What The Disney/Marvel Deal Means For You

There’s an awful lot of fear and worry going around because of the recent purchase of Marvel Comics by Disney. And a whole hell of a lot of people are asking a whole hell of a lot of questions about what kind of impact this will actually have. 

The short answer, according to the conference call, is not nearly as much as you’d think.

Disney has had massive success with their characters among girls with the Disney Princesses Licensing Juggernaut (and if you don’t think it’s that big, you clearly don’t know anyone with a daughter), but can’t seem to catch the boys’ market. Their biggest successes with boys lately have been Pirates and Cars, and they’re both limping at this point (Pirates being far more limp-y than Cars). Disney is looking for perennial hits with boys 8-14, perennial hits like super heroes.

The deal was made so that Disney would have access to Marvel’s library of characters and the valuable licensing rights these characters offer. They have no intention of going in and messing with the comics. They essentially see the comics as an R&D dept. to build new franchises, the same way Warner Bros. looks at DC Comics. If there’s any effect on the comics, it’ll probably show itself as a willingness to foster lower tier titles. With a larger corporation bankrolling their operations, Marvel might be more likely to give books with low sales a bit longer to catch on, much the same way DC does.

If you’re concerned that Disney is going to neuter Marvel, keep in mind that in 2005 Disney started putting out comics based on some their properties through Slave Labor Graphics. Yes, that Slave Labor Graphics, the company that put out Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. Also remember that Disney, through their Touchstone, Miramax and Hollywood Pictures imprints, has released numerous PG-13 and R-rated movies. I don’t think we have to to worry about The Punisher going away any time soon.

What does this mean for Marvel’s movies and their deal with Paramount? Nothing, yet. The current slate of Marvel-produced films that are being distributed by Paramount will continue, just as they were. Marvel’s contract with Paramount is for five more movies, those being Iron Man 2, Captain America, Thor, Avengers and whatever comes after that (maybe Ant Man, more likely Iron Man 3). After that Disney will attempt to sever the ties with Paramount so they can release the movies themselves, in all likelihood under the Touchstone or Hollywood Pictures banners. As per the contracts, deals with Sony (regarding Spider-Man) and Fox (X-men, Fantastic Four and Daredevil properties) remain intact as long as they keep making films with those characters.* 

One place where we will see some differences is the cable channel, Disney XD. The network is currently the home of reruns of Marvel cartoons like X-Men Evolution, Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, and all the Marvel cartoons from the 90s, as well as DC cartoons Superman, Batman: The Animated Series and Static Shock. Disney XD is also the network that saved the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon when Kids WB canceled it. Expect another season of that to get greenlit, as well as more original Marvel programming. The DC stuff might quietly disappear from the schedule, but then again, it might not, (Warner-owned) Cartoon Network has shown the Marvel DTV movies.

Quite a few people have been asking about how this affects the Universal Studios Islands of Adventure attractions, and whether we’d be seeing Marvel characters at Disney parks now. The answer to that depends on the coast. Disney gets theme park rights to Marvel characters at venues west of the Mississippi, while Universal gets to keep them east of it for as long as they continue to have Marvel attractions.* Seriously, that’s the boundary they used. So, there’s a chance that Spider-man will show up at Disney Land, but not Disney World. Interestingly, since Universal Studios pays Marvel a steady income stream for the use, they will now be sending checks to their direct competition, Disney.

However, DC is counting on creators feeling the same fear that many readers have been. They’ve apparently been dropping hints that Disney’s going to meddle at Marvel, and are trying to use that to secure exclusive contracts. Ah, the politics of intercompany rivalries.

But basically, things will mostly stay as they are, except you’ll be able to buy Marvel stuff at Disney Stores and you’ll probably see Marvel characters at Disney’s California Adventure (that park’s been hurting, they can use the help the most). Eventually, Marvel movies will have some type of Disney imprint on them. There will be more cartoons of the caliber of Spectacular Spider-Man, a show that really lives up to it’s adjective.

It will be OK. The sky is not falling.

Oh, yea, and the Pixar guys got so excited about the deal that they had to told to calm down.

* - Kind of like how if DC ever stops printing Watchmen the rights go back to Alan Moore, so they will never go out of print.