Speculating on the Disney-Marvel merger

Comic lovers everywhere are worried over Disney’s recent $4 billion purchase of Marvel. Granted, other comic fans, far from scared, are excited or even indifferent — the whole spectrum of emotions comes into play with big news.

Nothing is concrete yet, but this merger’s possibilities are endless. Let alone odd mashups, it could change the way we view comics, for better or worse, or even spell a new era of Marvel movie madness. Here’s a look at just three things that could happen.

Greater Visibility

Being the massive corporate machine that it is, Disney’s distribution channels could send comic books to Wal-Mart, Target, even the local grocery store. This could make Marvel more accessible to common consumers, and if so, potentially means an increase in readership. Specialty comic book shops could tank as a result, but nobody wants to see that happen.

In the end, chances are Disney won’t mess with the comics much. Just because Disney is behind the superheroes now, that doesn’t mean grandma is suddenly going to start reading Iron Man comics. That’s probably not the company’s interest. What they want is a new Iron Man ride at Disney World. They want to cut deals with game developers and make money.

The people at Marvel know what they’re doing, and it would be a mistake to see Disney cross too far into their territory. Unless they decided a Hannah Montana comic is absolutely essential, which leads to the next point.

Strange Crossovers

Images of Disney-Marvel crossovers are sprawling across the Internet (some cool ones here), and these wild fancies are both funny and terrifying. And while Mickey as Wolverine is far-fetched, it doesn’t mean we won’t see Disney try to reach new audiences with different kinds of comics.

As said above, this is probably unlikely. After all, the superhero genre appears to be maxed out – if you’re the kind of person who really digs superheroes, you probably already read comics. But what about marketing comic books to girls? How about old people?

If anything, crossovers would be more likely in areas other than comic books. How about that Spider-Man ride, coupled with Donald Duck? Now what if Toby Maguire was starring right next to his sailor-suited partner in a live-action, eco-friendly movie?

Which is a fantasy that brings up the next point.

Disney-Marvel Movies?

If anything were to fall flat on its face, this would be it. Disney tends to make movies for younger children. Marvel doesn’t seem to fit anywhere in the equation. And yet, it won’t be long before we see the next kid-friendly Marvel movie on the horizon.

This is speculation, of course, but there’s a possibility Disney could water down the icons so many Marvel fans have grown to love. Even if all the hardcore fans boycott the movies, enough moms will take their children to watch the films that they’ll become box office successes. If not, Disney will earn back its money by selling exclusive lunchboxes and backpacks.

On the other hand, Disney could offer Marvel the financial backing needed to create in-house movies that would’ve been impossible to make before. We could even see Pixar renditions of classic superheroes.

The sky’s the limit. In any case, it’s safe to say that both good and bad will come of this. We’ll just have to wait and see.
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Mickey picture courtesy of www.screenjunkies.com
Mickey logo courtesy of flickr.com. Marvel logo courtesy of thexboxdomain.com
Punisher/Jonas Bros. crossover courtesy of www.worth1000.com