Disney Assimilates Marvel

We loved Spider-Man.  We loved Iron Man!  And we try not to think too much about the Fantastic Four; however the Silver Surfer was cool.  But will we love Ant-Man, Iron Fist and every other obscure hero in the Marvel universe?

Disney is finishing the digestion of Marvel this week, with its whopping $4.2 billion dollar purchase, and they’re hoping that people will go nutso over Doc Sampson, Doctor Strange and … Doctor Druid(?). … meh.  I’m a comic book geek to the nth degree and I’ve never even heard of some of these dudes.  Do I care to?  Do you?  We wonder…

Speculators and non-geeks seem to think it’s a fantastic event, seeing that Disney shares have jumped 20% since the deal was thrown on the table.  They argue that Disney can create more in-depth theme parks, shows, videos, movies, toys and games and capitalize on the mass marketing.

But will this really extend beyond the core Marvel characters:  Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Hulk, Captain America and Punisher?  And is there a risk that Disney will water down these core heroes (and others they try to revive) in an attempt to make them more “kid friendly” that us grown-up geeks like us can no longer take them seriously?

The one thing that will definitely be good all around is Disney’s ability to leverage licenses and characters across multiple platforms, taking a comic hero and putting him on dvd, on tv, movie, and multiple other media and merchandising opportunities to appeal to the hard core fans and non-geeks alike.

You can catch a glimpse of the 5,000 Marvel heroes here … boy, I CAN’T WAIT to see the new Doctor Druid action figure!