A merger between Disney and 20th Century Fox has the potential to make a lot of comic book, Marvel, X-Men, and other fandoms happy, but what does this all really mean? Do the pros outweigh the cons? And what about the future of creative content and the ways in which we consume it?
On the upside, this merger brings with it a lot of possibilities for movies and series. For example, The MCU can now cross universes with X-Men which was previously exclusive to 20th Century Fox. This has the potential for fans to see a lot of smaller characters brought to the big screen as well as exploring “multi-verse” theories that weren’t possible before. 
For instance, in Avengers: Age of Ultron, we knew Marvel’s Quicksilver as being portrayed by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. We also know Quicksilver from Evan Peter’s portrayal in X-Men: Days of Future Past. At the time those films were released, those universes were owned by separate companies and therefore, were completely different storylines having nothing to do with each other.
Now we see these two worlds collide in WandaVision, which streams on Disney Plus, with Evan Peters portraying Pietro Maximoff aka Quicksilver in the most recent episode, but as the Quicksilver we know from Avengers: Age of Ultron. Darcy Lewis, a side character we lovingly know from Thor, even makes a comment that Wanda “recast” her brother. According to Marvel's previous version of Quicksilver, the villain-turned-hero died to save Hawkeye. So, while the X-Men’s Quicksilver lives, he is now crossing over into the world of The Avengers. It was very interesting to see the actor who played one version of a hero take on a different rendition with a sitcom twist that the show is taking.  I had to laugh because it was an obvious poke at the merger but is also a really great set up for many avenues that can be taken now that the two universes have collided. 
At the same time it is important to remember that back in 2009, when Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment, there was a lot of concern as it became a lot more difficult for other companies to compete with Marvel releases (High, 2019). Disney had a lot of power in the industry just twelve years ago without owning 20th Century Fox and now that they do, there are real world consequences happening with layoffs as positions and processes are being consolidated (Donnelly & Lang, 2019).
So, yes, it’s cool when fandoms can collide, but will variety and creative expression now be a thing of the past? Disney has the capacity to control consumption, set the standards of pop culture, and possibly push agendas on consumers. This makes it a lot harder for smaller companies to have any of the spotlight unless they choose to sell out to Disney. It is my hope that Disney will allow these other studios to maintain some sort of independence while still working together in order to keep competition thriving and content interesting. We live in an age where technology is advancing faster than it ever has before, so there should be no excuse. Right?

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