Hard to believe that 10 years or so ago, Marvel was a mess. Spider-Man was caught in a web of lawsuits, and seemed destined for the scrap heap. Stan Lee, his inventor, was frustrated and isolated. Marvel’s few ventures onto the movie screen were less than successful.

Now Disney’s willing to pay $4 billion for the assets — “a full price but a fair price”, according to CEO Bob Iger.

Now, the question is whether Disney knows how to manage its acquisition. A big measure will be how much independence it gives Marvel. The charm of its characters has always been their idiosyncracies. When you think of Disney’s home-grown characters in recent years, the first word that comes to mind is “bland”.

Posted under Michael's Blog