Disney Claims Merger Will Not Cause "Disneyfication" of Marvel; Meanwhile Marvel Hit with a Class-Action Lawsuit
Posted 09.14.09 by Ryan
The proposed acquisition of Marvel Entertainment by Disney last month shocked comic book fans who became immediately fearful that the family-oriented Disney might water down Marvel's characters, particularly with the upcoming output of movies like Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, and The Avengers. At Disney's D23 Expo, President and CEO Bob Iger tried to calm those fears by explaining that Disney's relationship with Pixar will be "analogous in terms of how we plan to manage Marvel" :
As you'd expect, due to the nature of Marvel, it's a business we're very familiar with. Well known characters and weird stories and a product that transcends gender and age and geographic territories.
When you look at it as part of the Walt Disney Company and the application, the presence of Marvel is virtually in everything that we're in. You can expect that over time, that's what you will see. We became impressed with the talent of Marvel as we got to know them better. Once the the deal closes their is expected integration, but we plan to keep Marvel as an entity and and to respect both the talent that is there, working as one and also respect what Marvel is and what the essence of Marvel is. There will be no Disneyfication of Marvel.
While Iger's comment may ease some tension of Marvel fans, the merger is still incomplete and now has found itself under fire from New York law firm Levi & Korsinsky, who have filed a lawsuit against Marvel Entertainment. Presented on behalf of Marvel shareholders, the lawsuit maintains that Marvel's stock is being undervalued in the proposed merger between the two companies. The law firm explained the lawsuit on their website:
The investigation concerns whether the Marvel Board of Directors breached their fiduciary duties to Marvel shareholders by failing conduct a fair and open sales process in order to maximize shareholder value.
How the lawsuit will impact the merger is unknown at this time, as neither Disney nor Marvel has commented on the matter.