Disney buys Marvel. The countdown to Spider-Mouse begins.

Seems the interwebs are teeming with this story, so I figured I’d follow suit and throw in my two cents.

There are really two ways this could go: the Pixar way or the Disney way. It’s safe to say Marvel fans at large are hoping for the former but preparing to live with the excruciating reality of the latter.

The Pixar way means allowing Marvel to follow the same independent path that began with a hopping desk lamp and has matured into THE chart-topping summer movie powerhouse it is today. The Pixar method means letting Marvel be Marvel. It means keeping those giant, four-fingered, white-gloved hands to yourself and letting Marvel creators (be they comic, cinematic or otherwise) explore and innovate according to the best stories they know how to tell. It means respecting an existing fan base and putting the faith and backing in new material to expand their audience. It also (hopefully) means getting a taste of the sweet financial muscle the Mouse can bring in amping up a character-driven movie franchise machine that – save for Iron Man – has fallen more than flat lately. (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I’m speaking directly to you here. I want my $9 and the tiny shreds of my cherished childhood mutant fantasies you stole back.)

As for the Disney way…I suppose we can look forward to that magical fortnight when an exclusive, digitally remastered edition of Elektra will be made available for a limited time before it’s thrown back into the Disney vault forever. At $29.99 plus tax, no less.