Well, it's been almost a week since the announcement that Disney wanted to buy Marvel. And it's been almost a week since fanboys everywhere went batshit angry over the news, predicting doom and gloom and the end of Marvel and all its characters. Sigh. Why are fanboys so bitter about everything nowadays? What is the frickin' problem??
I actually think this is an amazing thing to happen to Marvel. Yes, it would be nice to have seen Marvel grow and flourish as its own "Disney" and become a powerhouse entertainment company relying on the strength of its intellecdtual property. But Marvel realized that strength too damn late in the game. They had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the late 90's, and only then started to get their film projects up and rolling, putting their characters out there for more exposure to the general public, which has now given Spidey the same pop-culture exposure that Batman experienced in the 60's and 90's and Superman experienced in the 80's. Recently, Marvel decided to open their own film studio in a bid to make more money off of their characters (despite the couple billion dollars plus that the Spidey and X-Men movies have made over the years, Marvel sees a fraction of that since the film rights are with Sony and Fox respectively). They were taking steps in the right direction, but Disney will supply everything Marvel wanted in the blink of an eye (distribution, theme parks, multi-media exposure, etc.). And yes, as we all know now, you will still get your Iron Man 2 and such. And, Lord help us all, Fox will still try to churn or X-Men pap and "reboot" Fantastic Four, since they still have the rights to those and Sony will still try to crank out Spider-Man 4, 5 and 6 or however many they're making since they have Spidey movie rights still.
Now, for all you fanboys worried about Marvel suddenly becoming too family friendly because they're now owned by Disney -- what decade are you living in? Disney no longer means dumb talking animals in movies only a 5 year old could love. They haven't been there in at least 15 years. Because of the Disney/Pixar merger, Disney routinely puts out all-ages movies with currently the best storytelling in American cinema with their Pixar movies and they constantly garner massive crossover success with all demographics. Yes, Disney also makes stupid live-action crap like Race to Witch Mountain and Hannah Montannah, but the important thing to realize is the company's ability to separate them and develop mutiple brands for multiple audiences. Witch Mountain, Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montannah are jokey, stupid and innocuous and are for the tween set. Mickey Mouse and all his friends are currently in TV and "edutainment" content aimed at small children. The Pixar movies are a little more challenging and are for ages 5 to 90. Touchstone pictures are for grownups. See? Disney knows where to slot things. I see them making kid-friendy and also challenging Marvel movies and TV. You may get Spidey teaching children math and ABCs, but you'll also get Spidey fighting Morbius or Electro in movies, Hulk smashing stuff and maybe a hard edged Blade movie or two. And Marvel's publishing program will not be touched. If anything, Marvel would start making Mickey comics and stuff, but all of the hard-edged stroylines in Marvel comics like Civil War and Planet Hulk will remain. It's not like WB ever put a stop to Bane breaking Batman's back or Superman dying or whatever, even when they were pushing for family freindly Batman movies with Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. Disney won't either.
What I like is that now Marvel has access to Disney's world-wide network of entertainment. Finally, a reason to go to the Disney store! Imagine the Marvel crap they could sell in there. Imagine what Marvel attractions they could create at the Disney themeparks! And now Marvel has access to Disney animation. All that incredible cell animation work and Pixar's writing and computer animation team could be at Marvel's disposal. Much has been made of Pixar's John Lassiter's meating with Marvel execs discussing possible Marvel projects in the future and Lassiter reportedly becoming "very excited very fast". Now, all of this won't happen immediately, like you won't see a Pixar Thor movie anytime soon, but you will eventually.
In the meantime, relax. This could be very good. And if it's not, then you'll see a 20 page essay from me on why the worl sucks.
Deceptisean
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