A lot of people often raise the question why Disney can’t use Marvel characters at its Orlando park, or at least some of them, well I’ve done some digging and found out that it all boils down to an agreement between the two that made certain restrictions on what could be used and where.
[su_divider top=”no”]
Back in 2009 Disney brought Marvel for about $4 billion dollars and what came with that deal was this (click here if you want to read the full agreement) which basically states that anything east of the great Mississippi gives Universal the exclusive rights over the use of Marvel characters.
What a lot of people don’t know is that Disney can’t actually use the name marvel either so marvel land is out of the question. That’s why, when Disney announced the remaining Marvel characters that Universal aren’t using, they announced it as a broader universe of Super Heroes.
Universal uses some marvel characters at its Orlando resort, but that’s not the case with Disney’s California park. If it did Disney would not use them at that park.
Many people think that Disney will soon just buyout the contract with Universal but all the terms will be with Universal and Disney will just have to accept them if they want full rights. Universal would not gain anything from allowing Disney to use Marvel characters at Walt Disney World, or the Marvel name at any theme park.
Under the contract rules with Universal all Marvel characters that are not being used inside Islands of Adventure are allowed to be used east of Mississippi but if you think that means that just rules out Dr. Doom, X-Men, Hulk and Spider-Man then you thought wrong because it also includes any superhero family that is linked to them as I touched on earlier.[su_divider top=”no”]
So what would happen if Disney eventually brought the Whole contract off universal?
I personally think that this would open up new fresh ideas to island of adventures. There are strong rumours that Nintendo will be coming to Orlando soon With the recent partnership between the two companies whether that means a new park coming link or universal are thinking about the future without marvel.
It really comes down to one thing, is it worth it for universal to lose such a big part of the park, but with the rumor flying around at the moment, it would cost Disney in the region of 1.5 billion to own the marvel brand out right.
What do you think? Will Disney just bite the bullet and pay off Universal? Let us know in the comments below