When Disney acquired Marvel in 2009 and brought the Universe that Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko created in the early nineteen sixties into the House of Mouse, it started a chain reaction of unprecedented, excited fury and joy that no one could ever have predicted in even their wildest dreams.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU as it’s more commonly known, took the world by storm, and superheroes became the hottest global property and cultural phenomenon of the twenty-first century.
And Disney being Disney, and knowing a thing or two about what their fans wanted and craved, soon began to bring the characters from the big screen into the parks.
Spider-man, Captain America, Thor, and Black Panther all assembled in Paris, California, and Hong Kong, and it wasn’t long before they were given their own base of operations in Disneyland, Avengers Campus, and construction began on an overseas headquarters with the same name, that’s due to open in 2022 in Disneyland Paris.
For the superheroes of the MCU and Disney resorts, the future really did begin to feel like it was a great, big beautiful tomorrow.
At least it did in every other resort except Walt Disney World, where there wasn’t a single Avenger, member of the Fantastic Four, or villain in sight. Marvel was conspicuous by its absence in Orlando, which left a lot of comic book fans and Disney devotees puzzled and more than a little confused.
Why were their beloved heroes in every other park except for the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT (although, that’s about to change, and I’ll talk about that a little bit later on)?
What was stopping the Hulk from smashing his way up Main Street and Spidey from swinging from the upper echelons of the Tower Of Terror? The short answer was and still is, Universal Studios.
Why The Marvel Avengers Can’t Come To Walt Disney World
Back in the mists of time, before the turn of the new millennium when the idea of owning a comic book company was a pipe dream that Bob Iger idly fantasied about while staring out of his office window, Marvel found itself in an incredibly uncomfortable financial position.
During the nineteen nineties there was a downturn in the comic book industry and when the decade’s most popular artists and writers decided to leave Marvel and founded Image, it only added to the company’s economic woes.
Marvel needed to fill its coffers as quickly as it could, otherwise, it would simply cease to exist. Things really were that bad, but they were about to get slightly better.
With Stan Lee waving the banner for the four-color company that he’d put on the map from coast to coast, a flurry of deals were struck with other corporations that allowed them to use Marvel characters and their likeness rights however they saw fit.
One of the deals that Stan and Marvel made was with Universal Entertainment, which gave them the rights to use the comic company’s heavy hitters in their Florida theme park, Universal Orlando.
Deciding not to sleep on the deal, Universal opened Marvel Super Hero Island in 1999, a decade before Disney bought Marvel. That deal? It’s the reason why you can meet Captain America and Thor in Universal and why you can’t get a selfie with either of them in front of Space Mountain.
They’re not, according to the terms and stipulations of the deal, allowed to even set foot in the Magic Kingdom.
The contract that Marvel signed with Universal was incredibly specific and stated that they had the exclusive rights to use the characters of their choice in their theme park and that those characters couldn’t be used, or appear in any other theme park east of the Mississippi River.
The terms of that contract and the minutiae of that deal are the reason why Disney can house the Avengers in Anaheim, but they can’t join the Main Street Parade in Orlando. The devil, as someone much wiser than me once said, is all in the detail.
It Isn’t All Bad News For Marvel Fans At Walt Disney World…
Before you get too downhearted about Marvel’s presence, or rather lack of it at Walt Disney World, you need to take a deep breath, relax and turn your frown upside down because the House of Ideas is there, you just need to know where to look for it to get your daily dose of the worlds mightiest heroes.
Actually, that’s an Avengers tagline, and I don’t want you to think that you might bump into Tony Stark or Steve Rogers at the Florida parks, you won’t. But you might surreptitiously cross paths with Wanda Maximoff.
If you’re lucky, and they’re still using the wrap on their transport system, you might get a chance to ride the WandaVision bus as you travel between the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios on WDW property.
And if you decide to stop at Disney Springs and wander over to Amorette’s Patisserie for a snack, and if they’re on that day’s menu, you can enjoy a WandaVision or Falcon And The Winter Soldier cupcake. So how can Disney sell cupcakes in Disney Springs, but they can’t let the characters wander around their parks?
Well, it’s all due to the wording of the contract, and as Disney Springs isn’t a theme park, neither of those delicious snacks actually uses a character’s likeness and they’re named after, and baked to celebrate original Disney Plus shows, they don’t breach any of the terms of the original deal.
It’s the same reason why you can buy Marvel merchandise in Disney Springs Superhero Headquarters, which only sells Disney-licensed and owned products or if you’re more creative and like to build, can also find all of the Marvel-inspired Lego sets you could ever want at, where else but the Lego store and your kids can dress up as (some of) their favorite superheroes if they pay a visit to The Dress Shop.
Because Disney Spring doesn’t fall under the auspices of the Universal deal, you can go a little bit superhero nuts there. You might not be able to meet your heroes face to face, but you can take a Marvel souvenir home.
Marvel Merchandise At The House Of Mouse
And the good news doesn’t end there. Disney Springs isn’t the only place in Walt Disney World where you can load a basket full of Marvel Merchandise either.
There are tee-shirts and all sorts of other super-powered accessories available from stores in Hollywood Studios and The Magic Kingdom, and as long as you’re not fixated on The Avengers, you’ll be able to find all of the Guardians of the Galaxy merchandise that you could ever want and more.
No comic book fan’s life is even halfway complete until they’ve added an interactive Groot to their collection, and as he’s parks and store exclusive, the only way to lay your hands on the Guardian is by paying a visit to WDW. Or heading to the Disney Store, but I know which of the two I’d rather do, and I’m guessing that you feel the same way.
Rewinding With The Guardians At Epcot
You’re probably wondering why, given how tightly worded the Marvel Universal contract is, Disney can sell Guardians of the Galaxy merchandise in WDW and can even build a rollercoaster dedicated to the most unlikely superheroes in the universe at EPCOT. That’s a good question, and it has an incredibly simple answer.
Quill, Dax, Rocket, Gamora, and Groot aren’t technically (although Infinity War and Endgame would beg to differ) members of the Avengers, at least they aren’t as far the contract is concerned, and as Universal is currently using all of the characters that they have the rights to, I’m assuming that the Guardians weren’t included in that legally binding contract.
I’m not saying that maybe that was one of the reasons why Disney chose to adopt the, up until the first film went into production, woefully ignored and almost forgotten team to become one of their main Marvel franchises, but being able to use the characters as they saw fit in all of the parks, might have influenced the Imagineers and Kevin Feige’s decision.
But even if it did, I’m not complaining as Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which is supposed to be Disney’s first reverse launch roller coaster and was originally due to open in 2022 but might not make that deadline because of the delays caused by the pandemic, looks like it’s going to be one of the must-ride attractions at Walt Disney World when it eventually gets the green light to start boarding passengers.
Having said that, as it’s due to incorporate elements from the plot of the third Guardians movie, and Thor is going to play a large role in that story, it’s going to be interesting to see how the Imagineers get around using a character that Disney doesn’t actually own the rights to on Cosmic Rewind. I guess only time, and the Imagineers will tell.
Marvel Isn’t Just About Superheros…
Marvel was never just about superheroes, and even though they’re the four-color facet that the company has focused on for the last half-century, they’ve also got a long and storied history with horror comics.
That might be why Disney decided to capitalize on the fact that they owned their own comic company and launched the Disney Kingdoms imprint, which was dedicated to titles based on Walt Disney World and Disneyland attractions.
Why do I think that Marvel’s previous flirtation with horror comics has anything to do with that decision? Probably because one of the first books that the Marvel imprint published, was The Haunted Mansion, which was inspired by the New Orleans and Liberty Square favorite.
And guess where you can find the graphic novel that collects all five issues of the Mansion mini-series? In the shop dedicated to all things spooky and creepy, that’s located in the heart of Liberty Square, Memento Mori
The Mansion wasn’t the only title in the Disney Kingdom’s pantheon either, as they also published books dedicated to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and The Enchanted Tiki Room and you’ll probably be able to find the collected editions in the gift shops dedicated to those attractions.
My favorite title that Disney Kingdoms published was Figment which was written by Jim Zub and told the tale of the little purple dragon and his adventures, and the two collected volumes of the series are always on sale in the Journey Into Imagination With Figment gift shop in EPCOT.
The Exceptions To The Mississippi Rule
There is one technical loophole in the Marvel Universal contract that Disney has exploited as much as they can, and if I’m honest I can’t blame them for doing so and I’m glad that they did.
You can meet all of your favorite Marvel characters East of the Mississippi, but the only way that you can get your picture taken with Captain America, Spider-Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Iron-Man on Disney property is by booking passage on a Disney Cruise.
Again, it all comes down to a technicality, as the characters only appear when you’re cruising through international waters, as the contract that exists between Universal and Marvel is null and void while the ship is sailing in through that part of the Atlantic Ocean.
I know, it’s a reach and a bit of a stretch, but if you are desperate to meet them, it is the best way to do so. After all, what could be better than spending a week relaxing aboard a Disney Cruise Ship before letting your inner child run wild at Walt Disney World for a couple of days? It sounds like a perfect vacation to me.
And you get to hang out with the Avengers.
Make Mine Marvel At Walt Disney World
So, despite what you may, or may not, have heard, it is possible to enjoy a Marvel-ous vacation at Walt Disney World and have a super-heroic time. You just need to know where to look to fill your day full of costumed fun and adventure. It’s easy to make yours Marvel at Walt Disney World when you know how to do it.
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Thanks for stopping by.
Darren
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