATED two parent families.

    Don't believe me?

    Where are Donald's nephews parents?
    Ariel's mother?
    Goofey's Wife?
    Scrooge's Parents?
    Mickey's?
    Miney's?
    That little brat from Tailspin?
    Jasmine?

    I mean holy crap they hate parents apparently they are either dead or MIA!

    Marvel has plenty of Parents, Kids, Grandkids, hell whole genetic lineages running through the ages.

    Perhaps, just maybe, Disney will learn from Marvel... we can hope some day for an answer to the anti-parent obsession the Disney corp has...

    Stop teh h8 Disney! Stop teh h8! :)

    --
    -=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
    1. Re:Maybe Marvel will change Disney by Isaac-Lew · · Score: 3, Informative
      I hope you're being sarcastic:
      • Spider-man (no parents, father-figure/uncle dies violent death)
      • Hulk (abusive father who beats mother to death)
      • Wolverine (possibly illegitimate, most of family kills each other)
      • Daredevil (mother abandons him at an early age, alcoholic father dies a violent death)
      • Professor X (father dies, abusive step-father, his son & step-brother become super-villains)
      • Storm (parents die, grows up on the street)
      • Cyclops (loses parentsat a young age, grows up in an orphanage, daughter is from another timeline, son taken from him & grows up in the future)
      • Cable (see Cyclops)
  25. Re:GREAT! by jerwinch · · Score: 5, Informative

    as the parent of a 5 year-old and a 1.5 year-old, i could not agree with you more. the moment we disallowed the disney channel (just playhouse disney -- aimed at preschoolers) and only allowed pbs, there was a noticeable attitude change in my older son.

  26. Re:GREAT! by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did he immediately start smoking, drinking cappuccino and talking about how the capitalist bastards are going to ruin everything?

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  27. One word: Spider-Goofy by Jason+Levine · · Score: 3, Funny

    As he web slings around town he shouts "AHH-HOO-HOO-WEEE".

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  28. Re:Fox and New Corp by Mix+Master+Nixon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Did you SEE the movies Fox made based on Marvel properties? Other than the first two X-MEN films, it's been wall to wall dogshit. If Fox had bought Marvel instead of Disney, the pathetic whining and moaning from people who don't know what the hell they're talking about would be far worse and far more justifiable. Fox never met the property that they couldn't micro-mismanage into oblivion. They're the ones who hired Brett Ratner to make X-MEN 3. Disney will let Marvel do what Marvel wants to do because Disney likes money. Interference with Marvel would poison the brand and with it Disney's massive investment in it. Disney releases of Marvel films will be through a subsidiary company, most likely Touchstone.

    Last time Marvel was owned by a movie studio it was the short lived post-Roger Corman incarnation of New World Pictures. This couldn't possibly turn out any worse than that did.

    Also, Marvel/Pixar = WIN.

    --
    Oppressing an entire population is never cheap.
    --Jeckler (/. Beta IS GARBAGE!)
  29. Re:GREAT! by mqduck · · Score: 4, Informative

    he original reason Disney bought Touchstone was to release non-G rated movies separate from the Disney label.

    I'm pretty sure that Disney itself founded Touchstone.

    --
    Property is theft.
  30. Forget that, I wanna see Marvel/Kingdom Hearts by gmezero · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Kitty Pride vs The Heartless

  31. Re:GREAT! by nizo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nonono, now we can finally answer the age old question: can Mickey kick Wolverine's butt, all in eye watering 3D!

    --
    I Am My Own Worst Enemy
  32. Re:Fox and New Corp by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 4, Informative

    I hate Fox and Rupurt Murdoch, but they were the ones to push the envelope with media. It's too bad Fox didn't have the foresight to buy properties like Marvel so that the seriously adult themes in comics can be fully developed.

    Disney bought Miramax in 1993. That's the studio that has released just about every Quentin Taratino film as well as titles like Priest and the Crying Game. I'm not saying Miramax is perfect, far from it, but even under Disney they've released many movies with adult themes.

    --
    When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  33. Re:GREAT! by blackraven14250 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think they're talking about the modern channel and its overall ludicrousness. Any entity is going to change over the course of 20-60 years, leading to different types of material being produced, if they're talking about movies.

  34. Re:A plethora... by ZaMoose · · Score: 3, Funny

    Forgive me, El Guapo. I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?

    --
    I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep Dracula and Superman away.
  35. rawstory.com had Wolvie Mouse graphic for story... by leftie · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...posted for a while.

    Here's a link...
    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4OYGjUrdllo/SKZDW56FpYI/AAAAAAAAGLA/zHFGEjuqpPk/s400/WolvieMickey.jpg

  36. I'm glad Fox got shut down on this by leftie · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fox News potentially getting it' hands on the Captain America property!?!

    Nonono. That must be prevented at all costs.

  37. Re:GREAT! by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Funny

    Those entities don't do animation, do they?

    I have a hard time believing Disney will allow 'PG-13+' animation to come from one of their properties - it's too close to the core.

    I'm picturing Wolverine with sporks.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)