Disney’s Secret Invasion of Marvel

I’ll assume at this point that you’ve already heard the worst news the comic industry has ever heard, in that Disney is buying Marvel.  No, it isn’t a bad dream that you can wake up from, or one that can be retconned later when lazy writers feel like it.  It’s unfortunately actually happening.  While some friends of mine such as Matt Cuthbert of AL.com might lead you to believe that the deal is no reason to get your spandex in a wad, I’m here to tell you that this is most certainly is as bad as you could possibly imagine.

I’m willing to make a bold claim at this point.  Marvel will lose all editorial control.  The lawyers or paperwork may not say so at this time, but it will inevitably happen.  Disney is going to see the superhero genre and comic medium as something that should inherently remain childish or juvenile, and ensure that it remains so.  They’ll water it down for the masses and take every opportunity to tell you that this will be the way you’ll like it from now on.  A lot of apologists such as Matt are talking this morning about how Disney does produce complex, unchanged, or mature content, as evidenced by movies produced by Pixar or Miramax.  And again, I’m here to tell you that this isn’t the case.

Exhibit A: Pixar is not wholly unchanged by the Disney merger.  While there’s a good deal of influence that John Lassater and Pixar have had over Disney, there’s also a degree of influence that Disney has had over Pixar.  Up, for example, was never originally intended to be a 3D film.  Sure, Pixar made it work.  But being forced to toe the company line and support Disney 3D wasn’t planned.  Also, there was once a point in time when Pixar execs famously supported the idea that “..we only do a sequel if we know that the story will work”.  Now Toy Story 3, Monsters Inc. 2 and Cars 2 are in development.  Which have been announced or rumored after the Disney deal.  Coincidence?  You tell me.

Exhibit B: Disney does enjoy a certain degree of pull over Miramax.  You can Google this for yourself to find more examples, but I’ll give you two.  One old and one recent.  Back in 2004, Disney tried their darndest to disassociate Miramax from Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11.  Or how about recently when they’ve apparently become unhappy with the content of Mike Judge’s ‘Extract’, and have made the decision to “dump” it on the guess it won’t perform well?

Just be aware at this point that things won’t be as rosy as many are predicting.  At some point, something like The Punisher making a morally questionable kill is going to freak Disney out.  They’ll put a member on the editorial board, and then it all goes downhill from there.  Just remember that today is the day when 70 years of great comic entertainment died.