Marvel Heroes at a Disney Park Near You?

Though the $4 billion dollar acquisition of Marvel, and it's subsidiary companies, by the Walt Disney Co. is already well know, the House of Mouse has yet to capitalize on one lucrative aspect Marvel has to offer: theme park novelties. For whatever reason, Disney has yet to officially announce the inevitable decision to include Marvel characters in their parks; which are by far the most successful attractions of their kind in the world. During the premiere of the newly revamped "Disney's World of Color" in Disneyland California, the LA Times was able to ask Bob Iger, president and CEO of Walt Disney Co., the question: How long before we see a "Spider-Man's Friendly Neighborhood" or "Asgard's Hall of Heroes" at a Disney theme park?

"We're just now considering all of our different options, so it would be premature to say when or where in the parks you would see Marvel characters, Iger explained. "But I think it's safe to say that you're going to see some of those great Marvel characters walking around in the future."

Back in March, during an interview with CNBC, Iger made it clear that Disney will honor the existing contracts Marvel has set up with theme park venues such as Universal Studios:

“Marvel characters have already proven to be strong in terms of theme park attraction and we believe there are a lot of opportunities around the world. Not in every one of our parks, because there are some existing agreements that we obviously have to honor, but in a number of places for us to use the Marvel characters to basically help us grow our theme park business and better entertain people.”

One of Universal Orlando's best attractions is Marvel Super Hero Island at Islands of Adventure, directly across town from Walt Disney World. The Island includes an Incredible Hulk roller-coaster, Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man simulator ride as well as character appearances by Wolverine, Captain America, Hulk and others. Universal Studios Hollywood ended its relationship with Marvel back in 2007, which put an end to the Marvel Heroes stage show, themed restaurant and similar walk-around characters. However, Universal Studios Japan also has a Spider-Man themed simulator ride; of which the rights are a long way off from expiring.

Universal Studios and Disney aren't the only parks to currently showcase comic book characters; Six Flags has a long standing contract with DC Entertainment which includes many hero-themed rides around the world and daily shows featuring Batman, Superman, several Green Lanterns, Wonder Woman and plenty others.

With control over Marvel, Disney has over 5,000 characters available for use in their parks. During the recent marketing drive for the superhero sequel Iron Man 2, film-related merchandise made its debut in all of Disney's parks. Whatever their decision of which characters to ultimately utilize, fans undoubtedly would like to see them sooner rather than later.