UNSTOPPABLE: Disney to buy part of 21st Century Fox for $52 billion…

Disney gets FX Networks, X-Men, Deadpool, and a majority stake in Hulu.The Walt Disney Company announcing it has finalised a deal to buy Twenty-First Century Fox’s film and television assets is huge news for superhero movie fans.

It means characters from X-Men and Fantastic Four will team up with those from the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy films as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Fox owns a slew of major movie brands, including Avatar, Alien, Planet of the Apes, Predator, Independence Day, Home Alone and Kingsman, let alone its TV brands.

© Video – The AM Show; Image – Marvel But it’s the Marvel brands that comic book fans will be most excited about.

Disney was quick to announce: “The agreement also provides Disney with the opportunity to reunite the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool with the Marvel family under one roof and create richer, more complex worlds of inter-related characters and stories that audiences have shown they love.”

With the fourth Avengers film set to wrap production shortly, it’s unlikely characters from X-Men or Fantastic Four will join that – but the MCU has surprised before and a post-credits stinger featuring them could be added later.

As part of the deal, Disney will own 21st Century Fox’s film and television studios, some of its cable networks, and international TV businesses, as well as popular titles including The Simpsons, X-Men, and Avatar. The deal represents a huge shift in content ownership in Hollywood, giving Disney even more titles, characters, and stories to build upon across all its existing properties and any new services the company debuts in the future.

If the deal gains regulatory approval, Disney’s already gigantic pool of content will expand even further. The company will own cable channels including National Geographic, FX Networks, Fox Sports Regional Networks, and international networks like Star TV and Sky. 21st Century Fox is expected to complete its acquisition of Sky, a popular network in the UK and Europe, by mid-2018. If and when it does so, Disney will own all of Sky.

This also has implications for the Marvel comic book universe. 21st Century Fox retained some character rights even after Disney bought Marvel in 2009, but this deal would bring all those rights, including those to X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool, back to Disney. Crossovers between worlds are also possible, and may be likely, as Disney notes in its press release that the deal will let the company “create richer, more complex worlds of interrelated characters and stories that audiences have shown they love.”