It’s a Done Deal! Disney Destroys Competitors, Purchases Fox For Over 50 Billion!

December 14, 2017

Original artwork courtesy of @kharyrandolph on Twitter

Well that just happened. It was only a few months ago when Stan Lee said that sooner or later, Marvel would get all of its characters back. To some it was brushed off as simple musings of the Nonagenarian scribe, but in what’s likely the biggest news in the history of the Entertainment industry, Disney just bought the majority of Fox – and it only took 52 Billion dollars.

Variety reported the deal in an article early Thursday. The article also mentions that Fox News, Fox Sports, and Fox TV Stations, and a host of others will spinoff into a new company completely! In addition to the presumed return of every Marvel character for use in the MCU (The Hulk and Namor belong to Universal) the deal also would allow Disney to re-distribute the original, non-“Special Edition” releases of the original Star Wars trilogy.

After the merger, Disney is set to become the largest media distributor in the industry. The move was set to help the “House of Mouse” combat competition from digital competitors like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. Fox’ former assets included Hulu, so that takes care of that particular conflict. Disney had already announced plans for its own content streaming service, and with Hulu’s library added to its own sizable collection, Netflix could soon be trembling in its boots. In a Deadline Hollywood article, Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger stated, “We do know that if we decide to increase our original spending on Hulu, we certainly have the intellectual property-creating possibilities far more than we did before this acquisition. . .” Iger continues, “One of the most exciting aspects of the acquisition is that it will allow us to greatly accelerate our direct to consumer strategy, enabling us to better serve consumers around the world. We believe creating a direct to consumer relationship is vital to the future of our media businesses and is our priority.”

The elephant in the room however, is how the acquisition will affect the current Marvel Cinematic Universe. The X-Men and Fantastic Four are home where they belong, but with movies X-Men: Dark Phoenix, The New Mutants and Avengers: Infinity War already in production, does it this mean possible reshoots? (Please let there be reshoots.) There wouldn’t even have to be sweeping changes, just a simple mention of the word “mutant” by Tony Stark or Thanos, would send ripples through the theater. Just think of the implications. Imagine Hugh Jackman, one last time in a cameo role, seeded into the backstory of Captain America, which would give mutants historical precedent within the MCU, leading back as far as World War 2! Yeah, I know what Hugh Jackman said, but still. How about the Fantastic Four’s introduction, slowly building from events in Captain Marvel, which takes place in the 90’s. There’s been increased interest in the cosmic side of the MCU, with James Gunn being given control over its direction beginning with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. No matter what follows, what an exciting time to be alive for Marvel fans!

My only remaining question is, which Disney Princess will Deadpool dress up as first to announce his “excitement.” Because you know that’s coming.