In honor of what would have been the legendary Stan Lee’s 100th birthday, it was announced that a documentary on the life of legendary Stan Lee will be coming to Disney+ in 2023. The Details The announcement of the eponymous documentary, “Stan Lee,” didn’t contain… Read More »“Stan Lee” Documentary Celebrating 100 Years of His Legacy Coming to Disney+ in 2023
Legendary comic book artist George Pérez has passed away at age 67 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Pérez made his professional debut in Marvel Comics’ “Astonishing Tales” #25 (Aug. 1974) as penciler of an untitled two-page satire of the character Deathlok. Soon Pérez became… Read More »Comic Icon George Pérez Passes Away at 67
Author George R.R. Martin will be joining forces with Marvel Comics for a limited series based on his “Wild Cards” stories. Before he wrote “A Song of Ice and Fire” on which the “Game of Thrones” TV series was based, Martin developed and edited the… Read More »George R.R. Martin’s Legendary ‘Wild Cards’ Stories Coming to Marvel Comics
May 2022 is shaping up to be a big month for fans of the Star Wars character of Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Marvel Comics announcing a new “Star Wars: Obi-Wan” series. The five-issue miniseries finds the elder Kenobi (played by Sir Alec Guinness in the movies)… Read More »“Star Wars: Obi-Wan” Series Coming from Marvel Comics in May 2022
If you’re a fan of Marvel Comics, or the movies made from them, you won’t want to miss “Slugfest,” a new 10-part docuseries that aims to untangle the untold history behind the rivalry between Marvel Comics and DC Comics. The 10-episode “Slugfest” explores how the… Read More »‘Slugfest’ Docuseries About Marvel Vs. DC Comics Rivalry Debuts on Roku Dec. 24, 2021
The early buzz for Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel is good. The first batch of movie reviewers have seen the film, and while they’re embargoed from writing a review until early March, their social media feed back is uniformly positive. Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson… Read More »Is Captain Marvel a buddy cop movie, a super hero film, or both?
Marvel’s Disney Kingdoms series seems to be hitting its stride. Figment 2 was just released in hardback a couple of months ago and the fourth issue of the Haunted Mansion comic comes out later this month. Added to that, the Disney just announced that the… Read More »Disney Kingdoms adds The Enchanted Tiki Room to its lineup
In 2009, a lot of people were upset about Disney purchasing Marvel. They were afraid that their favorite characters were going to become watered down versions of themselves. Five years later, all of those naysayers are the same ones that helped make a movie about a talking raccoon and his best friend the walking tree the highest grossing film of the year.
So, with Big Hero 6 out in theaters (and doing well) and the Avengers Half-Marathon last weekend, I thought it would be interesting to look back and see what Disney has done with Marvel, specifically outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), in the past five years.
One of the first things they did was create a new Avengers cartoon for The Disney Channel. Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes lasted two seasons before being scrapped for a different Avengers cartoon: Avengers Assemble! Disney wanted to create its own animated version of the MCU with all of the Marvel cartoons interconnected like their movie counterparts. Unfortunately for EMH, it had already built its own animated Marvel universe (which was awesome) so they had to cancel it in order to start over.
Now they have Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers Assemble! and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. with a Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon on the way. To me, this is the closest that Disney has come to making those fans’ fears a reality. With the exception of EMH, these shows are all pretty dull and sacrifice compelling storytelling for a “lesson of the week.”
A notable exception to this is the Phineas and Ferb crossover episode that they did with The Avengers which was hilarious. This is also the second time that Disney has done a crossover with Marvel.
Prep & Landing: Mansion Impossible was the first Disney/Marvel crossover. A back up story in three of Marvel’s main titles, this story featured Wayne and Lanny, the main characters from the vastly underrated Prep & Landing Christmas specials, as they attempt the get the Avengers Mansion ready for a visit from “the Big Guy.” It wasn’t heavy on action or complex plot, but the you can imagine the fun of watching the two elves wander through the mansion.Read More »Marvel and Disney 5 years on