Today's big news has taken the entire entertainment industry by storm: The Walt Disney Co. announced it is buying Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion in cash and stock.

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Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of 5,000 Marvel characters. Many of them, including the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, were co-created by the comic book legend Stan Lee.

Analyst David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co. said the acquisition will help Disney appeal to young men who have flocked to theaters to see Marvel’s superheroes in recent years. That contrasts with Disney’s recent successes among young women with such fare as “Hannah Montana” and the Jonas Brothers.

Read the full article here.

Spider-Mouse, Spider-Mouse, does whatever a Spider-Mouse does...

The acquisition raises some huge questions, which will no doubt be answered over the coming weeks and months. How will this affect the properties of both companies, creatively speaking? For Disney Park fans, the question which comes to mind immediately is what sort of attractions can we expect to see at the parks? The other elephant in the room: What, if anything, will happen to Marvel Superhero Island, a prominent fixture at Walt Disney World's biggest rival, Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure?

I'm already having funny visions of Spider-Man and Wolverine dancing it up on a parade float with Mickey and Minnie. My gut, however, tells me that any Marvel influence at the parks will be limited to Disney's Hollywood Studios at WDW, and the similarly themed parks at Disneyland Resort in California and Disneyland Paris.

Update:

Here's an answer on the Islands of Adventure situation, from The Orlando Sentinel (thanks for the heads-up, Holly L.!):

Universal's contracts apparently gives it exclusive U.S. rights east of the Mississippi River for theme-park attractions built around certain of those characters, notably Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, X-Men and Dr. Doom.

"Marvel Super Hero Island at Universal's Islands of Adventure and the Marvel characters are a beloved and important part of the Universal Orlando experience. They will remain so," said Tom Schroder, a Universal spokesman.

Read the full article here.

There's your answer, folks! It's going to be weird having some Marvel heroes at Universal and others at WDW, isn't it? That's assuming that Disney even has such plans for its parks.

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