So Disney are buying Marvel for around $4 billion - an interesting and surprising deal. Apparently this will give them access to a catalogue of about 5,000 characters. Not being a big comic book fan, I'm not sure how many of them I could name! (As an aside I wonder how many recognisable characters there are in the Disney stable. I doubt it is as much as 5,000 but I expect that it is more than one would imagine.)
Probably the main reason for the deal relates to cinematic opportunities - look at the success of Spiderman, Iron Man, Hulk and so on movies over the last ten years or so. However for a park junkie and DVC member, the obvious question arising from this deal is what will the impact be on the theme parks? As many have pointed out already Mickey Mouse and Spiderman aren't exactly obvious buddies, and introducing Marvel characters to Disney parks would need to be done with extreme care to avoid muddling and diluting both brands. However, there really must be an opportunity here to do something positive.
Murmurings are increasing about a fifth park at Disney World in Florida, and a park themed around the Marvel characters could be just what is required. Since WDW opened in 1971 there has been a new park opened approximately every ten years, and yet the Animal Kingdom opened more than ten years ago now and there are no obvious plans in the pipeline for gate number five. Also some say that Disney has been focusing on the girls recently at the cost of the boys - think Princesses, High School Musical and Hannah Montana. The Marvel acquisition gives the Mouse an opportunity to redress the balance (look out for Marvel cartoons on the new Disney XD TV channel?) and a Marvel-based theme park in Orlando would no doubt be a big hit with the boys - young and old!
But we come up against a rather large problem here called Universal. They already have the Islands of Adventure park in Orlando and one of their most popular areas is called Marvel Superhero Island which includes some of the park's headline attractions, including the Hulk Coaster, Dr Doom's Fear Fall and Spiderman. Some of the reporting on the deal has stated that Universal have an agreement with Marvel that they have exclusive rights to use the Marvel characters in any theme parks in the US east of the Mississippi. If this is true then this could well scupper any plans that Disney might have to introduce Marvel to the parks. No doubt this agreement would have been reviewed in some depth as part of the due diligence process and Bob Iger will have gone ahead with the deal fully aware of any restrictions in place.
The fact that the agreement apparently only refers to parks in the Eastern USA seems scant consolation. If Disney were to introduce Marvel-based attraction in California, Paris or other locations, wouldn't this only serve to encourage people to visit IOA on their Orlando trips, and Disney could really do without that additional pressure. Seems to me that they have enough of a scrap on with Universal already, especially with the arrival of Harry Potter at Universal in the near future.
So, where does all of this leave us as far as theme parks are concerned? Assuming the reporting of the Universal deal is right, my best guess is that we will see very little, if any, impact on the theme parks in the next few years, but frankly, your guess is as good as mine!