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Credit: Disney/Marvel/LucasfilmThere’s no denying what then-Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger’s acquisitions of Marvel in 2009 and Lucasfilm in 2012 did for Disney.
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The two companies expanded the Disney umbrella to include two new — incredibly passionate — fandoms that have embraced mainly everything The Walt Disney Company has done with their beloved franchises aside from the highly divisive Star Wars sequel trilogy.
From the Marvel Cinematic Universe Avengers movies featuring the likes of Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man/Tony Stark, Mark Ruffalo as the Incredible Hulk/Bruce Banner, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, Chris Evans as Captain America/Steve Rogers, and more to Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s The Mandalorian, which has introduced Star Wars fans to characters like Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu (AKA The Child AKA Baby Yoda), there’s no telling just how far these iconic brands can expand under the Walt Disney Company banner.
Star Wars and Marvel have even had a massive impact on Disney’s theme parks, with two billion-dollar Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge lands opening in 2019 — one at Walt Disney World Resort’s Disney’s Hollywood Studios and the other at Disneyland Resort’s Disneyland Park — and Avengers Campus slated to open at Disney California Adventure Park sometime in 2021 following Disneyland Resort’s eventual reopening.
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Now, it seems that some fans believe the impact Lucasfilm founder George Lucas and Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee have had on Disney is more than — or at least equal to — Walt Disney’s legacy.
A new poll on the WDW Magic fan forum asks this question:
Should The Partners Statue Be Replaced With George Lucas, Stan Lee, And John Lasseter Holding Hands?
At first glance, this seems like a wild idea, and 66.7% of fans agreed that Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse should remain the focal point of Disney’s castle theme parks worldwide. However, oddly enough, 33.3% of the Disney Parks fans who have voted in this poll so far believe that the Partners statue should be replaced with a monument honoring these world-builders who have arguably created some of the most amazing fictional worlds in history.
These were the results at the time of this article’s initial publication:
The original poster noted:
Walt may have started the Disney empire, but it’s the minds of George, Stan, John, and James keeping the show running new & fresh today. Popular opinion? Most unlikely. Logical? Now that’s the question..
And before any of you accuse this of being rubbish because I said George Lucas instead of JJ Abrams [A-lister Abrams worked on the Star Wars sequel trilogy], I was referring to the creative minds behind the original product & characters being added to the parks today, not the people recycling what’s already been created.
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What’s next for Marvel and Star Wars?
Related: George Lucas Defends Prequels, Says “People Don’t Understand” His ‘Star Wars’