After nearly two years of corporate courtship, a rival suitor (Comcast), and some regulatory scrutiny, Walt Disney has acquired nearly all of 21st Century Fox's Media Holdings. The ~$70B deal now changes the landscape of media in drastic ways - for starters, there are only 5 major movie studios out there and there'll be much fewer major movie releases every year. Additionally, Disney now owns multiple IPs - Star Wars, Aliens, Avatar, and of course, all the Marvel Comics characters. However, before the acquisition, even that was in a split state - two of Marvel's high profile properties, the X-Men and Fantastic-4 - have been under Fox's control since the 1990s. It seemed like Marvel Comics had screwed up doing this during their financially bad time giving Fox the upper-hand in controlling the media destinies of both properties. As soon as the deal was announced, fans assumed that these properties would be a part of Marvel Studios - which appears to be a correct assumption. Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios' President confirmed this as well.

Now that Disney's Marvel and Fox's Marvel are one entity, what will the MCU look like and how soon can it happen? Here are some thoughts.'
What happens to Deadpool 3? Ryan Reynolds had once joked that they'd skip Deadpool 3 and go straight to Deadpool 4/5. The actor, who co-wrote the sequel, said that taking away the writing of his character, would lead to diminishing returns. In that light, he offered the possibility of playing Deadpool as a supporting character to the X-Force. Some other co-writers were of the idea to pair up Deadpool and Spidey - a pairing so popular that it had its own comic book! Reynolds could possibly just be cushioning himself should Marvel Studios pull the plug and not agree on his vision for the character - it is a PG13 production house after all - but it could also be a savvy plot with the company for a sweet multi-picture deal in which Deadpool shows up, does his thing with his charm and disappears again. It is entirely possible that Wade Wilson's antics will get toned down big time - which was what Once Upon a Deadpool proved out to be!


Hulu and Marvel Entertainment announced an initiative to create four animated series for the platform, potentially leading to a stronger relationship between the two branches of the Disney Empire. As it happens, Disney wants Marvel material to stay in fouse, so Disney brands like ABC, Disney+, Freeform and Hulu, are the place you should see future Marvel TV shows. This could really end up being a complete monopoly given the scale of Disney's acquisition and the properties they own, but who am I to guess - there's nothing stopping Marvel Studios from making new content every year in the super-hero genre in this super-hero era of movie-making!
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