House For Sale

The House Of Ideas is moving to the House Of Mouse.

The Walt Disney Co. is buying Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion in cash and stock, putting Iron Man and Spider-Man into the family of Mickey Mouse and WALL-E. Under the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, Disney will acquire the rights to 5,000 Marvel characters. Many of them, including the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, were co-created by comic book legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Disney CEO Robert Iger said Marvel's comic books, TV shows, movies and video games amounted to "a treasure trove of content", and the deal would bring benefits like the ones Disney got from buying Toy Story creator Pixar Animation Studios Inc. for $7.4 billion in stock in 2006. "The acquisition of Marvel offers us a similar opportunity to advance our strategy to build a business that is stronger than the sum of its parts."

For Marvel, Iger said being in the Disney camp would mean better global distribution and better relationships with retailers to sell its products. Rival comic book maker DC Comics (home of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman) has been under the Warner Bros. banner since 1969.

One point of the deal is to help Disney appeal to young men who have flocked to theaters to see Marvel superheroes such as Iron Man in recent years. That contrasts with Disney's recent successes among young women with such fare as Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers. Marvel television shows also already account for 20 hours per week of programming on Disney's recently rebranded, boy-focused cable network, Disney XD, and that looks likely to increase.

A market analyst noted that that the $4 billion offer was at "full price."

Although it began producing its own movies, starting with Iron Man last year, Marvel has several deals with other movie studios that Disney said it will honor and re-examine upon expiration. For example, Spider-Man 4, set for release in 2011, is being made with Columbia Pictures; Iron Man 2 will be distributed by Paramount Pictures next year; and the upcoming X-Men Origins: Magneto and X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2, both due in 2011, are to be distributed by 20th Century Fox. Pixar also had third-party licensing agreements that eventually expired.

While I'm happy my favorite comic company is getting a larger springboard into the market, I hope that doesn't mean the Disney mantle will soften and weaken the brand by making it too family friendly.