Disney to buy WB and DC Comics? Sounds like an Elseworlds, but not so much!

[Kalethas31]

there are laws that prevent it

[scary harpy]

there are laws that prevent it

Laws do not apply to wealthy as much as they do to the less fortunate.

[Jim Kelly]

I think the negative reaction is because, for some of us, Disney buying everything is not fun. At one time, it might've been fun to think about it, but the more that Disney buys it becomes like something from one of those movies about a dystopian future and it's pretty depressing.

I mean it could happen. Money talks. Corporations are people. Politicians can be bought. But this works for AT&T as much as Disney. But the idea that large corporations are controlling everything we see, hear, read, think is not fun.

It's all part of the big plan that brings us to Earth After Disaster. The downside is there's only one last boy on Earth. But the upside talking animals. So Disney.

[WonderScott]

It’s doubtful to me that Disney buying DC Comics, if it were to split off from the overall WB, would fall under monopoly laws. Moreover I don’t think Disney would go for just DC Comics alone. They’d want DC Entertainment too.

Anyway, back to the fun spirit of the OP...if Disney bought DC Comics, I’d want a Wonder Woman and Thor title exploring the nature of divinity in the DCU or MCU - Olympians, Asgardians, New Gods, Celestials, etc.

Time for Circe and Enchantress to meet and do some damage.

[Jim Kelly]

If Disney is successful in buying up Fox and potentially Sony, as well--I'm curious to see what their list of movies will be in five to ten years. If it's all Spider-Man/X-Men/Fantastic Four related propereties and there's almost no movies for Avengers (that don't feature in those franchises)--then it will indicate what could happen if DC was bought up. Given DC's characters are more iconic than most of the current Disney/Marvel slate--the DC characters would start to displace them, as well.

Should that happen, we'd be looking at a slate like: Batman, Spider-Man, Justice League, the original Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, Fantastic Four, Superman, Flash, X-Men, Wolverine, Black Panther/Black Lightning, Green Lantern Corps.

That's a lot of properties already. Might not be room on the schedule for others.

Not that I'm saying it would happen or should happen. If anything, I'd prefer Warner to buy Marvel from Disney.

[AmiMizuno]

AT&T deal was blocked last time to I can’t see the situation with fox going the same way.

[RealWonderman]

If Disney is successful in buying up Fox and potentially Sony, as well--I'm curious to see what their list of movies will be in five to ten years. If it's all Spider-Man/X-Men/Fantastic Four related propereties and there's almost no movies for Avengers (that don't feature in those franchises)--then it will indicate what could happen if DC was bought up. Given DC's characters are more iconic than most of the current Disney/Marvel slate--the DC characters would start to displace them, as well.

Should that happen, we'd be looking at a slate like: Batman, Spider-Man, Justice League, the original Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, Fantastic Four, Superman, Flash, X-Men, Wolverine, Black Panther/Black Lightning, Green Lantern Corps.

That's a lot of properties already. Might not be room on the schedule for others.

Not that I'm saying it would happen or should happen. If anything, I'd prefer Warner to buy Marvel from Disney.

And a JL v Avengers movie at some point...though, I'd prefer the Amalgam's.

[RealWonderman]

And a JL v Avengers movie at some point...though, I'd prefer the Amalgam's.

(And yes, I am in the camp that this is about 100% certain not to happen...but not because of monopoly laws. These laws regulate types of businesses and organizations, not individual characters or types of characters. So, if Disney picked apart just DC or DC Entertainment, and not WB as a whole, anti trust laws wouldn't apply.)

[Jackalope89]

It’s doubtful to me that Disney buying DC Comics, if it were to split off from the overall WB, would fall under monopoly laws. Moreover I don’t think Disney would go for just DC Comics alone. They’d want DC Entertainment too.

Anyway, back to the fun spirit of the OP...if Disney bought DC Comics, I’d want a Wonder Woman and Thor title exploring the nature of divinity in the DCU or MCU - Olympians, Asgardians, New Gods, Celestials, etc.

Time for Circe and Enchantress to meet and do some damage.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Asgardians like Thor basically just aliens? Powerful aliens, but aliens nonetheless?

[RealWonderman]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Asgardians like Thor basically just aliens? Powerful aliens, but aliens nonetheless?

I think so.

But there is one school of thought that says all deities, from all religions, are aliens. By nature, they are extra terrestrial. So if you take a book like the Bible and replace the word "angels' with 'extra terrestrials" and 'Heavens" with "Outer Space" then there ya go. This is aside from the many references to space ships, already in there.

[Jim Kelly]

If DC and Marve were amalgamated and the characters all existed in the same universe, then Thor and New Gods would all be connected. As that was Jack Kirby's original intent when he was at Marvel. And I take Orion, Lightray and the rest to be both aliens and gods (sort of like Star Wars).

[WonderScott]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Asgardians like Thor basically just aliens? Powerful aliens, but aliens nonetheless?

Yeah, that's the point I want to explore...what constitutes divinity or "divinity." Is it all alien or extradimensional or what?

[LordUltimus]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Asgardians like Thor basically just aliens? Powerful aliens, but aliens nonetheless?

Outside of the MCU, not really. They started out more similar to the myths, but in Marvel Ragnarok is a cycle that has them die and be reborn into different takes on the same story.

There's some in-universe debate, but it tends to get filed with the "magic is really a subset of science we don't understand" debate.

[WonderScott]

And a JL v Avengers movie at some point...though, I'd prefer the Amalgam's.

I'd like both, but I wonder how Amalgam would go over for civilians. Granted in the last decade civilians have a lot more familiarity with a lot more heroes and villains than ever before, but you have to have a pretty deep comic knowledge to understand Amalgam. I guess they'd have to orwould keep it pretty shallow in terms of the bench of characters they dive into...my brain started racing to all those issues with interesting combos back in the day that made sense to longtime readers with a deep knowledge of history.

[Yohei72]

Well, to continue on the less-fun aspect, the business/legal speculation... wouldn't owning DC *and* Marvel mean Disney controlled roughly 75% of the comics market? I wonder if "comic books" would be considered a discreet medium such that that would trigger anti-trust concerns. The law certainly wouldn't allow one corporation to control 75% of the country's TV or radio or newspaper market.

But Marvel has about 50% of the market already, don't they? And that doesn't seem to be attracting any scrutiny.

Disclaimer 1: IANAL.

Disclaimer 2: All numbers are sourced from my butt, based on on hazy memories of stuff I read a few years ago.