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The general consensus seems to be two fold: business world is excited by the merger & acquisition; fanboys are, obviously, a bit more reticent.

In exchange for $4 Billion, Disney acquires Marvel’s staple of 5,000+ characters.  The news comes as a bit of a surprise for a deal of this magnitude.  The terms of the deal seem to be similar to the one they struck with Pixar several years ago, with Disney acting as a distribution/marketing side and Marvel obtaining creative control of their properties.

The most exciting news?  Pixar head John Lasseter met with Marvel executives last week, “about a possible team-up between Marvel and Pixar and got ‘pretty excited, pretty fast.’ They say there’s definitely an opportunity there.”  Yes, yes there would.  If nothing comes of this deal except Pixar being involved with Marvel Animation then it’s totally worth it.

Though I suppose, Disney ruining the Marvel characters by making them family-friendly would also be a terrible thing.

UPDATE: The L.A. Times weighs in on how Disney can broaden its brand with the purchase of Marvel. The Beat has a good roundup of news related to the deal, too.