Ok, so, this is not a Disney news blog, but this news just can not be allowed to languish in the hands of those paid to write about such things. Disney bought Marvel Comics for the whopping sum of 4 billion dollars.

To tell the truth, I think that’s actually a fairly low price.

Either way, it’s a brilliant move that I never would have expected them to make. After all, the deal with Disney building a Harry Potter theme park fell through and Universal Studios got the deal. This put Universal Studios into a prime position to take over the tween market, which the Disney parks were already struggling to capture. The only good thing about Disney not getting the Harry Potter deal is that the books are complete and the movies are nearly finished- the buzz is nearly over.

But with Marvel Comics under the Disney umbrella- hoo-boy! Think of the possibilities. Granted, this means the new Marvel movies will be released through the Disney company (cha-ching), the merchandising will be going to Disney (cha-ching), the comics themselves are going to Disney (cha-ching), and best of all, the parks can take total advantage of this.

Can you just imagine Marvel Metropolis at Disney’s Hollywood Studios? I heard that they’re going to totally wipe out the Backlot Tour and extend Pixar Place. But, that’s a huge chunk of land! Perhaps they’ll build a huge city scape ala New York Street (or is it Streets of America?) with Spiderman swinging from the rafters?

And that’s not where the genius of this starts. This is purely business- just think what this will do to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. After all, they have an entire Island devoted to Marvel! Disney is highly unlikely to renew any contracts Marvel has with US IoA, but from what I understand, Universal has to negotiate any changes to to the attractions as well. I’m going to assume that they’ll be unable to rehab any of those rides beyond what it takes to repair and refresh (i.e. paint, carpeting) them. Screamscape went into some good detail on what this might mean for Islands of Adventure (scroll down to 9/1/09).

Bloomberg got in on the news with a financial angle, discussing repurchasing of stock and such. All I know is, Marvel’s stock went up by $10 with the news.

It’s kind of nuts thinking about Disney buying out Marvel, but really, I like it!