[News] Disney acquires Marvel? Somebody got X-Men in my Wonderland!

The House of Mouse has reached an agreement to acquire the House of Ideas for $4 billion in a mix of cash and Disney stock. This gives Disney access to some 5,000 Marvel Comics characters, including Spider-man, the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Wolverine, Iron Man, and the Incredible Hulk.

Wow. Just wow.

Although the acquisition will have to clear shareholder approval and antitrust hurdles, I doubt there will be much objection. After all, the Distinguished CompetitionTM is owned by Warner Brothers, another media conglomerate, and the home of Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman.

I guess this opens up the possibilities for the Disney Theme Parks, to the detriment of Universal Studios. I also wonder if Kingdom Hearts will finally get to play around with Marvel's stable of memorable characters.

Given how Disney has treated its Pixar acquisition (ie total independence), I am cautiously optimistic that this will not significantly affect my enjoyment of Marvel Comics. However, I suppose this will be the last we see of Marvel's MAX imprint, and gratuitous killing just for the heck of it. (I'm looking at you, Wolvie and Frankie!)

So, thoughts? Violent reactions?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Blast you... Sousuke. Blast you and the extra minute you got by my adding some choice commentary

Yeah, someone go merge into Sousuke's thread or smth

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I wonder if we'll ever have a cross-over between the Incredibles and the Fantastic Four, now that they're owned by the same parent.

Mr. Incredible will have a very tough time punching out Reed, since it's like he's hitting wifey.

How ya doing, buddy?

Pfft. Such a huge block of text when you're essentially saying that FOX doesn't ruin movies, it's just that fans are just haterers...

I am linking to TVTropes. You have been warned.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?