Disney Completes Marvel Acquisition For $4.3 Billion

This article was published in the WSJ on December 31, and was probably overlooked by many because of the holidays, but I remember feeling an actual pang of conflict when I saw it. It certainly seems likely for the integrity of classics, i.e. Hulk, X Men, Spiderman, etc to be severely comprimised once they are absorbed into the Disney machine. Are these comics already over-commoditized and over-commercialized? Yes of course they are. But Disney would have no interest in acquiring Marvel without a strategy already envisioned for a newer, more lucrative revenue stream. These comic brands will soon be integrated in to theme parks, cable channels, and possibly even as promotional fodder during college football on ABC and ESPN. How will the values of these comic characters be transformed to fit in to Disney's ideological agenda? What will be omitted and/or added to the storylines or scripts to maintain a seamless connection with the rest of Disney's empire?

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091231-706942.html