Spidey joins Mickey

The Walt Disney Co added Spider-Man, Iron Man and the X-Men to its vast cast of characters yesterday with a surprise agreement to buy Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion (Rs 19,500 crore).

The Walt Disney Co added Spider-Man, Iron Man and the X-Men to its vast cast of characters yesterday with a surprise agreement to buy Marvel Entertainmentu00a0 for $4 billion (Rs 19,500 crore).

"Adding Marvel to Disney's unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation," Disney President and Chief Executive Robert Iger said. "We are pleased to bring these great assets to Disney."

Legends: Spider-Man, Iron Man and the X-Men are the most famous of Marvel's cast.

The deal, which caught analysts and the market by surprise, was announced shortly before the opening bell on Wall Street.

Marvel Chief Executive Ike Perlmutter said Disney is "the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses."

Marvel is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. It was founded in 1939 as comic book publisher Timely Comics.

Besides comics, Marvel characters also feature in movies, animated features, videogames and toys such as action figures.