Disney Superheroes

Coming to a theater near you!

Disney Corp reached a deal to acquire Marvel Comics. Here's some of the biz from WSJ:

The announcement was expected, and followed a meeting Thursday morning at which Marvel shareholders approved the acquisition, first announced in September. Marvel investors are receiving $30 a share in cash plus about 0.745 Disney share for each Marvel share. When the deal was announced, it represented a 29% premium over Marvel's pre-announcement share price.

Disney will acquire a host of Marvel Superheroes:

Marvel's roster of 5,000 comic book characters, including Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the X-Men, promises to broaden Disney's portfolio of entertainment assets. Burbank, Calif.-based Disney historically has been stronger in appealing to girls than to boys, particularly as they enter their teenage years.

The tough and psychologically complex characters Marvel is known for could provide fodder for everything from theme park attractions to cable-television shows and, of course, movies.

Don't expect the superheroes to be apart of the Disney line up right away through:

But fully exploiting some of the best-known of Marvel's characters could be tricky for Disney, especially in the near term. That's because Marvel, based in New York, has over the years entered licensing deals that allow various Hollywood studios to make movies based on many of those characters. Generally those licenses expire after a set number of movies. But at least one such arrangement, Sony Corp.'s (SNE) right to make Spider-Man movies, essentially lasts in perpetuity, according to people familiar with its terms.

Disney, like Marvel, will receive a royalty on movies other studios make out of its new entertainment properties. But it could be some time before the full phalanx of macho Marvel heroes fully joins forces with Hannah Montana and Mickey Mouse.

And that's how you tell a story.