oh. my. god. we can now have the long awaited punisher max/mickey mouse team up

first

Holy Fuck!!!???

Now they must buy Superman!!!

On the one hand, this might lead to some really cool comics. On the other hand this feels me with a great sense of dread.

Ultimate Marvel Muppets anyone?

BUT! HOW! WHY! Will they shove their own bloated characters into every shot or try and drown us with so much product placement our minds collapse?

Wait....

I'm scarred, Hold me Stan

This is shocking, but I don't feel as afraid if it was 6 to 10 years ago I would be rolling over freaking the hell out.

But I feel Disney is proving themselves to go beyond what it was originally marketed as. With the new Tron movie, Kingdom Hearts Series, the new Wii game in development about a steam punk Disney world and dare I say Kill Bill vol 1 and 2. I actually think this could be alright, maybe not super awesome fun time but not the end of the world. I think as long as they don't mess up the movies coming out I'm cool.

That being said I pry just jinxed it.

...wow. I have nothing to say about this. Yet.

Absorbing this news.
...
Still absorbing.
...
Still absorbing.
...
Still absorbing.
...
>This brain is rebooting due to synapse overload.

Everything Disney touches turns into a big googly eyed, candy coated version of itself. This is very bad...

I bet that this means that Brand New Spidey can finally meet Hannah Montana, or maybe hang with Donald instead of Howard!! Such amazing stories cannot be told with a married Spidey...

Crap. Well maybe Marvel will finally start being wise with their money. Doubt it though.

Doubt this effects anything Marvel was doing. Disney isn't going to start pushing them around, people thought the same thing would happen when they bought Pixar but that didn't happen. Just means Marvel will have more money to throw into films and marketing.

It makes a TON of sense from Disney's perspective. The properties that Marvel bring to the table give them something they haven't had in a long time. From Marvel's perspective, I have no effing clue what this means moving forward.

The first question that popped into my head:

What does this mean for all the Marvel rides that are at DisneyWorld competitor Universal Studios?

Umm....

What is going to happen to Universal Studios and Adventure Island and stuff... Does that mean Disney gets money either place you go to now in Florida...

This is mind-discombobulating.

On the good-side, maybe Disney Channel will stop being terrible... MAYBE.

That´s it. I´m done with life.

Time to kill myself before Disney pulls a Mickey dancing alongside Hulk and Captain America.

what does this mean for all the marvel rides at disney's theme park competetior Universal Studios?

I don't think any of us Marvel fans should start to panic just yet. But I had a feeling that Marvel never fully crawled out of their pit from 10 years ago. It's the reason why I have called them licensing whores for years since you can find crap from all over the place with a Marvel logo/character - including the dollar stores that sell all that badly made junk!

I think this can only mean bigger things for Marvel if Disney doesn't poke their nose in too much and start to bastardize the characters and mature story lines. And I think we can all agree that Mickey Mouse ears will never replace Thor and Cap's wings! All we can do is stand back and watch now.

But you just know that Disney will be putting in a new Marvel Heroes World at Disney World. And to me that's A-OK! If they do that, you can bet their tourist business just doubled automatically!! Tell me what kid is going Disney World and NOT making a bee-line to that part of the theme park?!

But in short? Yes, this is a major shock to the system. I gotta wonder if DC is now cringing?

Could this mean that mickey mouse is a playable character in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2?!

What I think would be funny if Disney wanted to play a dick move and buy the rights of Superman. What would DC do than?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGH!
I DIED!

Havent you heard??

they already changed the characters origns. Peter Parker's uncle never died, they simply gave him up for adoption and his mother was cruel deville. so he became spiderman after some zanny experiment mickey was working on that was damaged by goofy. oh how fun this is going to be.

WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP. captain america's shield will either have a mickey mouse ears instead of the star or it will be crammed with ever litle fucking flag of the world because Disney doesnt want to seem bias towards Americans. yey for corporate butt plugging. UGH im gonna be sick...

I'm just wondering if this is going to mess up Hasbro's license to produce toys of Marvel properties, as Disney has traditionally favoured Mattel. I'd hate to see the 2010 Marvel Universe figures (particularly Hawkeye, Thor and Enchantress) get scrapped in favour of Infinite Heroes-style Mattel versions.

I guess X-man Origins was worse than I thought...

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

It's just a matter of time until Disney owns us all. How will this impact Howard the Duck since Disney once sued Marvel over the character? And I am the only one left who cares? These are strange times.

Game over man...game over

Now Peter Porker The Spectacular Spider-Ham can team up with Mickey and Donald!

I have no idea where to channel my mega-corporation hatred.

Can anyone say Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters Musical?

yeah im pretty sure this is the beginning of the end of anything decent coming from marvel comics...

NBC Universal should have bought them first.

you beat me, Clarence!! I hope this means that animated DVDs will come out easier. We still got some x-men animated seasons that need to come out on DVD.. then we can work on Spiderman! :D

Yeah, this doesn't bode well.

Does this means that Hugh Jackman will FINALLY make a "Wolverine: The Madripoor Musical" Movie?

Or are they gonna make a "Xavier's School Musical", with Zack Efron as Northstar?

I suspect all of the current licensing contracts will be honored through the end of their term or, if they are bought out, it'll happen much later - a corporate merger like this doesn't happen overnight. Disney, though no stranger to litigation, also loves money, and they could sit back and reap these rewards until they bring some of it home. Remember that they just closed a few hundred underperforming Disney Stores, just to make the remaining ones that much more special.

So the films, games, and toys currently in production should be fine. I'm more curious to see what Disney in television. Disney XD currently airs more than a handful of Marvel properties with only a few WB/DC shows. Will Disney leverage the Marvel Universe to make it more appealing to young boys in a move to counter Cartoon Network, leaving the Disney Channel to the whims of young girls? When Cartoon Network bowed, who expected anything like Robot Chicken or the Venture Brothers? Because right now, I'd kill to see a latenight adult block on Disney XD with an animated Punisher Max adapting or written by Ennis.

This definitely isn't surprising in that Marvel has been against the ropes financially for over 10 years. Plus, since leaving bankruptcy court, Marvel has become less a comic book-publisher and more of a marketer of characters. Look folks, go to Wal-Mart today and you will see Marvel characters (in that same art that is atop this post)on everything from t-shirts to bed sheets. Disney is a whiz at that type of marketing.

gogo duck twacy and nick fury

@mauro -

"Hey Captain Small World! (formerly Captain America) Throw your Shield of Many Flags to stop that duck!"

I was just thinking about Universal Studios and Adventure Island over in Orlando and in LA. Whats going to happen with that stuff.

I dont think this is anything to worry about. Maybe, maybe we'll see a Kingdom Hearts run. But, wow!...nice kick in the arse this fine morning..

Disney bought out Marvel. So tell me how is this a bad thing??

...I'm just speechless.

This can't be a good thing in the long run.

Things are gonna be cut back to make Marvel more marketable for kids. I'm just... wow.

This will certainly be interesting to watch.

I bet we'll get some cool exclusives at Disney stores...

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Simba in the Pet Avengers?

I don't think Disney will be ignorant enough to the legions of existing Marvel fans to bastardize Marvel. Then again, they might be greedy enough to make Marvel cater solely to children.

This can either be really good or really bad. Like a statue of Walt Disney shaking hands with Mickey Mouse and Spiderman in Disneyland.

I want to see Wolverine go berzerk riding 'It's A Small World'. >:D

NOOOO!!! There is nothing good about this afair!!, Sorry to say this but R.I.P Spiderman, The hulk, Thor, Ironman, Wolverine and all the other chars that have ligthen up my childhood....

all I can think about is how awesome it's going to be to present this news to my zombie roommate when he wakes up. I can hardly wait.

Uncle Scrooge bought the Avengers.

'Nuff said.

Marvel/Disney vs. Capcom baby!

Good God. I am suddenly filled with fear of what is to come.

Am I alone in seeing a Punisher/Goofy team-up happening?

I wouldn't be surprised if this caused big issues for Universal Studios.

I've got your next weeks contest for you. Worst potential Marvel/Disney crossovers. My friend votes "Mickey Mouse: Agent of Shield". I vote the "Quack-Men" With Donald Duck as Wolverine and Scrooge as Professor X..

I don't really think this is going to change things that dramatically. Especially not in the near future.
Sure, we are gonna see some of your favorite super heroes reimagined as disney characters (ala Jar-Jar Goofy, Slave Minnie, etc...a Captain America Mickey will be on shelves much much sooner than later) but overall they aren't going to change that much.
Like people have stated, both companies are marketing whores, now Marvel just has a helluva lot more financing.
Besides a Kingdom Hearts style game with Marvel characters would be pretty cool.

Meet the Mighty X-Mouse!

http://homepage.mac.com/zapski/.Pictures/X-Mouse.jpg

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I figured I should share this text message between my girlfriend and I when she told me about this (checked the site because I was hoping she was playing an overly elaborate joke):

Her: Man that Tony Stark meets Hannah Montana movie should be excellent.
Me: I hope they Stamford Incident her concert.

The sad part is... this could happen to a degree. God knows filmmakers LOVE cameos. Look at Stan Lee, we can't his corpse out of Marvel films (that was wrong, I actually like Stan, but the cameo's aren't cute anymore). Who's to say that Ironman 3 won't have Tony getting his ass handed to him midflight and he lands in the middle of a Miley Cyrus concert? Where are the checks and balences people?!

Also, how will this affect Universal Studios? Was this Disney's plan to make Florida a 1-park town all along?

Come here, Marvel fans. Closer...Closer! That's it.(hugs) My brothers, we may have had our differences. But now it's a wonderful time in your life. It's that time when you have to learn to walk in someone elses shoes. There shall be no more "if they where independent, like Marvel" towards DC fans. Now both companies are owned by transnational media giants!

Though you do have some reason to be concerned. Some executive incompetence is to b expected, and that could lead to some characters taking 20 years to the big screen and some perfectly awesome movies could blow up right in your face. However, your fears that Disney could be Disney-ing Marvel up are unfounded. Disney does more than kids stuff, with labels such as Buena Vista and films like Pirates of the Caribbean. But at least now Kingdom Hearts could truly interest me!

Either way, welcome to the fold. Hopefully your executives will be less dumb than our executives!

I'm actually optimistic for this. Sure, with any merger of two equally iconic group of intelligent properties, there's a chance for meddling, but I think Disney has the wherewithal to leave well enough alone and hopefully Marvel will take the opportunity to do thinks a bit different without sacrificing what made it great in the first place. Plus, could we get some Marvel-backed Disney comics like Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck? That could be awesome (Howard the Duck meets Donald Duck?)

However, the minute I see Miley Cyrus as The Dazzler, I'll know that all this was a complete shit idea.

I don't think Disney will really do anything to/with Marvel that the Marvel management hasn't already planned. The comics should be relatively safe; I doubt Disney dropped this kinda cash because of the comics. It's how the movies have performed, and the potential for lots more movies, that no doubt attracted Disney's attention.

I figure it will be business as usual for several more years.

I don't think Disney will really do anything to/with Marvel that the Marvel management hasn't already planned. The comics should be relatively safe; I doubt Disney dropped this kinda cash because of the comics. It's how the movies have performed, and the potential for lots more movies, that no doubt attracted Disney's attention.

I figure it will be business as usual for several more years.

The more I discuss it with friends, this is Money in the Bank.

McDuck MAX: The new ongoing about the tyrannical Scrooge McDuck: saavy entrepreneur, coke and hooker abuser, who secretly becomes the benefactor to the Punisher; walking the tightrope between his real agenda and keeping Castle under his thumb, feeding him leads to snuff out the competition.

dont think this is a good thing. Soon one company will own everything. Disney will take out all gun in mavel comics.

Does this mean the Deadpool movie is officially dead? :(

Not that it will EVER happen,but my brain would probably short-circuit if they did a story about Howard being from Duckburg. I can only assume this means we will never see my beloved Howard the Duck again. I'm also interested in seeing what the hell happens at Universal Studios-did you cats know that their original plans called for a Batman-themed park. You can read more aboot it here
http://www.comics101.com/guestlecturer//?mode=project&action=view&project=Guest%20Lecturer&chapter=82

@ MT3279 - "Does this mean the Deadpool movie is officially dead? :("

Hey you're right! A sliver lining! ;-)

Well, maybe if DC had any decent characters beside Superman and Batman...

In the short run, I doubt we'll notice any changes. There are contracts that have to be honored, movies that are already filming/in planning. However, as those start to expire or wrap-up, I think we'll see the changes start to trickle in and they will not be for the better. I can't really blame Marvel, I'm sure they needed the influx of cash, but in the end, the fans are going to suffer.

Well, at least this should make the release of DVDs for any Saban Marvel cartoons a bit easier.

And as amusing as this all is to read, when Disney bought Saban, we didn't wind up with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy as Power Rangers, answering to Professor von Zordrake.

And let's face it, that would have been awesome, even if it was as little as a theme park figure set. But nope, nothing.

I think the most we can expect on our end of this is to see more Marvel toys being sold at Disney Stores and theme parks.

...still, I can hope that Disney frowns upon the whole "deal with the devil to give up his marriage" thing on Spidey, right?

Will Disney leverage the Marvel Universe to make it more appealing to young boys in a move to counter Cartoon Network, leaving the Disney Channel to the whims of young girls?

That would only make sense, so of course they won't do it. Can't have anything that would appeal to boys, you know. Sexist, that.

Hey you're right! A sliver lining!

Die in fire, heretic.

Also, I guess this just strengthens the Disney-Warner Bros. and Marvel-DC rivalries...

FYI: Adventure Island in Florida is becoming "Lost" (Yes, that Lost) Island for open in 2011/2012

Does this mean Wolverine is now "the mascot of an evil corporation!"

Ultimate Hanna Montana!!!

While I see Disney letting Marvel run as an independent arm of the overall Disney machine and allowing them to continue doing business as usual, I can't help but wonder if its at the point that a movie company needed to buy them, why not LucasFilms, Fox, or Sony. Hell, Dreamworks would be preferable. Just my 2 cents.

What next Disney characters parading on the barrels of M-16's and AR-15's? Logos on Abhrams tanks, Nuclear powered subs, maybe even the side of the space station. Just some thoughts...

@Templar: I think you're half right. While I never saw an animated Pirates of the Caribbean to go along with the toys (which, I suspect, limited the appeal after the glow of the movies wore off; can you picture a Pirates of Darkwater styled PotC series?), Disney's hand-over-fisting with Cars merchandise because of its appeal to young boys; hence, Cars 2. I don't think Disney's held back because it's sexist. I think they've held back because they're just not very good at appealing to young boys.

Hell Yeah! Marvel/Pixar animated films for everyone!!

I don't see this as a bad thing at all, but yeah, it's shocking.

Man First we lose Toonami and now Marvel Comics ???

What next Nintendo.

Childhood is gone.

Good Bye Avengers movie...Howard The Duck is going to vanish...I want to say this will be good, but...It's Disney.

Nintendo has been bought by Microsoft. All Wii's have been recalled.

Well, the whole Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew never screwed up the DC Universe, so I guess Mickey and Donald can't do much worse to the Marvel Universe? Right?

Can anyone see the Watcher crying his eyes out on the moon being forced to where Mickey Mouse ears? Or how about Galactus trading in his helmet for a Mickey skull cap with ears?

I know one thing, Spiderman's gonna be in Kingdom Hearts..
and Wolverine's totally gonna puss out... in everything!
(Just like Ice Cube)

Does this mean Dick Grayson is still Batman?

Everybody remember when Disney bought Miramax and started putting Mickey Mouse in all the Dimension horror movies?

That Mickey mask the killers wore in the "Scream" movies still freaks me out.

Finally, after being rebuffed by young Peter, ultimate cougar Tinkerbell gets her stable of young X-men!

Goddamnit, Disney, stop killing everything good. x_x

I think you're half right. While I never saw an animated Pirates of the Caribbean to go along with the toys (which, I suspect, limited the appeal after the glow of the movies wore off; can you picture a Pirates of Darkwater styled PotC series?)

Damnit! Stop filling my head with thoughts of glories never to be!

Disney's hand-over-fisting with Cars merchandise because of its appeal to young boys; hence, Cars 2. I don't think Disney's held back because it's sexist. I think they've held back because they're just not very good at appealing to young boys.

True enough, I suppose. I suppose they've always been more girl-oriented ever since the main focus of the company's animated works shifted away from Mickey and co. and towards their endless princess movies and their general lack of young human male characters possessing more than two-dimensional personalities.

Yes, people should be worried, because as we all know, Marvel has never sullied their own name or been responsible in the bastardizing and ruining of their own creations... oh, wait, nevermind.

Seriously, people are worried over this?

I smell monopoly, what's next? "DISNEY-UNIVERSAL"?

I fear you not Darvel (Working title). I'm thinking this may help out Marvel, plus if they add to Disneyland it'll be a wonderful nerd hang out so I can pick up guys... While 7 yr olds watch.

Here's a list of the other crap Disney owns.
http://www.cjr.org/resources/index.php?c=disney Enjoy.

Who wants to see Wolverine as the next Disney Princess?

I think this is great. Remember DC is owned by an even bigger company, Time Warner, and it doesn't seem to hurt them much.
Another great thing is that it has been rumored for a while that Disney is looking to open up another park at Disney World geared toward the teenage crown with more thrill rides. Could we see some Marvel connection there? That would be awesome. Island of Adventure be damned.
http://www.joeonthetube.com

there goes Superhero Island at Universal Studios. Quick jump to Disney World

Wow people's responses to this are just hilarious, besides marvel hasn't always been all that great I mean wasn't their a Kiddie version cartoon movie of the Avengers. Didn't they already f up Spider-man with the whole devil deal.

List of movies done by Miramax a company under Disney
The Crow
Pulp Fiction
Trainspotting
Dogma
Clerks II
40 days and 40 nights
Kill Bill
No Country for Old Men
There will be Blood
Adverntureland (the guy who wrote and directed Superbad)

Majority of these movies either have Heavey Drug Use, Blood galore, Swear words used has sentence enhancers, and religion is put in a way that would make a Christins cringe.

If you somehow think Disney will just kiddiz things (even worse than what Marvel did to themselves) Think again, I know it's shocking but this is far from the end of the world.

*cringe*
We'll, at least we can almost positively expect some Marvel satire comics about this situation. Especially with Deadpool and Spiderman. All I really care about is them not putting a finger on the comics and not screwing with the Thor movie. God no.

Here you go kiddies. Complete with video:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Dispatch/market-dispatches.aspx?post=1241188>1=33002

That video and article answers a lot of our questions, BTW.

This is just....I can't understand it. Is it good, is it bad? I can't decide!

As a DC Fanboy, I see no reason to be anything but hopeful about this.

1. Assuming Disney does fire all the Marvel management and put their own people in charge... so what? Marvel's already proven themselves unable to manage their own products effectively and new management might put somebody in charge who... oh, I don't know... realizes that your heroes lose all right to call themselves heroes after they make Faustian pacts.

2. Re, the above - cry you Marvel zombies, cry! Your tears are sweet to me. ;)

Can't wait for the next F4 movie starring Hannah Montana & The Jonas Bros...all kidding aside, bet your bottom dollar there will be a Power Pack movie in the works very soon...

Crap...I saw this flash in the elevator news at lunch. I'm expecting Disney to eventually impart their ideas of wholesome family entertainment on all of the next coming Marvel media. Oh Great.

@ rob k:

I don't see how a Power Pack movie could be a bad thing. In actuality, I could imagine Pixar doing something good with that. Not sure a live-action would work so well. but who knows? Disney seems excited about owning more than 5000 characters and after watching the video of Mr. Iger on MSNBC, I get the feeling that he would like to see alot of these characters come to light in the public eye a bit more than we have seen.

I just think we are jumping to a conclusion that Disney will kill Marvel. I really disagree. I really do. I think this is the kick in the ass that Marvel needed to head in a new and improved direction. I do wonder where Stan Lee stands in all of this.

A lot of DC/Warner "corporate bullshit" is down to the pre-existing feudal environment in DC, and Warner's own feudal environment. Combined and it's a recipe of miscommunication and duplicated efforts.

Disney, in my experience, aren't that bad. As opposed to warring internal factions and poor communication, micromanagement seemed to be Disney's problem when I dealt with their UK wing and I've heard that criticism raised as a whole while Eisner was in charge. That seems to be shifting with the post-Pixar changes, and I expect Disney to get much better value out the Marvel characters than Warner do with DC's.

I am still on the fence about this one. In the press release, the Disney guy said that they would leave Marvel alone and in regards to the films and their studios, he said "If it's broke why fix it?" so that means to me that we will still see Universal with Iron Man, Hulk and whoever is doing Cap and Thor will be the same. I think Disney knows a good thing when they see it and hopefully they will just let Marvel live in their own universe and just be there to sign the checks. This could turn out to be the best thing ever but it could also turn into the worst thing ever. I know that everyone, including me, is hoping for the former one.

Scoff if you will. I, for one, can't wait to see Pixar get their mitts on ANY Marvel project.

Peter Pixar, Spectacular Spider-Sprite... Hmmmm...

Majority of these movies either have Heavey Drug Use, Blood galore, Swear words used has sentence enhancers, and religion is put in a way that would make a Christins cringe.

Best of all, they appeal to the barely-literate mouth-breather demographic.

It's funny how everybody is freaking out when this might be a good thing. Let's be honest Marvel has been doing some pretty stupid concepts in the past few years. (Brand new day anyone?)So who know, this might be a blessing in disguise for everyone involved.

Besides a mom of a young girl I find this amusing. Most girl's go for the Disney stuff while boys go for the superhero things. Now Disney found a way to make money off both genders at the same time. :)

Just no Hannah Montana/Spider-Man crossovers please.

PS Hopefully now we can finally get that 'Phineas and Ferb' comic book that we've been promised for a while!

"We believe that adding Marvel to Disney's unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation," Robert Iger, Disney's chief executive, said in a statement announcing the deal.

[BLOWS BRAINS OUT]

"But doesn't this -- at the very least -- mean that all the corporate company bullshit that keeps DC/Warner Bros. tied-up from achieving anything with their characters is going to happen at Marvel?"

Meh...
No sweat, Marvel already achieve that point some years ago.
Just to think that Oscorp might be bought by the Uncle Scrouge McDuck makes me eager for the new marvel universe tie-in "Marvel Ducks", get it?

this just means that Marvel fans are at the mercy of Disney corporate suits that also have their heads up their asses. Just ask the animation industry.

And the world will look up and cry..."save us".....
.
.
.
And I will look back down....spit in their eyes..and feed their children new installments of Kingdom Hearts: Rise of the Mutants

Ladies and gentlemen...Kirby has left the building...and i weep, oh how i weep.

Hopefully, Marvel doesn't get screwed over by this deal but I did like it better when they were independent. However, if Disney does screw them over, this would be karma for what they did to the Ultraverse when they bought them out and ruined them.

All i have to say is Whinne the Poo meets The Punisher. hell yes.

i just think a goofy/deadpool cross over would be fun...

Remember Spidey...15 will get you 20. Now for a serious moment, this brings such a disturbance to the force...it scares me. The comic gods are angry. I can only imagine how Disney will portray Punisher.

Gizmoduck Vs. Iron Man. I can't wait.

HOLY SHIT EVERYONE READ THIS

anyone find it strange that disney may own marvel, and a quarter of universal studios orlando, which is only a few miles away from disney world, is marvel themed? i wonder what will happen THERE?

Well, I don't want to be the positive guy, I hate to be positive, I'm a perpetual bitter bastard hater. I have VERY mixed feelings about this. I'll wait and see. This could be a new era in comics, or the beginning of a new end. But compared with Timer Warner perpetually clueless way of inaction with their stable of DC Superheroes, Disney is more like a "Doer", "least milk this cow dry", "no rock left unturned", "movemovemove!!!" company.

For example, look at the Princess empire of merchandising: for years the characters laid in the background of Disney's lore, just old character from classic old Disney films, till somebody decided to rescued from their freezing Disney memorabilia state, and decided to actually DO something with them, relaunch their princess for a new generation of little girls: and now the Disney Princess create billion for the company. Then decided to created TV shows aimed at the same, now a little older, demographic with their "tween sitcoms", with Hannah Montana being their touchstone. and now in the music business, they Disney star are selling million of records, with Miley herself and the Jonas bros. Disney know their public/market, at least.

Disney wants to conquer the boys market, a elusive, demographic for Disney to grasp, in years they have tried (Disney XD) and succeed (pirates of the Caribbean) and failed (Treasure Planet), and Marvel is the key to their success for this.

Will Disney screw up Marvel characters?

I'm afraid for the "little", more violent, dark Marvel antiheroes characters, like The Punisher, Ghost Rider, and the like. Disney doesn`t deal with grim & Gritty, is known for sugarcoated the more nasty aspect of violence and storytelling.

I think the more famous, more famous for the mass audience characters (Spider Man, X-men, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, Captain American, heck even Daredevil) have already their myth established, they are appealing characters, with intense history/stories, Disney will be foolish in mess up around with their characteristic personalities, supporting cast, lore, etc. They have a tailor made success! Stan Lee & Jack Kirby created a modern mythology in Marvel! Only fools screw around with that!

How does this affect Universal?? They were struggling to begin with.

Deadpool let loose in the Magic Kingdom.

The Pooh is gonna hit the fan.

Doc

i belive the animation I.E. part of this can definatly benifit from this, however i would rather not see marvel characters such as the punisher get nerfed and using non leathal weapons, or taking out the Physiological issues our heros have that we have come to love over the years. however saying that, marvel already screwed up the ultimates 3 so i dont think things can get any worse then Disney taking over....
but then again i can just see it now; Spider-Man team ups with the rescue rangers.
Roger rabbit putting the moves on Mary Jane.

On a more positive side of things, Marvel has been making animated movies for the past couple of years with mixed-quality animation. Disney is quite famous for their production values for their animation. Even Disney's straight-to-video releases have much better animation quality than normal. So I'm hoping Disney can use their animation experience to help Marvel.

Does this means Kingdom Hearts 3 will involve Sora teaming up with Spidey or the X-Men? Beats another Sebastian the crab cameo...

BREAKING NEWS:

Disney has appointed Rob Liefield as Editor in Chief at Marvel.

Let fear run rampant!!

Disney wants to conquer the boys market, a elusive, demographic for Disney to grasp, in years they have tried (Disney XD) and succeed (pirates of the Caribbean) and failed (Treasure Planet)

Can't understand why Treasure Planet wasn't more successful...

why not just appoint Kevin Smith. lol
i would rather see a comic fan running this and someone like Rob Liefield take care of the crap that does not involve creativity.

Finally we can have the Jonas brothers convice the White Queen to wear a promise ring.

I...what? Where the hell did that come from? Oh the strange and terrifying crossovers that have just become possible...

Shocking! Oh. My. God!

The positive:

JEPH LOEB MAY BE LET GO.
Marvel gains the use of pixar animation.
Things will get released on time (hopefully) on marvel's end.
A possible Fianl Fantasy VII Marvel crossover?

-Deadpool Meets Cloud Strife, Magneto and Sephiroth team up?!! - Rob you know you want to see it happen.
More Animated Features.
-A CG Wolverine film where he fights wendigo
Better quality merchandise I.E. toys, shirts, etc.

Marketing for there products will Imporve dramatically.
-Disney Knows how to put it in your face to where it almost annoys you. Then takes it away and makes you miss it. then just when you've forgotten about it.. boom.. its back and better than before.

LAM will come out faster and have larger budgets.

THE NEGATIVE:

RANDY NEWMAN DOES THE MUSIC IN ALL MARVEL FILMS.
that and all the other stuff mentioned

So far, to me, it means Marvel is safe.
What of they approached bankruptcy again and were bought out by some other company, or even had it's assets split up?
Disney hasn't bastardized the Muppets, who I also consider safe now, and they may even be getting a new film in the style of the originals!

It seems that as far as comics go, the primary fanbase is getting older.

With Disney, I feel that at least the Marvel characters will exist 20 years from now. For those afraid that the characters will be whores out, they already are, but Disney's whoring out is often surlrisingly more tasteful than all that awful Marvel items in recent years, with the awful Ultimate Universe airbrushed looking digital art on them.

Post Eisner Disney has embraced Pixar, and is returning to traditional animation!

I think and hope they'll leave the comics alone, aside from coming up with better ways to interest kids than the hack Marvel Age banner, and the possibilities outside of comics could be really cool!

A Marvel world in Kingdom Hearts 3? Yes please. Things will be tough with all the differnt existing contracts.

I wonder if this will affect Kingdom Hearts at all?

@ Patrick, Punisher vs. Goofy is made of Win.

....

It's strange how much things can change from just one article.
I'm currently holding my comic collection close. Thinking about burying it in hopes that people of the future will remember Marvel the way it was.

Or, I could sell them for big bucks. They're Pre-Disney :-)

But seriously...

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

darkmagician66699 said:

"BREAKING NEWS:

Disney has appointed Rob Liefield as Editor in Chief at Marvel.

Let fear run rampant!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xm1XErUvXo

that sums that up

Anonymous said:

darkmagician66699 said:

"BREAKING NEWS:

Disney has appointed Rob Liefield as Editor in Chief at Marvel.

Let fear run rampant!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xm1XErUvXo

that sums that up

Wow! I was at the bank today and was checking out this hot girl in line with me when I saw this go on the news ticker thingee behind her. I practically pushed her out of the way to read it. I was floored! This is some big goddamn news!

I am on the fence about this. There won't be any major changes right away but down the road disney will begin light censorship of the comic side. Less mature themes involved with the major properties that aren't protected by intelectual property clauses in contracts. We will see any movie that has a chance to make a buck put out (ie deadpool) and A LOT more CGI movies instead of live action. Disney won't screw with things too much as long as they make money in the end.

ooooh. Gargoyles in marvel universe

I was kidding about Liefield up above. GOTCHA!

But wouldn't we all be pleased to no end if Disney does do Marvel movies and keeps them the way they are in the comics? No self indulging asshole scripts? Just true to the comic books movies? With their real costumes and origins?

Ironman in kingdom hearts. That's what my stupid head got from this.

I dunno, I guess I'm ok with this I'm just wondering what Disney will do with all the darker heroes, like Daredevil, Punisher, Ghost Rider, maybe Cloak & Dagger...I've never known Disney to tell the dark side and always sugar coat their stories.

the way disney ceo Iger talked Disney will honor all Marvel agreements they have going means for now universal will still keep the marvel island of adventure. till Disney can find a way to shut that down. and given Disney already owns the rights to Marvels old cartoons maybe the deal means spider man and his amazing friends will finaly hit dvd now. and no doubt Marvel stuff in Disney stores soon. an alliance of good or evil Mikey now has spider man as his little bitch

Here is the official 43 minute conference call from Disney/Marvel to the press:

http://webcastingplayer.corporate-ir.net/player/playerHOST.aspx?c=129198&EventId=2413571&StreamId=1359681&TIK={91b21d95-e6af-4744-aebe-c2cfc96e8514}&RGS=3&IndexId=

I think something everyone has to remember is that this is not a hostile takeover of Marvel. Marvel is more than happy to be part of Disney. It's all about money being made on both sides and a wider distribution around the world for Marvel.

In twenty years, it'll be Disney/Marvel/PC/Microsoft/Coke vs. WB/DC/Mac/Sony/Pepsi. Mark my words.

We know that Marvel wants the movie rights of Spider-man, X-men, FF and all the rest back. Marvel doesn't have the kind of pull to pay off Sony ajnd Fox and get those rights back... but Disney sure can. Maybe we'll see a Marvel X-movie soon.

...with Kingdom Hearts drifting in the middle somewhere, scared and confused.

Wolverine better damn well be a playable character in Kingdom Hearts 3.

Disney's first order of business

FIRE JOE QUESADA
THEN FIRE JOE QUESADA AGAIN
THEN KICK JOE QUESADA
THEN BURN JOE QUESADA
THEN FIRE JOE QUESADA ONE LAST TIME FOR GOOD MEASURE

@ lopl - that was my first thought... i know marvel did a gargoyles comic back in the day , but it could be much better now

I want to see a Marvel-ized Gizmo-Duck and Darkwing Duck. Darker...and Duckier. Wait, do I?

@ The Big Bad Booty Daddy:

I couldn't agree with you more!

I don't see the problem, Don't expect anything to really happen out of the ordinary

Hell maybe we will get Deadpool in the next kingdom hearts game, Just because he will dress like a princess and sing a song while shooting things.

Think of that option.

wake up to this and you know the end is near.

The balance of power has been broken, guys.
It's the end for Deadpool and gay pairs.

Soon Warner Brothers or Nicholodeon will buy the rights of DC and then there will be only comics by Dini.

Waiiiit...that isn't so bad.

On the other hand, Disney and Pixars might get it aswell.

;_;

I was going to check for this joke but I'm at work so I appologize if someone said this: so house of M is Mouse now not magneto? "no more montanas".

@Tantrix:

I can't tell if this guy is joking or he honestly doesn't know that DC has been owned by Warner Brothers (Time Warner) for years....

I honestly don't see a problem with this. I doubt anything will be Mickey-fied. I think people are just panicking.

Maybe we'll just get some Marvel-themed rides at Disney World/Land or just a few as cast members (you know, the people who dress up at the park and you can take pictures with them and whichever).

@CarolinaWiccan,
How could you possibly think ownership by Fox could be preferable? Have you not seen X-Men: The Last Stand, Wolverine, Daredevil, Elektra or either Fantastic Four movie? Disney/Pixar actually has a good Fantastic Four movie under its belt (i.e., The Incredibles). Honestly, I think the negative reactions this news has been getting are pretty ridiculous. I highly doubt Disney will be imposing the types of changes on the company and its properties that the naysayers seem to think they will.

It's laughable to compare Marvel to Kill Bill. The Bride isn't a character that greets children at Disneyland.

Spider-Man will. And, if you think Disney wants their characters associated with any of the storylines that are currently going on, you are kidding yourselves.

So yeah, it's a good thing.

Disney...Marvel....Kingdom Hearts??

Its a Disneyfunctional idea! Cant combine these two environment

can we have a fan fiction about the little mermaid and maybe Namor now? I've been waiting for this to happen for years and I think it's only the right thing to do in honor of the deal.

I think Coconut Monkey has the right idea, this is all about bringing the intellectual property under one banner again.

That might be a good thing, or it might be bad, but it's a very good reason for Marvel to go along with this.

THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT!!! Deadpool cant be dead pool in disney, instead he will hug people and laugh unmenacingly, but heart warmingly. THIS IS BULLSHIT

We don't need no Disnification
We don't need no Mickey Mouse
No Micheal Eisner all up in Marvel
Hey! Disney! Leave us fans alone!
All in all you are all just whores in a mall
Superheroes at the Disney Store in the mall!
Hey! Stan Lee! Throw us fans a bone!
Hey! Disney! Leave Deadpool alone!

are you ready for your spider man costumed mickey? HEEEELLLLLLLLLLLL NO!

Who's to say Disney hasn't already affected Marvel's creative direction? Since Disney wants a young male demographic, it would certainly explain the reason behind the awkward, knee-jerk BND Spiderman reboot and it's focus on "YOUTH".

If Marvel rebranded their flagship product during negotiations to something Disney would find more attractive, it would be a smart move on their part, business-wise.

gortt, do you think Disney would be happy with the fact that Spider-Man might very well be an adulterer? He's still married, no matter what deal he made with the devil (and yeah, Disney is going to be thrilled about that).

People are getting ahead of themselves. I'm pretty sure every DC fan in the seventies was thinking the same thing when Warner bought them.

I know everybody is surprised and I'm surprised too and the first thing that comes to my mind is that Marvel has always been one of the largest companies in the world since when they needed more money or another company support?, well I'm hoping we don't get to see some crossovers like Namor Vs. The Little Mermaid or The Incredibles Meet the Avengers.
BTW now that Disney owns Marvel, all the Marvel attractions in Universal Studios have to be closed? and we will see some Marvel atrractions in Disneyland

Confirmed!New playable and DLC characters in Marvel UA:2 , mickey mouse & jack sparrow!

Thinking of Marvel attraction in Disneyland makes me actually want to go visit there as soon as it becomes a reality though :D

I hope the reason Disney is acquiring this is not to take control, but only to take hold of a profitable franchise. I don't have any great fear that Disney is going to pussify the Marvel universe, I think it will remain the same. It's not like Dimension Films and Miramax put out a bunch of cutesy films just cause Disney owns them.

Disney understands branding. Disney means cute cartoons and lovable characters, Dimension means gory horror films. They didn't purchase Dimension just to make more cartoons about discovering the location of a fish, they bought Dimension so they could make slasher flicks without attaching the Disney name to it.

As for the bureaucracy of it, I'm a little worried that Marvel Studios promised us 4 films a year. We might only get 2 now, unless Disney infuses Marvel Studios with money. Right now, we're flipping a coin and seeing where it lands.

And so it ends...

Seriously, what is Marvel thinking?

What?!

Just think about it. A couple years back, Marvel was bankrupt. It had many internal problems, not to mention all the crappy storylines which made up the 90s. Back then, yes, this might've made sense (business wise).

Fast forward to today (Err.... I mean, yesterday): Marvel has expanded like never before. With Marvel movies (Made with help from Paramount/Universal) making plenty of money, and a new videogame around the corner (not to mention the new cartoon, which will be aired on cartoon network) it's good to be a Marvelite.

And then this.

What does Marvel gain here (aside from money)?! Disney just bought thousands of new characters (many of which appeal to boys. Something Disney's princesses & pop artists lack) but Marvel has lost it's freedom.

I'm not saying that Marvel's dead, but it just jumped into a pile full of dead bodies.

As for Marketing?

A small gain.

But it's funny that people would mention DC/Warner. Do you see how they clash? How Warner hasn't done anything with DC's characters, but doesn't allow them to go to other companies? Do you see how DC movies not starring Super/Batman fall apart?

That might be Marvel!

And the thought sickens me...

Then there's censorship, & Disney's need to have kid friendly superheroes.

Some have said that Disney allowed Kill Bill, No Country for Old Men, and other movies to be made, but that's different.

I don't see any Kill Bill rides over at Disney World, and one of Disney's reasons to buy Marvel was to get some bucks from rides, action figures, cartoons, etc. Why else would Disney buy 5,000+ characters?

And here's were it gets tricky.

Nowadays, Spider Man is just as likely to fight the Sandman, as he is an organized criminal empire. How will Disney play this (In other words, will Disney set limits in order to maintain Marvel character's marketability)?

Marvel got around this by making all-age comics, showing Spidey fighting colorful villains, with morals & whatnot. It allows Marvel to continue with cannon and publish complex storylines. 

But what will Disney do?

Will it maintain this? Will it retcon One More Day (the comic where Spidey makes a deal with the devil)? Will the Marvel code remain?

And what about the Punisher, and his kind? Will the MAX imprint be canceled? Will Enis's work be retconned? Will they simple ignore such characters, and focus on friendlier types (which would kill their chances at recognition)?

Just to show you what I mean, Marvel has started publishing all age comics (for kids). In the X-Men comic, Wolverine is not allowed to swear, or use his claws to cut people.

Yeah.

Wolverine.

That's just an example. 

What will Disney do? Who will make the toys now (Mattel or Hasbro, or are they one company now 0_O)?

And what does Stan Lee think of this?!

HILARIOUS!!! All my Marvel Zombie friends are telling me in the coolest calmest fake voices how great this! It's like they are trying to tell me how great that not only is their girlfriend pregnant with triplets but also the parents are going to let them move into their double-wide trailer, with the entire family (who owns the trailer park compound and of course, the broken down cars, trucks, junkpile and nearby swamp) and their 27 cats, after the marriage! Yayyy, Marvel and Disney, whoo-ho! And they walk away, nerd-boy face blanched like all the blood transfusions in the world couldn't bring color back to that face...

People are overreacting. Disney is likely not going to intrude on the creative direction of Marvel's comics line. All they care about is making money off Marvel's powerful intellectual properties. Disney cares about the business Iron Man 2 will do in theaters, not what Tony Stark is doing in the Marvel Universe.

And you know what, fanboys? In some cases, this is a BAD thing. Marvel has an excellent all-ages line that's making a transition to a shared universe continuity. With Disney's backing and level of distribution, this is the perfect opportunity to push the Marvel Adventures line into the damned stratosphere. The Marvel Adventures (and Runaways!) digests should be at every grocery store, convenience store, Wal-Mart, Target, and Barnes & Noble checklane in the country. Kids should be buying those by the truckload. If Disney pushes Marvel to make that their official secondary line, replacing the gutted Ultimate Universe, Marvel might actually make money off something other than licensing their characters out. Imagine that, True Believers.

Oh my God! I can't believe this, I don't think this is a good idea, it's not good news. I'm not happy.

Disney isn't stupid. They will probably try a couple of cross over stuff like push for a Disney-Marvel comic that is still separate from the rest of the Marvel Universe. But they will most likely use it for movie rights, and making some new rides. I don't really think there is much to fear by this. I worked with Disney character development for a year during a school project and we met with some of high-ups. They gave the impression that they know that people don't want Mickey shoved down their throat.

I'm not saying it's not a bad thing. I'm just saying I'd be surprised if they really fucked it up.

Doesn't Disney have both Power Rangers and Tarzan too?

@Marvel Man,
Yes, Marvel does have an all-ages line where Wolverine isn't allowed to swear or cut people, and they should. At this point, the large majority of people who read comics are adults. I think it's all fine and good that there are comics with mature themes and storylines, but not having all-ages material pretty much assures that readership would die out (or at least shrink substantially) after the current generation of fans stops collecting. The Marvel Adventures line has been going for years, and it hasn't had any effect on the regular in-continuity books. If anything, I see Disney promoting the Marvel Adventures line pretty heavily rather than mandating changes on the 616 universe.

I think it's funny how many people are so ill-informed that they think Eisner is still in power at Disney. Idiots! Stop bitching when you don't know the facts!!!!!

All I have to say is this:

Marvel super hero movies as done by Pixar.

Nevermind doing live-action any more. They've got PIXAR, dammit. They can make movies that are BETTER than live action. They can make movies that have the right "feel", like the opening cinema on "Marvel Ultimate Alliance", or like the entire "Batman: Arkham Asylum" game. With animation, they can skip the primadonna actors and give us REAL-LOOKING superheroes with cool voice-over work.

Hell, most of the superhero moments are CGI anyway, so why not make the WHOLE MOVIE a photo-realistic animated feature?

This is pretty cool. Make it so.

@Marvel Man

You DO realize that Disney has owns a studio that focuses on PG-13 and R-rated movies, don't you? Disney is not all fluffy, family-friendly pap. They do realize they have an adult audience, and they provide product for them.

Disney owns Buena Vista, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, and Miramax Films.

Buena Vista and Touchstone are alternate brand names for Disney to release less "family" oriented films, or more wide-appeal films, like "Con Air", "Pirates of the Carribean", "Down and Out in Beverly Hills", "Armageddon", "Enemy of the State", and "Good Morning Vietnam".

Hollywood Pictures releases more controversial/adult fare that doesn't have the "Disney" feel to it, like "An American Werewolf in Paris", "Grosse Point Blank", "The Sixth Sense", "Dead Presidents", "Dangerous Minds", and most recently, horror film "Stay Alive".

Miramax releases the more a wide array of films, like "Princess Mononoke", "Fist of Legend", "Shaolin Soccer", "Spy Kids", "Pulp Fiction", "The Crying Game", "sex, lies, and videotape", "Kids", "Scream", "Clerks 2", and "Kill Bill".

Yes. KILL BILL, complete with blood-soaked Crazy 88s scene, was released by a Disney company.

So I think Wolverine will still be able to pop his claws.

Fuck you Marvel ,you fucking sellout

@ Matt

I completely agree. Comics are something kids should collect (but only Marvel comics). What I'm worried about, is that Disney will focus on Marvel's marketability.

And besides, Punisher, Ghost Rider, and many other characters rarely cross into the All-Ages comics. If they did, they would be joking around, and helping old ladies cross the street. It's just not them.

@ Zero

True. But like I've said. Those movies were never meant to be turned into action figures and games. Marvel characters were basically bought for this.

And that's why I worry for these darker anti-hero characters. They're too dark to be marketed to Disney's main focus (younger audiences).

Sure, the movies might be made, but it'll be different. They'll know that kids are a big market, and thus, will change these characters into friendlier and marketable characters.

It's just money to them!

Hey evry body put down your comics for a sec ,and pick up a little book called, the mouse betrayed,you will never look at Disney the same way again.

I hope Disney doesn't mess around too much with Marvel, like in this funny parody of the situation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrAwJzda69I

HOLY SH** IM FREEKIN OUT THINKIN ABOUT A WOLVERINE MOVIE MADE BY PIXAR IM SURE THEYL LEAVE OUT ALL THE VIOLENTS, REPLACE HIS CLAWS WITH FLOWERS AND GIVE HIM THE PERSONALITY OF A UNICORN. AND WHAT ABOUT THE NEW DEADPOOL MOVIE THATS COMIN OUT!!!!!!!!!! EVERY1 FREEK OUT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! $£"% "^" £"% £%"" $"$ "$"$%*% (()$&%*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AUGUGAAA HEART ATTAK NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!