Why Disney buying 20th Century Fox is good news for Marvel and Star Wars fans

After months of negotiations, it is expected that the shareholders of Fox and Disney will approve the enormous $71 billion deal that will see Fox become yet another name in Disney's vast portfolio of movie studios and television channels.

The deal has been on the cards since November, when MSNBC reported that Fox felt unconfident competing in an increasingly crowded landscape dominated by heavies including Google, Amazon, Netflix and Facebook, and were therefore eager to sell up. Disney, which already owns Marvel Comics, Lucasfilm, Pixar and ESPN, was decided to be a good fit, the company now taking ownership of Fox's film and TV productions, produced under the banner 20th Century Fox.

The deal has already sparked enormous implications for the industry, along with further fears of corporate monopolisation.

The good news for geeks uninterested in the dangers of all of culture being owned by a handful of billion-dollar corporations? Superhero crossovers! And more Star Wars!

Here are just a few of the major things set to occur now with a done deal lurking on the horizon...

Star Wars

Disney's acquisition of the Star Wars universe in 2012, as part of a costly $4 billion deal, led many fans to speculate that re-releases of the original films could be on the cards. And by original, we mean the versions made prior to George Lucas's perpetual, CGI-assisted meddling over the past 20 years.

But even if Disney did decide to re-release the original films, they wouldn't have been able to re-release the first Star Wars film, titled A New Hope.

While Lucas signed a then-groundbreaking contract back in 1977 giving him full ownership of merchandising and sequel rights in place of a director's fee, A New Hope was financed and fully owned by Fox, meaning it wasn't included in Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm.

But now with Disney's Fox purchase, it could mean fans hungry for the original Star Wars edits are one step closer to getting what they've long asked for.

Marvel

Under the new deal, Marvel franchises would largely be owned by the same studio, or at least ones that weren't eager to keep their heroes separate.

Fox currently owns the rights to the X-Men, Deadpool and Fantastic Four franchises, along with a long-mooted Gambit project to star Channing Tatum. But this deal would allow for infinite crossovers with characters that populate the Marvel Universe, names that include Iron Man, Thor and Captain America.

Unaffected by a possible deal? Spider-Man and the Hulk, who are both owned by Sony and Universal respectively and loaned out to Disney at a pricey sum.

With Hugh Jackman having already bowed out of the Wolverine role in this year's Logan and the X-Men franchise spinning off into a variety of different timelines and character confusion, it could also be a good opportunity to press the restart button on the X-Men as a whole. Along with trying once more with Fantastic Four, which has barely survived three disastrous movie efforts in the past decade.

What the news could mean, however, is that the sweary and violent Deadpool could find himself neutered. Last year Disney chairman Bob Iger said that it's highly unlikely that the studio would release an R-rated movie, instead cornering the market on family-friendly superhero tales. Plus, the potential of Deadpool crossing over with one of Marvel's other heroes (such as the X-Men) might take precedence over keeping him potty-mouthed.

Star Ryan Reynolds has already expressed his own nerves over the move, tweeting: "If this is true, I wonder how the fudge it would affect Deadpool?"

Avatar

Disney already declared a significant interest in the Avatar brand when it purchased the rights to the James Cameron franchise for an elaborate theme park attraction currently running at Disney World Florida.

With Disney now owning rights to the films themselves, it gives the corporation even more power over the series, which has just started production on three (!) forthcoming sequels.

This may be a bit of a risk though. While Avatar remains the most successful film in history, its legacy has been unusually non-existent, with the potential success of its sequels more of a question mark than expected.

Other franchises

Fox currently owns a variety of sci-fi, action and fantasy franchises, all of which will be presumably primed for reboots in the wake of the Disney takeover.

While the Andy Serkis-fronted Planet of the Apes trilogy appeared to sign off this summer, chances are Disney will aim to mine the brand for a new series of films. Likewise Alien, Die Hard and Predator, all of which currently have new entries in development.

Then there are series like Home Alone and Night at the Museum, both of which could be rebooted with new stars if Disney decides there's still petrol in their respective tanks.

But while audiences appear to have tired of the likes of Alien and Die Hard, based on the critical and commercial drubbing to accompany their latest installments, they could take on new life over at Disney. The Mouse House isn't known for its creative innovation, but they are reliable hands at producing efficient, easily digestible blockbusters – even if they rarely rise above the status of "good".